[WikiEN-l] On the Middle East, on the Jimbo-RK-Danny dispute, etc.

[Charles Matthews]

Also being someone who reads this list without posting much, I was trying
for some perspective rather than intending to get involved.

In the abstract, I assumed that WP will always encounter problems in trying
to include everything; because writing contemporary history in the making is
not only contentious but probably based on sources that are incomplete.

The 'least bad' solution would seem to me to be a 'pendulum arbitration'
plus 'cooling-off' period mechanism for edit wars: someone decides which of
two versions is less unreasonable, and locks the page for a period of ten
days.  Here pendulum arbitration comes from labour disputes, where you don't
try to find the middle point (which encourages extreme positions) but choose
one or other side.

As for the Middle East, I had a look at some pages.  The coverage overall
seems creditable, but there does seem to be plenty of POV to work on.  I
looked at some RK edits and wasn't impressed.  Even if he's correct on the
balance of lack of NPOV (which might be true), I came away disliking his
advocacy.

Charles