[Foundation-l] Organization on Wikipedia that deals with content issues.

[Andreas Kolbe]

--- On Mon, 9/8/10, Oliver Keyes <scire.facias at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Let's linky here, Oliver: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:MEDCOM
> > --
> > ~Keegan
> >
> > My bad. Anyway, to quote "The role of the Mediation
> Committee is explicitly
> to try to resolve disputes, especially those *involving
> content*" (italics
> not added by moi).


The mediation committee is only there to "mediate" between the parties who have turned up at any given content page. It is not there to lay down the law as regards content, and is *not* a solution to the potential problem of self-selected, biased contributors overwhelming a given topic area by sheer force of numbers, and sheer investment of time.

Soliciting wider community input through a content RfC or one of the various noticeboards is the best en:Wikipedia has to offer, and editors' responses to such community discussions (is community input ignored, or taken on board?) are considered in arbitration cases. 

It is generally true that contentious topics attract polarised editors who very strongly believe in their causes, and that middle-ground people are often crowded out. If one of the polarised sides is numerically stronger, or has more time to spend on Wikipedia, they may carry the day, to the detriment of an NPOV article.

I don't see an easy solution. Any solution that involves a community-elected committee ruling on content might be worse for the project than the present problem. 

One thing that helps is external writers criticising Wikipedia content. It's the only way the wider Wikipedia community can be galvanised into action, and made to take an interest in articles they wouldn't otherwise care about. Someone has to make a stink. Even a thread at the Wikipedia Review site can sometimes help.

A.