[WikiEN-l] Clutch is on a POV tirade

[Jason Williams]

On Mon, Dec 09, 2002 at 05:45:02AM -0800, Jimmy Wales wrote:
> Our process should not be a competitive process of posting POV claims
> and daring others to fix them.  

I'm not so sure this is a good general rule. Probably if used in too
many cases or taken to extremes then it is a bad thing, but used
sensibly it can be a good thing in my opinion.

If I start an article about something controversial and I stick to
a bland NPOV stub, chances are it'll get ignored or only get minor
corrections and additions. If I start with a blatantly biased stub
which makes outrageous claims, you can almost guarantee one or more
gangs of people will become very interested in expanding the article.

Of course, once you've "hooked" some people, you have to revert to
being fair and neutral otherwise it's counter-productive.

Consensus and niceness are good things, but contention and
argument drive the wheel faster and produce more comprehensive
results.


-- 
jason at jasonandali.org.uk    http://www.jasonandali.org.uk/jason/

"If you happen to meet a crocodile, don't stick your head in its mouth.
Every now and then, and who knows the reason, people ignore this advice,
which is sad because they die, but very stupid because they were warned. 
They had a choice. The moral of the story is this - you can't afford to
be stupid. There are crocodiles..." -- Press Gang