Jussi, the Metapedia site was deleted because it has recieved little to none English-language coverage in reliable sources. Just because it's a wiki doesn't make it notable enough for encyclopedic treatment. Personally I think the site is covered under WP:FRINGE, and that as such a comprehensive encyclopedic article would be lending importance to this quack venture that simply doesn't exist.
On 7/26/07, Jussi-Ville Heiskanen cimonavaro@gmail.com wrote:
On 7/26/07, Oskar Sigvardsson oskarsigvardsson@gmail.com wrote:
The reason you can't find anything is that the english section is fairly small compared to the Swedish one, and those articles that do exist are written in a sort of code. They don't come out and actually say what they mean, they use a sort of neutrality shield to hide behind. Let me quote you the Adolf Hitler article from the Swedish side (and that side is closed from editing by the general public). Loosely translated it reads like this:
"Adolf Hitler, born April 20, 1889, died April 30 1945. Know for amongst other things as the leader of the NSDAP political party and chancellor for the German Kingdom 1933-1945. Author of Mein Kamph, one of the most sold books in the world"
And that's it. Nothing else. Every single article reads like this, technically they are true and the tone is neutral, but they skew the facts into oblivion. If you want to see a really distasteful article for yourself, read http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/Nordisk.nu which is basically an ad for a site that is proud to be a racist social network.
Talk about free speech all you want, but don't for a second claim that these people writing this thing are anything other than scum. It doesn't make you look fair-minded or unprejudiced, it makes you look like an idiot.
Your comment about myself notwithstanding ;o) ...
I think by and large what you say above is very fair comment. Like I said above, I had only examined the english language side, and that cursorily. I have since checked out the swedish side too, and it does appear that it is pernicious, even if subtly so.
I do kind of regret that the english wikipedia no longer has an article on the site. A neutral article based on the media visibility the site has had in Sweden would have been quite useful in putting the site in proper perspective. I read in some Swedish news article that there had been pictures of Jews hanged on some portal or other of the site. (not sure if that was vandalism or run of the mill content for the site, but nevertheless)
In this case however as in most, criticism to be effective, ought to be based on accurate facts, rather than stuff that misses the point, as much of the criticism has been here on the list; most specifically not including yours, as you have the ability to read the Swedish sites content, and the media coverage.
For all that, however malevolent the site may be, it would be sort of sad for this list to turn into a sort of metapedia-review. I would much prefer wikipedia to have a neutral article on the site that would bring forth the basic factors that make the site malingnant. But since it was AFD:d that is not likely to happen soon. And I would note that the Swedish language wikipedia article on the site remains adcopy by the founders of the site, not NPOVed at all, which needless to say, isn't hardly ideal.
-- Jussi-Ville Heiskanen, ~ [[User:Cimon Avaro]]
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