To go back to Michelle's original question -- what should we do with plagiarized profiles? The simple answer is they need to be fixed.
In a sense profiles comprised simply of an entire unedited wikipedia article are worse than profiles filled with GEDCOM debris because the ones filled with debris carry the message, "surely someone plans to fix this, they just haven't gotten to it yet" while the plagiarized profile carries the message, "oh my, some poor soul imagines this is an acceptable profile."
So we probably need a group of volunteer fixers competent to do simple fixes. I would certainly volunteer to take on a few from time to time if we agreed on what a simple fix would be. The discussion so far has led to all sorts of valid and important discussions on how profiles should be enhanced in the future, but in order to solve the immediate problem we need to agree on a minimum fix to be done by a fixer.
I would suggest the simple fix would consist of this:
1. Verify where the current profile material came from. If it says Wikipedia or some other source, check and make sure you have a working link to the source. If it clearly came from somewhere but the where is not specified, pick an unusual phrase from it and run it through a Google Advanced Search and see where it came from; get a working link.
2. Create a reference to the source. I personally find the the following reference format the simplest: <ref name="wiki"> Wikipedia. "George Smith" http..the specific working link you got in step 1.... </ref> with subsequent references in the profile simply to <ref name="wiki"/>. Other expert WikiTreers use other reference formats. They all work.
3. Find the "vitals" information from the copied article; arrange it in chronological order, birth, parents, marriage, death, issue, etc, with dates and places. Put a heading for each kind of information either with === Paragaph=== or '''Bold''' headings, and slap one of our source references after EACH fact. As RJ Horace says, sometimes the original wording carries more information that you don't want to lose. One or two sentences at a time is acceptable use -- set it in quotation marks.
4. Hide all remaining wikipedia material at the end, set off with <!-- and --> with the heading: " Note: resources available for future editing and sourcing."
This is absolutely not a recommended way of creating a profile from scratch, but a "quick fix" to move an unacceptably plagiarized profile just across the line into the realm of acceptable profiles with a minimum of effort.
I'm sure there are even better recommendations out there, but this seemed like a good way to start a conversation about how to address Michelle's question with a minimum of effort!
