[WikiEN-l] Arbitration Commitee Seeking Comment

[steven l. rubenstein]

Sean Barret wrote,

>I am not lying when I say I am worried.  I am worried about people who
>want to set up committees to decide what points of view will not be
>allowed to be represented in Wikipedia.

This is indeed a straw-man argument (to give Sean the benefit of the doubt; 
if it is not a straw man argument, it is either a deliberate lie, or an 
example of un-comprehension).  No one -- no one at all -- has said that 
they want to set up a committee to decide which points of view will not be 
allowed on Wikipedia.  On the contrary, Jayguk has suggested a committee 
which will enforce NPOV, and Mav's suggested committees will obviously 
adhere to our NPOV policy.  Sean is clouding the issue by claiming it has 
anything to do with NPOV.  Or he believes that our NPOV policy means that 
anything anyone writes stays, whether it is accurate or properly sourced or 
not.  If this is what Sean thinks, he is seriously misunderstanding or 
deliberately misrepresenting our NPOV policy and I suggest he take the time 
to read it.

Of course, misunderstanding or misrepresentation is something Sean is 
well-practiced at.  In reply to an earlier e-mail of mine, he wrote, "Silly 
statements that are so very hard to spot that they cannot be rebutted and 
can only be corrected by rendering them unexpressible are not 
silly."  Again no one -- no one at all -- has ever said that false 
statements can be corrected "only" by rendering them "unexpressible," nor 
have I or anyone else ever even suggested that content should be rendered 
unexpressible.  This is a matter of style, not content.  Falsehoods can be 
rendered unexpressible, truths or facts can be rendered lucid, even 
eloquent.  The proposals circulating have nothing to do with style, only 
with content -- which is what an encyclopedia is all about.

People can "express" their personal views on talk-pages.  But Sean seems to 
think that Wikipedia is a chat-room, not an encyclopedia.  In an 
encyclopedia, verifiable and accurate (yes, presented in an NPOV way, as 
everyone agrees) really are important.

Steve



Steven L. Rubenstein
Associate Professor
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Bentley Annex
Ohio University
Athens, Ohio 45701