[WikiEN-l] NPOV disputes in Polish-German articles

Mirko Thiessen mt at mirko-thiessen.de
Tue Oct 28 21:34:34 UTC 2003


NPOV in the articles concerning all events and locations along the
German-Polish border has always been difficult to attain. I don't know
what the trigger was, but for almost two weeks now many articles are
in the permanent state of edit war. Wikipedians interested in
anything, but not in neutral articles, are reverting and re-reverting,
insulting each other and ignoring the basic Wikiquette. Take Silesia
or Gdansk as some examples.

I am completely at a loss, where all this hatred comes from. My
unsuccessful attempts to mediate in this conflict have completely
shattered my nerves. I am not used to be affronted by narrow-minded
nationalists from either side, and after one party had demanded my
de-adminship, I gave up and retreated from these articles. Another
user with courageous attempts to solve the conflict, Ruhrjung, has
reacted in the same way.

I had some days of thinking, what to do in this conflict, and I am at
a loss. Editing these articles is almost impossible, because you are
either reverted or insulted (or, most likely, both). This is not the
atmosphere where I am
willing to participate anymore. Probably it is, because I am engaged
in a special area within Wikipedia, but from my angle Wikipedia is not
the same place anymore. Please think about, how these disputes can be
handled. Good work of many years is destroyed within few days in the
moment.


Good luck,

Mirko (Cordyph)




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