Re: [Wikimedia Education] [Wiki-research-l] [Wikimedia-l] "Can Wikipedia save the internet?": Wikipedia and political neutrality - Education

6 Nov 2016

Jon,

At the October Metrics and Activities meeting, you asked for feedback
on the Related Articles feature. Please have a look at this:
http://i.imgur.com/2aujFL7.png

The Making Work Pay Tax Credit was a provision of the Emergency
Economic Stabilization Act of 2008; possibly the most effective
provision responsible for ending and reversing the recession. And
perhaps for that reason, Republicans in Congress refused to renew it
in 2010 during the same series of negotiations in which they refused
to advance the infrastructure bills which did not pass from 2010 until
this year. I believe that the Making Work Pay Tax Credit is fully in
line with the Foundation's Mission and stated public policy
objectives, and so I have recommended that the Foundation endorse it:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/publicpolicy/2016-September/001527.ht…

The FairTax is a flat tax which is considered very popular among
Libertarians and Objectivists. However, it has never had much
congressional support, likely because nearly all economists think it
would lead to ruin because it is so regressive. Libertarian
presidential candidate Gary Johnson recently became very upset when
asked by a British newspaper reporter about this subject:
https://youtu.be/vvULsrjLdI4?t=3m12s

Do you think FairTax is a useful related article to suggest to people
interested in the Making Work Pay Tax Credit?

To what extent does systemic bias towards fringe Libertarian and
Objectivist economics influence the Related Articles feature?

On Wed, Nov 2, 2016 at 1:11 PM, FRED BAUDER &lt;fredbaud(a)fairpoint.net&gt; wrote:
...
  The subject affected in this way are "hot,"
in the news, sometimes hourly,
 or involve major financial interests. Austerity economics is as good an
 example as major political candidates. I think statistics would show a
 relationship between news mentions and editing conflict, and, also, the
 amount of profit associated with marketing of a product.

 Fred

 On Wed, 2 Nov 2016 12:52:58 -0600
  James Salsman &lt;jsalsman(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:

 Fred and Craig,

 Do you think a comparison of the effects of bias in individual
 candidates' articles to the effects systemic bias towards trickle-down
 austerity economics and the social implications thereof in light of
 the WP:MEDRS-grade source at http://talknicer.com/ehip.pdf might
 produce a helpful indication of where counter-advocacy efforts would
 best be focused?

 I'm un-crossposting this reply to just wiki-research-l and the
 Education list because I've been told to not crosspost to more than
 two lists.

 On Wed, 2 Nov 2016 12:59:09 -0400 Craig Newmark <craig.newmark at
 gmail.com> wrote:

 Fred, thanks!

 Worth reviewing, after people have recovered from the election. How
 about...reminding me two weeks from today. I might've recovered by
 then,
 seriously...

 Thanks!

 Craig Newmark

 founder, craigslist

 On Nov 2, 2016 12:44 PM, "FRED BAUDER" <fredbaud at fairpoint.net>
 wrote:

> Craig,
>
> I don't expect you to do anything about it, but Hillary Clinton
> presidential campaign, 2016 has been so much an object of political
> editing
> by Clinton supporters that it looks more like an ad for Hillary than
> a
> Wikipedia article.
>
> Fred Bauder
>
> On Wed, 2 Nov 2016 11:43:32 -0400
>  Craig Newmark <craig.newmark at craigconnects.org> wrote:
>
>> Wikipedia is where facts go to live.
>>
>>
>> It helps that folks on US Capitol Hill are receptive to quiet
>> suggestions
>> that Wikipedia avoid becoming a partisan battleground.
>>
>> Craig Newmark
>>
>> founder, craigslist
>>
>> On Nov 1, 2016 7:35 PM, "Olatunde Isaac" <reachout2isaac at
gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Hoi,
>>>
>>>
>>> Pine, thanks for sharing this article. I found the entire article
>>> very
>>> interesting. I am glad that Wikipedia is not seen as a vehicle for
>>> political campaign. Sometimes, people create account on Wikipedia
>>> with
>>> the
>>> aim to use the encyclopedia for political campaign and a good number
>>> of
>>> them end up getting blocked either for POV pushing or other
>>> disruptive
>>> editing/behavior.
>>>
>>> BTW....I have a few question. Is it a good idea to protect a page
>>> from
>>> creation if there are indications that the overall intention of the
>>> creator
>>> is to use Wikipedia as a platform for political campaign? If yes,
>>> how is
>>> such protection necessary if the page is neutrally written?
>>>
>>> There was an incident that happened sometimes last year when an
>>> article
>>> on
>>> "Akinwunmi Ambode"  was protected from creation and unprotected
>>> after his
>>> election.
>>>
>>> Is this really a good idea?
>>>
>>> Best,
>>>
>>> Isaac
>>> Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Pine W <wiki.pine at gmail.com>
>>> Sender: "Wikimedia-l" <wikimedia-l-bounces at
>>> lists.wikimedia.org>Date:
>>> Wed,
>>> 26 Oct 2016 20:31:59
>>> To: Wikimedia Mailing List<Wikimedia-l at lists.wikimedia.org>;
>>> Wikimedia
>>> Education<education at lists.wikimedia.org>; Wiki
>>> Research-l<wiki-research-l@
>>> lists.wikimedia.org>
>>> Reply-To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
>>> Subject: [Wikimedia-l] "Can Wikipedia save the internet?":
Wikipedia
>>> and
>>>         political neutrality
>>>
>>> Hello colleagues,
>>>
>>> Some of you might be interested in this news article:
>>> http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/
>>> can-wikipedia-save-the-internet-a7380786.html
>>>
>>> When we know that we have countless shortcomings in Wikimedia, I
>>> found it
>>> refreshing to hear that some aspects of our content and community
>>> are
>>> performing well and, on the whole, are serving the public interest.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Pine 