Biographies of living people

Note: This is a proposed policy. Please add comments, criticisms, etc. on the talk page.

Editors must take great care to assure accuracy when writing about living people due to the real-world impact that these works may have. Projects are also encouraged to put into place local standards paying special attention to the principles of neutrality and verifiability of facts when writing about living people.

Any inaccuracies presented as proven fact about a living person which cannot be verified must quickly be corrected or immediately removed unless a suitably identified and reliable source can be found. Suitability for the purpose of this policy is judged according to each project's local standards. This does not prevent editors from reporting inaccuracies by a third party; whether or not such reporting is itself a misrepresentation of facts depends on how it is presented by editors.

Projects that allow primary or secondary research are encouraged to put into place local standards which pay attention to the need to present new research finding on living people in a way that assures neutrality and objectivity and that ensures that original theories, hypotheses, and speculations do not mislead or misrepresent the facts.