[WikiEN-l] Koch brothers articles doctored says Think Progress

[Ian Woollard]

On 14/03/2011, David Goodman <dggenwp at gmail.com> wrote:
> It is possible to provide arguments against the reliability of any
> source whatever. (And in the other direction, it is possible to take
> most sources and selectively quote them to provide evidence for
> support for any position whatever.) It is possible to destroy the
> integrity of any article by concentrating on finding weaknesses in the
> sourcing combined with careful use of sources that appear reliable,
> but are not really to the point. Even a single person doing this can
> work havoc, and if this is done in a concerted way, it provides ample
> scope for the expression of bias.

I agree that it can be very problematic, but it only really works to
the extent that it's not obvious that this is happening, since if
enough people dig up enough sources via normal means they will
overwhelm the person or people trying to create an imbalance; because
they're nearly always going to be a minority. And if the views are not
in a minority, then their views are likely to be part of the NPOV
anyway.

So the relativistic point of view of truth has significant limits; and
that's part of why the Wikipedia works.

> --
> David Goodman
>
> DGG at the enWP
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:DGG
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:DGG

-- 
-Ian Woollard