[WikiEN-l] A definite version of WP:CRYSTAL

[Mark Gallagher]

G'day Andrew,

> 2008/11/13 Jay Litwyn :
> > Since I believe in global warming and I see a contest between it
> and
> > economics, I see a very hot dispute that really should be
> off-loaded. There
> > are so many other places for volatile information to go. In other
> words, if
> > someone did [[global warming]], I think they should expect to end
> up on
> > another site, unless the article is restricted to history.
> I think this is going to end in tears - where do we draw the line?
> Do
> we just not talk about global warming; do we talk about it as
> something that is believed to have happened up to and including last
> week; do we talk about it and imply it may continue to happen; do we
> talk about it in general terms in the future but give no numbers?
> I'm not sure this approach is helpful; it tries to deal with a small
> set of specific (percieved) problems by applying a draconian general
> rule. I mean, take cosmology. We'd be a shoddy encyclopedia if we
> didn't talk about the [[heat death of the universe]], a very
> well-known concept... but it's entirely hypothetical, it exists as a
> paper theory with some substantiating numbers, and it's several
> billion years ahead.

I seem to recall WP:CRYSTAL's original purpose was to stop people writing about predicted future events years before they occurred (e.g. [[Playstation 9]]).  Actually, most examples I can think of come from computer games, film, or music.  Call WP:CRYSTAL just one of many tools to defend against overwhelming geekgasm.

The point was to prevent Wikipedians from making predictions (Playstation 9 will come out in 2017, and it will be AWESOME!!!; Star Wars XVII will come out, and it will SUCK DONKEY BALLS!!!), not to stop us from reporting on others' predictions.  So it's entirely appropriate to have an article on [[Heat death of the universe]], [[Global warming]], and even [[2012 London Olympics]].  Indeed, to ask the question --- is it appropriate to talk about global warming, heat death of the universe, whatever --- is to be elevating a badly-written policy above common sense.  Again.


-- 
Mark Gallagher
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http://formonelane.net/
"Even potatoes have their bad days, Igor." --- Count Duckula