Jimmy Wales wrote:
Skyring wrote:
The difference is that some people actively argue that the earth is not a sphere, whereas those who argue that Paris is not the capital of France so far have kept their activities secret.
If a fact is contentious, then it should be backed up with a cite.
I can't agree with you that flat earthers constitute a sufficiently respectable or large position that we need to treat the roundness of the earth as the sort of fact that necessitates a citation.
Part of the problem is that the people raising the flat earth argument are not themselves falt earthers. Hypothesizing arguments that aren't being made, and generating well-reasoned and documented counter-arguments are the essence of straw man reasoning. Without being disrespectful to them we should wait until we hear from genuine flat-earthers before documenting the alternate view.
While we are waiting for them may I hypothesize that the edges of our flat earth are decorated by a fringe of trolls waiting for the unwary. :-)
Ec