[Foundation-l] The 'Undue Weight' of Truth on Wikipedia (from the Chronicle) + some citation discussions

[Mike Godwin]

Jussi-ville writes:

>> The policy, misused in the course of POV struggle, is a way of excluding
>> information with interferes with presentation of a desired point of view.
>
> I think you are being way too generous. ... Let me repeat in more concise form.
> The policy was written to enable serious work on hard topics, it as it
> stands, hinders work, making it hard to edit simple facts.

I think the article in The Chronicle of Higher Education is a
must-read. Here you have a researcher who actually took pains to learn
what the rules to editing Wikipedia are (including No Original
Research), and who, instead of trying to end-run WP:NOR, waited years
until the article was actually published before trying to modify the
Haymarket article. To me, this is a particularly fascinating case
because the author's article, unlike the great majority of sources for
Wikipedia articles, was peer-reviewed -- this means it underwent
academic scrutiny that the newspapers, magazines, and other popular
sources we rely on never undergo.

I think the problem really is grounded in the UNDUE WEIGHT policy
itself, as written, and not in mere misuse of the policy.


--Mike