[Wikimedia-l] Why the WP will never be a real encyclopaedia

[Mathieu Stumpf]

Hey, what about writing the "White people self-centered writings" 
article? ;P

Le 2013-08-01 22:22, Rui Correia a écrit :
> Dear Colleagues at the Foundation
>
> I just came across an artecle called "White Africans of European 
> ancestry".
> What is that even supposed to mean?  Who would be any other "white 
> people"
> if not of Europen ancestry? What other white people (yes, WP has a
> definition of "white people" could these be? Especially as it already 
> says
> on the talk page that Arabs don't count.
>
>
> When we have 'white people' creating every conceivable article about 
> 'white
> people', but we have no 'Khoi' people writing about 'Khoi people, 
> then we
> can't call the WP an encyclopaedia. But them the rules do say - 
> somewhere -
> that "just because ...". And those "just because" rules are all over 
> the
> place - you can't use what was done in one case to justify another 
> similar
> case because someone is bound to throw a "just because" rule at you. 
> But
> the "just because ..." rule applies only when it is convenient - the
> corollary of the "just because .." is "I know more rules and tricks 
> than
> you and I will win this/ I will not allow you to have your way even 
> if I
> have to break all the rules and make new ones as I go along".
>
> So, "just because" there isn't an artice about "Khoi people living in
> Denmark" is no reason to not have an article about "White Europens of
> Europen descent livng in Patagonia" or "White Europens of Europen 
> descent
> livng in Timbaktu". We have allowed ourselves to fall victim of the 
> digital
> divide - the Khoi don't have computers and internet, white Europeans 
> do.
> That is not an encyclopaedia.
>
> Why don't we have a page on "Black Americans of African ancestry"?
> Or "Black Europeans of African ancestry"? Strangely enough, type 
> "Black
> African" and you get redirected to Black people, BUT the redirect 
> actually
> takes you all the way down to Africa - yes, the article on Black 
> people
> does not start with Africa, but with the United States, then Brazil 
> ....
>
> Like I said, When we have 'white people' creating every conceivable 
> article
> about 'white people', but we have no 'Khoi' people writing about 
> 'Khoi
> people, ...
>
> The same goes for the so-called "Biographies of Living People". I had 
> my
> first clash on WP on the issue of the "dual nationality" of Nelly 
> Furtado.
> Two hundred million people see her as Portuguese, three - yes, 3 - 
> editors
> disagree and BRAG they will NEVER ALLOW it. The rationale changes, as 
> can
> be seen from the talk pages and archives. They go as far as 
> 'challenging'
> editors that NF sees herself as Portuguese, to then dismiss all the
> evidence as not good enough - even Nelly HERSELF saying she is 
> PORTUGESE
> was thrown out! Why? Obvious! She doesn't count, she is not a NEUTRAL
> source!!!!!!!!!!! We have become a joke!
>
> How about being constructive?
>
> If we can come up with every conceivable script in the world, why has
> nobody come up with a script for controversial articles that would 
> appear
> on the the edit page - like the script that says the article is 
> protected -
> ALERTING unsuspecting editors to the fact that said article is 
> cotroversial
> for xand y reason, and that if the edit the editor is about to do 
> falls
> under that theme, to please first read the talk page, with a direct 
> link
> ALSO to an explanation on BLP and the issue of ethnic background/ 
> present
> nationality. It would save lots of wasted time and effort and the 
> three
> editors who spend sleepless nights reverting the artcile might 
> actually do
> something constructive for a change.
>
> In closing, of the nine people featured in photos on that page, I 
> know
> (have met 5) and correspond with 2 - I can guarantee that all five of 
> them
> (and most likley all 9 [or the descendents of those no longer with 
> us])
> would object to being featured in such a racist article.
>
> I will write to them about this. I know that each one is not a valid 
> source
> about him/ herself and therefore them objecting will probably not 
> count.
> Just as an side, in case you didn't know, the census in Brazil is 
> done on
> the basis of how people see themselves - white, back, green, pink - 
> and
> then we carry those figures here in the WP. Ah, sorry, those figures 
> are
> credible, because they come from the CIA fact book, people speaking 
> for
> themselves are not.
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Rui
> --
> Rui Correia
> Advocacy, Human Rights, Media and Language Consultant

-- 
Association Culture-Libre
http://www.culture-libre.org/