[WikiEN-l] oopsie-- mainstream journalists trust Wikipedia again

[John Lee]

On 10/5/07, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 05/10/2007, Bryan Derksen <bryan.derksen at shaw.ca> wrote:
> > Andrew Gray wrote:
> > > I've said it before, and I'll say it again - a good Wikipedia
> > > biography of a living person should, basically, be a draft obituary.
> > > Neutral tending to slightly sympathetic*,
> >
> > No, no asterisk, no "slightly" non-neutral. Just plain neutral, it's one
> > of our foundation policies and not really negotiable. Obituaries turn
> > into hagiographies far too often.
>
> Perfection is an unattainable goal. That doesn't mean we shouldn't
> strive for it, but we do need to be realistic. No article is ever
> going to be 100% neutral, it's impossible. If we accept that our
> articles are going to have a slight bias to them, it is entirely
> appropriate that we ensure that that bias is in favour of people we're
> writing about.

Precisely. While we may be equivocal about which side to err on when it
comes to, say, automobiles or Louis XVI, with living people, if in doubt,
err on the sympathetic side. This does not mean we must be sympathetic; it
merely means that if there is any doubt, choose the less negative tone.

Johnleemk