Talk:Wikilegal/Close Paraphrasing

WMF's opinion that anyone can edit?

@Slaporte (WMF) and Mdennis (WMF): Yesterday I rolled back an edit to this page, under the impression that any page that claims to present the WMF's perspective really shouldn't be openly editable. The edit I rolled back wasn't terribly significant, to be clear, and could be restored without changing meaning, but the question remains: why have an official statement that invites outside editing via This page is not final – if you have additional information, or want to provide a different perspective, please feel free to expand or add to it? Are these pages very carefully watched to ensure such edits don't change the stated opinion of WMF Legal? — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 15:43, 14 December 2025 (UTC)

Hi, User:Rhododendrites; that's a really good question. I need to think about what policy permits in terms of protection, but I feel like there's a couple of things at play. These pages are a little bit like opinion pieces written by affiliates or what have you and do represent the perspective of the author. They aren't monitored, and they may fall out of date. They are historical snapshots. The attorney who typically oversees this workflow is on leave, but I wonder if it's worth asking people to add new information or contrary opinions as a subsection? Because while the Foundation's attorneys and fellows can't provide legal advise to the community in the way some expect for ethical reasons (the have to represent the Foundation and can't confuse that relationship), they are lawyers who did research at the time of response. Whereas open editing means anybody could add anything, and despite the disclaimer that might create problems.

Hmmm. As a general rule of thumb, the Foundation tries to avoid page protection if it can, in line with the office action policy. I think that's a really solid principle. But it also might not only create confusion, but unnecessary work for folks like you. I'll make sure that this comes to the attention of the lawyers who maintain this system now (while Jacob is out of office) and see if I can get some traction despite the inevitable end of year rush on what the template should say. If you have thoughts, I hope you feel very free to share them. :)

Thanks for pointing this out! --Maggie Dennis (WMF) (talk) 16:52, 15 December 2025 (UTC)