Jimmy Wales wrote:
Rick wrote:
But what do we do in the future if an editor insists on adding two or three stores or restaurants and won't let the ads be removed?
Is it really an 'ad'? I'd say it's only an 'ad' if the person inserting it is trying to promote her or her own business, or the business of a client, and that there's no reason for the information to be there otherwise.
Of course even if it isn't an ad, that doesn't mean that it necessarily should go in the article, but depending on the entire context of the situation, perhaps it should.
I think it will only rarely ever be the case that there's an actual irreconcilable difference between reasonable parties to a discussion. Usually there will be a way to improve the article generally in a way that is satisfactory to both sides.
If one party is actually being completely unreasonable, and will not compromise, then of course it ends up eventually in mediation and arbitration, right?
The problem in this kind of situation arises when an editor sees no solution but to remove what he views to be offending material. The person whose material is being removed understandably sees that removal as an offensive act.
Some people tend to view some of this local information as non-encyclopedic, but sometimes it is exactly what gives flavour to a place. Even those of us who condemn the excesses of capitalism can recognize that certain commercial enterprises play an important social and cultural role in their respective communities. If one were to extrapolate Rick's argument that the mention of the pizza restaurants constitutes advertising, then we should also delete the Disneyland article because it is effectively advertising for the theme park. Imagine the arguments if someone tried to delete that article.
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