Wikitroid:Biographies of Living Persons

This page details the Biographies of Living Persons policy as ratified by an RfC on 7 August 2024.

Overview

Part of the scope of Wikitroid is the coverage of developers of the Metroid games and related media in the overall franchise. Editors must take care when adding information about living or deceased persons to any page. Such material must be included with sensitivity, adhering to all applicable privacy laws in the United States (where FANDOM is based), and to this policy. Such articles must maintain a neutral point of view, with verifiable information. Original research is allowed, providing it can be verified with reliable sources.

Wikitroid must get the article right. Editors must be very firm about the use of trustworthy sources. All quotations and any material that could be challenged by the subject of the article must be supported by an inline citation to a reliable, published source. Contentious material about living or dead persons that is poorly sourced, or not at all, regardless of the tone, must be removed immediately and without waiting for discussion. Users who persistently or aggressively violate this policy are subject to blocking.

Biographies of living persons ("BLPs") must be written with regard for the subject's privacy. Wikitroid is not a sensationalist tabloid column with the aim of propagating random claims about people, nor are we to intrude on their personal lives. The primary focus of developer articles is their work on Metroid. Information about their specific contributions, when available, must be prioritized. For example, if they have posted their renders to ArtStation or another platform, discussed their work in a social media post, or acknowledged working on a Metroid game in some form.

Sensitive information about their personal lives and families is strictly prohibited unless directly relevant to their career. An example of the latter is Jack Mathews, who works as a photographer for his wife's food blog, which he has mentioned in various Metroid interviews, any two developers who are married who have made it known via Metroid related channels, or Gene and Rick Kohler, brothers who worked on Metroid Prime together. Developers may have social media profiles on platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Instagram, YouTube, Bluesky, Threads, ArtStation, and Behance, which are commonly (but not always) to promote their work. Such profiles can be linked on developer articles where available, unless a profile has no content pertaining to their work on Metroid or other games. Developers who use Facebook generally use it for personal reasons, so editors should not link to those profiles. If an editor has posted about Metroid on their Facebook page, such as to celebrate the release of a game they worked on, then the post can be cited as a reference, but not the profile itself.

The possibility of harm or defamation to living subjects must be considered when exercising editorial judgment. This policy applies to any living person mentioned in a BLP, and to material about living persons in other articles and on other pages, including talk pages. The burden of proof rests with the editor who adds or restores the content to article(s).

Writing and Content

BLPs should be written responsibly, cautiously, and in a neutral tone. Articles should document information published about the subjects, or by the subjects themselves (such as comments on social media or interviews) in an unbiased manner. Editors should not describe people with labels, loaded language, or terms that lack precision. Use clear, direct prose and facts, and allow readers to draw their own conclusions.

Criticism and praise can be included so long as the material is reliably sourced, presented responsibly, conservatively, and in a disinterested tone. As the political affiliations of developers vary, and are not directly relevant to their work on Metroid, material about such views is prohibited. So too are claims that rely on guilt by association, and biased, libelous and/or extremely promotional content. Some editors may follow the doctrine of Eventualism, the idea that every Wikitroid article is a work in progress, and it is permissible to temporarily have erroneous information or other problems. Given the potential impact on biography subjects' lives, biography articles must be fair to their subjects at all times.

Pages that are created with a negative tone and no sources, or existing pages edited to have such content, especially if they appear to have been created/edited primarily to disparage the subject, should be deleted at once if there is no policy-compliant version to revert to. Non-administrators should tag them with {{d|Disparaging article per [[Wikitroid:BLP]]}}. Repeated and bad faith creation of such pages is grounds for immediate blocking.

What constitutes a "reliable source"?

A reliable source includes allowed social media profiles and posts from the developer (see above), interviews the developer has given, comments about the developer from colleagues or other developers, and promotional appearances made by the developer. Do not use public records including personal details, such as home or business addresses, information about family or friends, traffic citations or vehicular registrations.

Privacy

Public figures

A public figure is defined as a person with a public profile, for example, actors, executives at Nintendo and related companies, and developers who have given one or more interviews regarding their work, and either provided a picture for the interview (if written) or appeared on camera (if video). There will be many reliable published sources pertaining to the subject. BLPs should document what these sources say without passing judgment on them.

If a credible and noteworthy allegation is made, it can be included in the article, whether the subject agrees with it or not. If they have denied the allegation, that denial should be included as well. If you cannot find multiple reliable third-party sources covering the allegation, it should not be included.

Figures who are less known

The vast majority of Metroid developers are not well known, and likely not public-facing until after they have left Nintendo or related companies. This is natural considering that while they are working for Nintendo, they will be under a non-disclosure agreement that remains in effect for at least a decade. For such articles, editors should exercise restraint and only include material directly relevant to the individual's work on Metroid or their career in general. Material published by the subject may be used. Material that could negatively affect their reputation, such as an allegation of misconduct, should be handled with care.

Articles will generally use the name with which a developer was credited in a game, since developers often regard their full names and dates of birth as private. This information should be excluded from articles unless it has been widely published in reliable sources, or by the subject themselves, in such a way that it may reasonably be inferred that the subject has no objection to those details becoming public. If a subject complains about our inclusion of their date of birth, and it is not widely reported, then it should be removed.

While it should go without saying, articles must not include postal or residential addresses or contact information (including e-mail addresses and telephone numbers) for living persons. Links to social media profiles maintained by the subject are allowed. Some of these may contain their personal contact information, which is included by the subjects at their discretion. In these cases, simply link to the profile in the external links section of their article. Do not draw additional attention to their contact information in their article(s).

If you see personal information, such as phone numbers, addresses, account numbers, etc. in a BLP or anywhere on Wikitroid, remove it immediately. Then contact an administrator via their talk page or on Discord, so they may evaluate the information and remove it from the page history. To avoid drawing attention to the invasive content unintentionally (what is known as the Streisand effect), use a generic edit summary and do not mention that you will be requesting the removal of information.

Images

Images of the developer may be used, as long as they are provided by the subject of the article themselves online, or it is a photograph taken of them at a public event. (such as E3, GDC, The Game Awards, Nintendo Direct, etc.) Public figures as defined above are assumed not to object to the inclusion of their pictures, whereas lesser-known developers are allowed to request the removal of their image. Instructions for doing so are below. Where images of the developer are not available, or the developer has requested the removal of an image, then a screenshot of their name in the credits of a Metroid game should replace it.

Use in disputes

BLPs on Wikitroid may include material, when relevant, properly sourced and balanced, about controversies or disputes that involve or have involved the subject of the article. Wikitroid is not the place for parties to off-wiki disputes to continue them. Such conduct poses harm to the subjects of biographical articles, the other parties in the dispute, and Wikitroid itself. An editor involved in a significant controversy or dispute with another party, whether on- or off Wikitroid, or who is an avowed rival of that individual, should not edit that person's biography or other material about that person, given the potential conflict of interest. Editors who have a strongly negative or positive view of the subject of a biographical article should be careful to edit that article neutrally, or choose not edit it at all.

Relationship of the subject to their article

Subjects sometimes become aware that an article has been written for them and may attempt to edit the material directly or through a representative. BLP subjects who try to fix perceived errors or unfair material, or ask for it to be fixed, should be shown leniency. It is vital that editors make every effort to treat the subjects of biographical material respectfully if and when the subjects express concern.

Wikitroid discourages people from writing or editing about themselves. That said, if the subject of an article objects to the use of their image or unsourced or poorly sourced material, they are encouraged to send a message to an administrator, via the admin's talk page or on Discord, or by writing on the biography's talk page to explain their objection. As a more private alternative, an e-mail can be sent to the following:

wikitroid-admins-list [at] fastlizard4 [dot] org

These emails will be directed exclusively to Wikitroid's administrators. In some cases, it may be required that the developer independently verify their identity by contacting an administrator via e-mail, upon which next steps will be taken. When a logged-out editor blanks all or part of a BLP, it is reasonable to assume this could be the subject attempting to remove problematic material. Rather than treating such edits as vandalism, editors should reverse the change and encourage the subject in the edit summary to read this section of the BLP policy.

Wikiroid has editorial policies that will often resolve your concerns, and it has many users willing to help. Very obvious errors can be fixed quickly, including by yourself. Beyond that, you are strongly encouraged to instead explain your concerns on the article talk page, or on the talk page of an administrator. If you are an article subject and you find that your article contains your personal information or potentially libelous statements, contact an administrator so that they can evaluate the problem and/or remove it from the page history. Remember that Wikitroid is entirely operated by volunteers, and impolite or demanding behavior, even if entirely understandable, will be less effective.

Role of administrators

Administrators who suspect malicious or biased editing, or believe that inappropriate material may be added or restored after removal, may protect pages. Administrators may enforce the removal of clear BLP violations with page protection or by blocking the violator(s) for a period of time at their discretion.