[Wikipedia-l] Re: Why I don't believe (any more) in NPOV

[Ilya N.]

Andre Engels wrote:
> NPOV. Neutral Point Of View. It sounds so good. But does it work? I doubt it.
> At least, I doubt whether it works in the way it is now used on Wikipedia.
> 
> Suppose I believe that the Earth is not round but cube-shaped. And I have
> arguments for it. So I put these on [[Earth]]. Next someone else comes, and
> says that that's bollocks. He adds all kids of arguments on why the Earth
> is really a sphere, and arguments against mine. Then I put arguments against
> his. And soon we spend most of the Earth page discussing arguments for and
> against a cubical Earth. Is that really the way to go?
> 
> To be honest, I don't know whether I believe in NPOV. Or ever did. It sounds
> very good in theory. In practice, it does not seem to work. At least not for
> me. Let me state that differently - it works for some things, not for others.
> I am perfectly happy to give pro and contra views when discussing political
> or ethical topics. But when I talk about scientifical subjects, I go with the
> mainstream scientific point of view.
> 
> Actually, my problems may lay deeper. A cubic Earth I can refute. But what if
> someone claims that Siberia had a tropical climate until 4000 years ago? It
> sounds like nonsense to me, but I cannot give the arguments against it. I can
> probably find out what the general idea is about the climate of Siberia 4000
> years ago, but on what information this is based I do not know. So should we
> just let such a claim with its arguments stand, and add "however, generally
> it is assumed that Siberia 4000 years ago was as cold or even somewhat colder
> than now"?
> 
> What is the solution? I do not know. Maybe we should try to find more people
> of established nature, not to write articles, but just to rate them. Maybe we
> should be less unhappy to delete material on pages, or even start pages all
> over at times. Maybe there's no problem at all, and it is me who is wrong.
> Maybe there simply is no solution. I don't know. What I do know is that I find
> working on Wikipedia a rather irritating thing to do lately. And irritation is
> not what one expects to get from a hobby.
> 
> At WikipediaNL they have asked me why I suddenly left. There you have it.
> 
> Goodbye(?)
> 
> Andre Engels

I must say, you have some good points