Is Joey Didier’s Murder Worthy of Wiki? Updated X1
June 26th, 2008 at 08:00pm Aaron Chambers
The Joey Didier murder was big, big news in Rockford. Robert Lower abducted, raped and murdered Didier, a morning newspaper boy, in 1975. It was one of the region’s most heinous crimes.
But does the Didier murder warrant its own entry on Wikipedia, the interactive online encyclopedia? That question is the subject of much debate among Wikipedia contributors.
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| Joey Didier |
Some say the Didier murder may have been a big deal in Rockford, but that it doesn’t meet Wikipedia’s “notability” standard and that the story therefore ought to be removed. Others say it was big news even beyond Rockford and that it therefore ought to stay.
The entry, called “Murder of Joseph Didier,” is here. The debate over whether to strike it is underway here.
Those seeking to erase Didier’s story from Wikipedia have already succeeded in removing a separate but related entry called simply “Joseph Didier.”
What do you think? Head on over there and weigh in.
UPDATE 1
I’ve been on the road, and away from the blog. It is now evident, as Bookworm pointed out in comments, that Didier’s murder is not worthy of Wiki — at least not as far as a moderator was concerned. The moderator today deleted the post.
Entry Filed under: Joey Didier
9 Comments Add your own
1. chris soprych | June 26th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Its worth noting that most of the external links and online references on Wikipedia’s Didier murder are from rrstar.com.
Chris Soprych
Assistant Managing Editor
Rockford Register Star
2. Ben | June 26th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
If someone wants to make an entry it should be allowed to be historically complete. If no one thinks it is worth the effort, then there will not be an entry. As of Thursday afternoon there were no entries for Didier or Lower on Wikipedia that I could find.
3. Bookworm | June 26th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
The Wiki editor(s) decided today — in fact just a couple of hours ago if I’m reading the time stamp right — to delete the article based on their current notability guidelines.
They did admit, however, that the debate points up the need to clarify and remedy weaknesses and unresolved issues in those guidelines. The debate is now archived and cannot be edited, but is preserved at the link given in the article above.
4. Chuck Sweeny | June 26th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
The Didier murder was a horrific tragedy and crime, not only for the Didier family, but for the entire Rockford community. To call it a “big deal” is, to me, very, very sad.
5. Beth | June 27th, 2008 at 7:22 am
It boggles my mind what some people worry about. Who cares?!!!! Are there actually people out there who are jealous because their own family member\\\’s murder was not posted on Wiki? I cannot imagine that a simple entry on Wiki can be either harmful or helpful. It certainly will do nothing to ease the pain that the family and friends of Joey have been dealing with all these years. If anything, perhaps the entry on Wiki could be helpful for those trying to keep the murderers of their family members in prison, because the family of Joey are an inspiration when it comes to this.
6. Robert Carter | June 28th, 2008 at 9:46 am
As one of the Wikipedia editors involved in this debate, let me say that there were two main reasons why the Didier murder article was deleted. 1) As sad as this crime was, it is one of thousands of single-victim homicides within the United States each year. 2) The crime did not attract a great deal of coverage by the news media outside the immediate Rockford area, at least not enough that our editors could find - the age of the event probably hindered this, as many such archives are not in digital form, with the Registar-Star being an exception. Some time ago Wikipedia administrators set a policy that homicides either need 1) to have involved multiple victims, usually three or more, or 2) to have had substantial coverage by news media over a wide geographic area. If this policy were not in place, Wikipedia would be overrun with countless articles about individual homicides. In short, we had to draw the line somewhere, and this is where we drew it. Some Wikipedia users, who evidently had strong emotional ties to this murder, could not understand this policy and became very insistent that Didier’s murder needed to be memorialized on Wikipedia, and used it as a soapbox for rallying support against the parole of the killer.
7. Dave M. | June 28th, 2008 at 11:13 am
The Joey Didier murder is probably the highest profile crime in Northern Illinois outside of Chicago. Even three decades later, there are occasional news stories about it.
I am not surprised that Wikipedia is deleting it. It is overrun by teenagers and young adults who have developed a subculture of rudeness, banning users, developing their own lingo, etc. Porn articles and video game articles are a big part of Wikipedia (unlike World Book Encyclopedia or Encyclopedia Britannica). The moderators are anonymous users who zealously hide behind their anonymity and vote for their friends to become moderators. With that kind of gang mentality, it’s not surprising that they did what Aaron Chambers reports. That’s why we should consider Wikipedia as entertainment, not an encyclopedia. It’s worse than the National Enquirer which people know is entertainment but Wikipedia claims to be a serious reference.
8. Deb | July 3rd, 2008 at 6:00 pm
How pathetic. This happened at a time LONG before the Amber Alerts, LONG before the nationwide craze of a child abduction and LONG before the media gave a hoot aboout anyone that was not either a movie star or a politician. If htis would have been a politicians son, you better believe that they would keep it in. It was because of Joey and many others that the Amber Alert finally was started and the missing youth of this country finally became something more than just presumed run aways. To the editors of Wiki, How would you feel if it were your son??? Would it then be important enough. Just remember something, it may not meet the right criteria for you, or be a big enough story for you, but for us in the city of Rockford, Illinois and the close cities around, it will forever be burnt into our memories. How can you decide whether his loss of his life was worthy of the Wiki? I was a young adult with a 3yr old child and this story greatly impcted my life as well it did millions in the entire Northern Illinois and Southern Wisc. area. Not worthy of your Wiki????? You have no idea what a worthy story is then. God Bless Joey and his family who continues to mourn their loss.
9. Bookworm | July 6th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
From what I can tell, Wiki is not insisting that ALL information about the Didier case be deleted, but suggesting that it belongs under Rockford history and events rather than in a stand-alone article. It may not attract as much attention as if it were a separate article, but the information will continue to be there for anyone who is interested.
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