[WikiEN-l] Our credibility is questioned

[Poor, Edmund W]

Eileen wrote:

> I was laboring under the false impression 
> that the purpose of Wikipedia was to present 
> factual information in an encyclopedic form.  
> The answer I received from Delerium/Mark 
> makes it abundantly clear that I was mistaken 
> in this evaluation.

And

> I will retain the answers I have received to 
> this query as background and support of my 
> position and will simply refuse in the future
> to accept any citation from Wikipedia as a 
> reference to a legitimate authority but will 
> put it in the same class as a letter to the 
> editor in a small local newspaper.

This is precisely the sort of misunderstanding 
I was hoping would be averted, if we could 
convey our neutrality policy properly. 

Unfortunately, after a brief encounter with 
the mailing list, a person who may have 
considerable influence among readers has now 
dismissed this project as having any standing 
as a useful reference.

What are everyone's thoughts on Eileen's 
evaluation of our editorial policy on articles 
relating to abortion?

Ed Poor