On 2/26/07, Berto 'd Sera albertoserra@ukr.net wrote:
Writing an encyclopedia is not enough to get rid of POV (cfr soviet encyclopedia, fascist Treccani, catholic encyclopedias, etc).
Well, we're not the Catholic Encyclopedia, we're the free encyclopedia. There is no POV implicit in our mission. That said, the most recent version of our mission statement (which is currently in the resolution stage for voting by the Board) states that our mission is to create "neutral educational content"; making this part of the WMF Mission Statement seems to be uncontroversial among the Board and I expect that this will become official soon.
It's not enough to get rid of advertising, as many such online publications DO show ads.
Wikimedia doesn't and has no intention to. That said, it doesn't seem appropriate in a mission statement.
And it's not enough to get rid of original research, since it's perfectly normal for other encyclopedias to publish (sometimes even to prepare) such material.
Indeed, and the boundaries are very hard to define as well -- this is why it is important to be careful with blanket statements that apply to all projects in all languages. Both Wikinews & Wikiversity do permit original research within limits, and Wikipedia might in some way feature such original content. I'm not saying it shouldn't be in a Wikipedia mission statement -- I'm saying it shouldn't be rushed.