On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 4:20 AM, Emily Monroebluecaliocean@me.com wrote:
Humans tend to unconsciously focus on the negative. This is something we do automatically. It probably makes sense in terms of evolutionary history. It's better to avoid fire than get burned. It's better to avoid water than to drown. In modern history, it gets you more attention from a medical laymen, and so you are more likely to get attention from a medical expert (via getting means of transportation, peer pressure, etc.). It increases the ability to survive, but not write Wikipedia articles.
{{citation needed}}
I could equally argue the opposite. I could argue that many Wikipedia articles, especially BLPs are written by *fans* or supporters of the person in question and that this may tend towards hagiography. But I have no citations for my claim either.
The community also seems to have decided that criticism *sections* are undesirable and that criticism should be spread throughout an article. I agree with this as an ideal. But I think a criticism section is quite useful in the earlier stages of an article's development simply because, when an article is still being built, it is easier to compartmentalise areas for ease of adding new facts. But, y'know, I guess that argument's already been had at some stage, so I'm not about to try and overthrow consensus.