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

[Thomas Morton]

On 24 February 2012 09:34, Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net> wrote:

> On 02/22/12 6:04 PM, David Goodman wrote:
>
>> There are many subjects in which there would be multiple schools of
>> thought with little agreement; anyone following book reviews in the
>> humanities or social sciences or even some of the sciences would know
>> the intensity with which the highest level scholars attack the work of
>> those they disagree with. Appoint one as expert, and that field will
>> have a substantial bias. Appoint several, and they will endlessly
>> dispute with each other.
>>
>
> We shouldn't expect ourselves to be exempt from this kind of academic
> discourse. We owe it to our readers to provide a clear and fair-minded
> presentation of these differences.
>
>
Isn't that what David is saying? That if we allowed partisans to hold sway
by virtue of their expertise in the subject we are not going to get a fair
minded presentation (either a one-sided one, or a major argument if two or
more experts clash).

By introduction lay editors with no specific interest or investment, except
in writing a good article, we moderate this issue (not entirely, but there
you go).

Tom