[WikiEN-l] POV nomenclature

[Stan Shebs]

stevertigo wrote:

>--- Stan Shebs <shebs at apple.com> wrote:
>
>
>>Do you think we should retitle the articles on "Department of
>>Defense", or "Planned Parenthood", or "Operation Save America..."
>>
>
>This argument is disingenous, if not entirely an appeal to ridicule. 
>The context of this discussion is military terms, which, 
>(according the Wikipedia article at least) are POV by their very nature. 
>(Bill names represent particular documents - not events.)
>
Make up your mind - later you say "Either we have a culture that
respects NPOV or we do not." If you want to make this into some
kind of moral absolute that applies to all of WP, you can't then
backpedal and say it's really only about military terminology.
Why are you singling out the military for different treatment? If
"bigger guns" matter so much, then it should apply throughout the
governments that rely on them, to people and corporations that
reap benefits from the government's guns, etc.

>>Many operation names get trumped by popular usage, which is as it should
>>be. If there is not yet a clear popular usage, fall back to official
>>names. Only if there are dueling official names, with no popular
>>preference, does it make sense to invent a term. NPOV shouldn't even
>>be a consideration, save it for the article.
>>
>
>Sometimes we have to make up our own names. I refer occasionally to the 
> [[Iraq disarmament crisis]] - something coined by me. 
>
And that's cool, if it's not original research. What's not cool is
to put ourselves up as judge and jury on the terms that the rest
of the world has already chosen to use.

Stan