Hoi,
As far as I am concerned, this thread is more appropriate for the en.wp
list. There have been experiments with paid editing on other Wikipedias and
the arguments for paid editing have been quite different. One project I was
involved in was about what does it take to get to the point where things
take off.
My conclusion is that it is not only about a size in content but also
engaging community. This works even when the community is not really happy
about the result. {{sofixit}} applies to some extend and the resulting
engagement lowers the threshold.
Thanks,
GerardM
On 24 October 2010 16:20, Andreas Kolbe <jayen466(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
--- On Sun, 24/10/10, SlimVirgin
<slimvirgin(a)gmail.com> wrote:
By excluding high-quality media sources you're
elevating the lowliest
scientist as a source, and the vested interests that finance the
research, above the most senior and experienced of disinterested
journalists. That makes no sense to me.
The specific case raised here, the BBC is, sadly, not a high quality
source for science reporting, being notoriously even worse than the
typical run of the media.
(Wonder if I could cite Ben Goldacre on that.)
Though their recent move to linking to original sources may help.
In the example I gave I cited both the BBC and the original study, and
it was still removed.
How do we handle articles about drugs if we're not allowed to use the
mainstream media? Removing them leaves those articles almost entirely
reflecting the position of the pharmaceutical industry, which is the
funder and beneficiary of much of the research.
It swings both ways, doesn't it. Present consensus is that the MMR
vaccine/autism controversy was without merit; by giving it undue weight, we
may have discouraged parents from having their children vaccinated, and may
have contributed to multiple deaths. Measles outbreaks had practically
disappeared; now they're back.
Our first basic job in writing an encyclopedia is to reflect the scholarly
literature that exists on a topic. That is how encyclopedias are written. A
Wikipedia article shouldn't look like a press review if there is a
significant amount of scholarly literature on a topic.
Having said that, we should also note, in a disinterested tone, the
existence of any notable controversies in the public consciousness, making
clear who says what, and on what basis. The high-end media will be
indispensable for that.
A few weeks ago, I proposed updating en:WP's verifiability policy with the
following wording:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Academic publications, such as peer-reviewed journals and books published
by well-regarded academic presses, are usually the most reliable sources in
topic areas where they are available. Non-academic sources may be used as
well, particularly if they are respected mainstream publications. This
includes books by reputable publishers as well as newspapers, magazines,
journals and electronic media.
The appropriateness of any source depends on the context. In topics which
are the subject of scholarly research, the most authoritative sources are
academic works that have undergone scrutiny by a community of experts in
that field. Quality mainstream media are equally valuable sources for areas
such as current affairs – including the socio-economic, political, and human
impact of science – or biographies of living persons. In general, the best
sources have a professional structure in place for checking or analyzing
scientific findings, evidence, facts, and legal aspects; the greater the
scrutiny given to these issues, the more reliable the source.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
That wording has attracted a significant amount of support, but SlimVirgin
fears it will further move the balance towards improperly excluding media
sources.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Verifiability#Proposal_5_compar…
It's not an easy thing to get right; the discussion on the WP:V talk page
(which also includes a variety of alternative proposals) could benefit from
wider input.
Andreas
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