[WikiEN-l] Challenge: explain NPOV in a sentence.

[Stephen Bain]

On 8/7/06, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
> The press concentrate on the wiki method and editability as the most
> amazing thing about Wikipedia.
>
> But I think NPOV is possibly a more important innovation.

I wholeheartedly agree.

> I'm sorely lacking in snappy quotes, though. I ask your assistance:
> Explain NPOV in a sentence. Two sentences if you have to.

"We aim to describe, neutrally and fairly, all significant viewpoints
on a subject, without giving any viewpoint weight undue to its
prominence within the relevant field. Our goal is not to advocate or
rebut any viewpoint, nor to present a new viewpoint, but to describe
existing ones in a manner that partisans on all sides can be satisfied
with."

This definition doesn't cover sources and attribution, but it is
already fairly long, and it could easily be covered by using an
accompanying illustration, perhaps referencing the formulation
summarised from Jimbo's "NPOV and new physics" email
(http://mail.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2003-September/006653.html),
under the "undue weight" section of the NPOV page.

I can't think of the perfect example right now, but it would need to
be one that has one or more majority views, a significant minority
view (presented, say, by several reputable people in the relevant
field), and perhaps a few extreme minority views which can be
unproblematically omitted.

Some of these terms may also require clarification, such as "fair"
(not describing views with a partisan tone, rather "with the tone that
all positions presented are at least plausible").

-- 
Stephen Bain
stephen.bain at gmail.com