Cody Van Cox died aged 17 on November 16, 2005, after receiving multiple stab wounds in a fight. There was confused and false reports floating around the Internet concerning how he died, so his family entered a Wikipedia entry under his name. The family was happy to know that the rumours would end soon and that their loved one would be remember.
But only an hour after the entry was put up, the family was shocked to find that a Wikipedia member had recommended the article for 'Speedy Deletion' since Cody was considered 'not notable'.
And yesterday, on the 20th of November, the entry was officially deleted by an admin, which further shocked the family. Today, several Internet bloggers are expressing their outrage and several petitions are going around via email to try and appeal the decision.
The URL of the deleted article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cody_Cox
Did the family try to defend their position on the article's talk page before the deletion? Also, why Wikipedia? WP's got a very strict policy, but it's also a very small part of the web -- the rest is free-for-all. And there's a lot of news outlets out there who'd love nothing more than being able to do a "my rival network X is wrong" article, as amoral it might be.
by Snuffkin @ 21 Nov 2005 07:10 am
Do these people not understand what belongs in an encyclopaedia?
by The Land @ 21 Nov 2005 08:05 am
Very sad for the family, but Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not somewhere that provides free webspace. If the family wants to make an announcement they should not use Wikipedia to do it.
- "Memorials. It's sad when people die, but Wikipedia is not the place to honor them. Subjects of encyclopedia articles must have a claim to fame besides being fondly remembered by their friends and relatives."
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