I could see how there is an interest in providing an official response to the petition, as most other large organizations and networks make such declarations in response to large petitions. However, I believe that part of the beauty of Wikipedia is that there is not an official spokesperson making such statements, and there is a strong negative effect by forcing the famously publicly-crowd-sourced network to choose sides. Such a "press release" to this petition, though it would be backed by strong evidence, could be a dangerous precedent, with future similar statements ostracizing members of our community.
Though I agree that there would be far-ranging media exposure to this proposed response, I believe that the message Diptanshu would like to pass along to the petition organizer is best summed up in one of the recent comments to the petition:
"There is no need to create a petition to change Wikipedia. The current text is written by people just like ourselves. Anyone can edit Wikipedia to state whatever they can substantiate by reference to reliable sources. The contents of this petition and letter contain sufficient justification to edit wikipedia and state your pov and give the sources for it taken from reliable and authentic authorities writings and so forth. There is no need to seek anyone's permission to do this. Even if there is a clash between your biews and those of others who believe homeothepay is a "quack", one can register one's views, quoting these reliable sources, as an alternative and more acceptable pov. At worst, one can present it as a "controversy" which gives equal exposure to both views and allows the reader to make up their minds or to look into the sources quoted in order to find out more." -Sean Jones
As a result, I'd argue it isn't necessary for us to respond, and actually don't believe that we could respond in any official capacity on behalf of Wikipedia. However, if we theoretically did, I'd move for something witty similar to what Peter wrote.
Would appreciate others' thoughts on this,
R
On Sep 20, 2017 02:47, wikimedia-medicine-request@lists.wikimedia.org wrote:
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Today's Topics:
1. Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article on Homeopathy (Diptanshu Das) 2. Re: Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article on Homeopathy (Peter Southwood) 3. Re: Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article on Homeopathy (Sean Jones) 4. Re: Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article on Homeopathy (Diptanshu Das)
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Message: 1 Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2017 22:45:49 +0530 From: Diptanshu Das das.diptanshu@gmail.com To: Wiki Medicine discussion wikimedia-medicine@lists.wikimedia.org, wjmboard wjmboard@googlegroups.com Subject: [Wiki-Medicine] Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article on Homeopathy Message-ID: CADcdAx-nSVB95ExEYbp52Duf2to-U75b3Z3pzxsriJOX8ku0Hw@mail.gmail.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
I would like to bring your attention to the petition https://www.change.org/p/wikipedia-changing-wikipedia- s-article-on-homoeopathy
Regards Diptanshu
Please do not print this e-mail unless you really need to.
I don’t think an official response is possible, and if it was, I don’t think it would be desirable for anyone to presume to speak with the voice of Wikipedia. WMF could point them to the policies of Wikipedia as a courtesy, in case they were unable to find them unaided, but that is about as far as it goes. This would best be done as a polite response to the petition when it has been delivered. I definitely don’t think a snarky response is called for. Assume good faith, be civil, deal politely. Point out the applicable policy. That is how we are expected to handle things on Wikipedia. Show them a good example. If they can find reliable sources they are free to edit accordingly, with due weight.
Cheers,
Peter
From: Wikimedia-Medicine [mailto:wikimedia-medicine-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Rob Besch Sent: Wednesday, 20 September 2017 9:09 AM To: wikimedia-medicine@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: Re: [Wiki-Medicine] Potential Official Statement
I could see how there is an interest in providing an official response to the petition, as most other large organizations and networks make such declarations in response to large petitions. However, I believe that part of the beauty of Wikipedia is that there is not an official spokesperson making such statements, and there is a strong negative effect by forcing the famously publicly-crowd-sourced network to choose sides. Such a "press release" to this petition, though it would be backed by strong evidence, could be a dangerous precedent, with future similar statements ostracizing members of our community.
Though I agree that there would be far-ranging media exposure to this proposed response, I believe that the message Diptanshu would like to pass along to the petition organizer is best summed up in one of the recent comments to the petition:
"There is no need to create a petition to change Wikipedia. The current text is written by people just like ourselves. Anyone can edit Wikipedia to state whatever they can substantiate by reference to reliable sources. The contents of this petition and letter contain sufficient justification to edit wikipedia and state your pov and give the sources for it taken from reliable and authentic authorities writings and so forth. There is no need to seek anyone's permission to do this. Even if there is a clash between your biews and those of others who believe homeothepay is a "quack", one can register one's views, quoting these reliable sources, as an alternative and more acceptable pov. At worst, one can present it as a "controversy" which gives equal exposure to both views and allows the reader to make up their minds or to look into the sources quoted in order to find out more." -Sean Jones
As a result, I'd argue it isn't necessary for us to respond, and actually don't believe that we could respond in any official capacity on behalf of Wikipedia. However, if we theoretically did, I'd move for something witty similar to what Peter wrote.
Would appreciate others' thoughts on this,
R
On Sep 20, 2017 02:47, wikimedia-medicine-request@lists.wikimedia.org wrote:
Send Wikimedia-Medicine mailing list submissions to wikimedia-medicine@lists.wikimedia.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-medicine or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to wikimedia-medicine-request@lists.wikimedia.org
You can reach the person managing the list at wikimedia-medicine-owner@lists.wikimedia.org
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Wikimedia-Medicine digest..."
Today's Topics:
1. Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article on Homeopathy (Diptanshu Das) 2. Re: Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article on Homeopathy (Peter Southwood) 3. Re: Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article on Homeopathy (Sean Jones) 4. Re: Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article on Homeopathy (Diptanshu Das)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1 Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2017 22:45:49 +0530 From: Diptanshu Das das.diptanshu@gmail.com To: Wiki Medicine discussion wikimedia-medicine@lists.wikimedia.org, wjmboard wjmboard@googlegroups.com Subject: [Wiki-Medicine] Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article on Homeopathy Message-ID: CADcdAx-nSVB95ExEYbp52Duf2to-U75b3Z3pzxsriJOX8ku0Hw@mail.gmail.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
I would like to bring your attention to the petition https://www.change.org/p/wikipedia-changing-wikipedia-s-article-on-homoeopat...
Regards Diptanshu
Please do not print this e-mail unless you really need to.
wikimedia-medicine@lists.wikimedia.org
