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Balloon boy hoax article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject. |
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Q1: Why can't the Internet Historian video be used as a source?
A1: Per Wikipedia's guidelines, self-published YouTube videos are not a
reliable source. We understand and respect the motivation for coming here to
right a great wrong. This is not the place to soapbox what you think is
truth. Please understand we can only report material which is
verifiable from
reliable and
secondary sources. Since the
first discussion about the video, this has been established on here several times. |
![]() | Discussions on this page often lead to previous arguments being restated. Please read recent comments and review the FAQ before commenting. |
![]() | Balloon boy hoax was a Social sciences and society good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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This article must adhere to the biographies of living persons (BLP) policy, even if it is not a biography, because it contains material about living persons. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libellous. If such material is repeatedly inserted, or if you have other concerns, please report the issue to this noticeboard.If you are a subject of this article, or acting on behalf of one, and you need help, please see this help page. |
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![]() | This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (color, defense, traveled) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus. |
![]() | Text and/or other creative content from Falcon Heene was copied or moved into Colorado balloon incident with this edit. The former page's history now serves to provide attribution for that content in the latter page, and it must not be deleted as long as the latter page exists. |
This line in the article is false. In the liftoff home video you can hear Bradford hear "Dad, Falcon's in the ship." Reuben dskl ( talk) 20:56, 8 October 2022 (UTC)
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Change all instances of “Balloon Boy hoax” to “Balloon Boy Incident” the Heene family was pardoned and it is now confirmed not to be a hoax, so it is inaccurate and offensive to call it one 142.181.101.107 ( talk) 04:31, 15 October 2022 (UTC)
Backread some of the previous topics. That really does seem like bias, especially after the Heenes were officially pardoned, and there’s clear evidence of police lying on transcripts, illegally questioning children, etc. 2600:6C5E:447F:AEC2:50B9:3795:D697:FE2E ( talk) 05:06, 14 January 2023 (UTC)
I read through the many arguments, debates, and requests on this topic and acknowledge both sides. I understand that Wikipedia should follow verified sources, and news is one. However, at the same time, many people see Wikipedia as a neutral and objective website and a foundation for their own opinions. News sources are verified, but that does not mean they are objective. They will use more powerful imagery for views at the time, and the strong word "hoax" is one.
Wikipedia does not shy away from euphemisms, and on whatever side you are on, I think you can agree that "incident" is a neutral word that still means the same thing. Wikipedia can present the sources inside the article, show the media's explanation, and the user can make their own opinion on whether he is guilty or not.
Yes, people should bother news instead, but search for balloon boy on any search engine. The first link that shows up is Wikipedia, it will display Wikipedia on the side, and most search engines trust Wikipedia as a neutral source to display to the user. Wikipedia is important, the start of any understanding of this subject, not the news. And the first step to anyone's research would be a giant title saying "Hoax."
I'm not arguing we should use Wikipedia as the start of some movement, absolutely not. I am not arguing that the title should be "Misunderstanding" - I'm saying that it should be a neutral word between both sides. "Incident". Or a common suggestion - drop it and have "Balloon Boy." It is already unique enough, and from there, the user can make their own decision.
This will probably be ignored/deleted or something, but I just want to get my opinion out. I've never seen Wikipedia as just a regurgitation of what the news says, especially with how news is now trending towards a path of less reliability for more views. With that, I'm scared some event will happen, the news writes a wrong story on it, and Wikipedia is forced to forever stick to its story. 99.7.231.127 ( talk) 05:12, 25 January 2023 (UTC)
I've never seen Wikipedia as just a regurgitation of what the news says- Unfortunately this is almost by definition what Wikipedia is and aims to be. Of course it's not just "news", it's supposed to be reliable sources, which may include reliable news sources. Unfortunately in this case the balloon boy incident is pretty low stakes, so I doubt any reliable news source is interested in revisiting it. I do agree that a lot of news sources are not very thorough about what & how they report, but to be honest Internet Historian is a far worse source than what's used now, even if the video is entertaining and/or informative. And what would you have, Wikipedia make up its own stories? It's really just not Wikipedia's job (the editors' jobs) to determine "truth". HarryKernow (talk) 22:51, 26 January 2023 (UTC)
![]() | This
edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
In Popular Culture: the Balloon boy hoax is mentioned in the Fallout Boy rendition of Billy Joel's Hit Single We didn't start the fire Rayven1203 ( talk) 15:44, 12 July 2023 (UTC)
Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a
"change X to Y" format and provide a
reliable source if appropriate.
Not done: please provide
reliable sources that support the change you want to be made.
Xan747 (
talk)
01:05, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
![]() | This
edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
We should change this to the Balloon Boy incident, not hoax. They were innocent and victims of malicious persecution. The guy was even pardoned. 2001:569:BD51:1600:BC27:73BB:C19A:447 ( talk) 20:16, 23 June 2024 (UTC)
This is the
talk page for discussing improvements to the
Balloon boy hoax article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject. |
Article policies
|
Find sources: Google ( books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL |
Archives:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5Auto-archiving period: 66 days
![]() |
Frequently asked questions
Q1: Why can't the Internet Historian video be used as a source?
A1: Per Wikipedia's guidelines, self-published YouTube videos are not a
reliable source. We understand and respect the motivation for coming here to
right a great wrong. This is not the place to soapbox what you think is
truth. Please understand we can only report material which is
verifiable from
reliable and
secondary sources. Since the
first discussion about the video, this has been established on here several times. |
![]() | Discussions on this page often lead to previous arguments being restated. Please read recent comments and review the FAQ before commenting. |
![]() | Balloon boy hoax was a Social sciences and society good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake. | |||||||||||||||||||||
|
This article must adhere to the biographies of living persons (BLP) policy, even if it is not a biography, because it contains material about living persons. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libellous. If such material is repeatedly inserted, or if you have other concerns, please report the issue to this noticeboard.If you are a subject of this article, or acting on behalf of one, and you need help, please see this help page. |
![]() | This article is rated B-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to multiple WikiProjects. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
![]() | This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (color, defense, traveled) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus. |
![]() | Text and/or other creative content from Falcon Heene was copied or moved into Colorado balloon incident with this edit. The former page's history now serves to provide attribution for that content in the latter page, and it must not be deleted as long as the latter page exists. |
This line in the article is false. In the liftoff home video you can hear Bradford hear "Dad, Falcon's in the ship." Reuben dskl ( talk) 20:56, 8 October 2022 (UTC)
![]() | This
edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
Change all instances of “Balloon Boy hoax” to “Balloon Boy Incident” the Heene family was pardoned and it is now confirmed not to be a hoax, so it is inaccurate and offensive to call it one 142.181.101.107 ( talk) 04:31, 15 October 2022 (UTC)
Backread some of the previous topics. That really does seem like bias, especially after the Heenes were officially pardoned, and there’s clear evidence of police lying on transcripts, illegally questioning children, etc. 2600:6C5E:447F:AEC2:50B9:3795:D697:FE2E ( talk) 05:06, 14 January 2023 (UTC)
I read through the many arguments, debates, and requests on this topic and acknowledge both sides. I understand that Wikipedia should follow verified sources, and news is one. However, at the same time, many people see Wikipedia as a neutral and objective website and a foundation for their own opinions. News sources are verified, but that does not mean they are objective. They will use more powerful imagery for views at the time, and the strong word "hoax" is one.
Wikipedia does not shy away from euphemisms, and on whatever side you are on, I think you can agree that "incident" is a neutral word that still means the same thing. Wikipedia can present the sources inside the article, show the media's explanation, and the user can make their own opinion on whether he is guilty or not.
Yes, people should bother news instead, but search for balloon boy on any search engine. The first link that shows up is Wikipedia, it will display Wikipedia on the side, and most search engines trust Wikipedia as a neutral source to display to the user. Wikipedia is important, the start of any understanding of this subject, not the news. And the first step to anyone's research would be a giant title saying "Hoax."
I'm not arguing we should use Wikipedia as the start of some movement, absolutely not. I am not arguing that the title should be "Misunderstanding" - I'm saying that it should be a neutral word between both sides. "Incident". Or a common suggestion - drop it and have "Balloon Boy." It is already unique enough, and from there, the user can make their own decision.
This will probably be ignored/deleted or something, but I just want to get my opinion out. I've never seen Wikipedia as just a regurgitation of what the news says, especially with how news is now trending towards a path of less reliability for more views. With that, I'm scared some event will happen, the news writes a wrong story on it, and Wikipedia is forced to forever stick to its story. 99.7.231.127 ( talk) 05:12, 25 January 2023 (UTC)
I've never seen Wikipedia as just a regurgitation of what the news says- Unfortunately this is almost by definition what Wikipedia is and aims to be. Of course it's not just "news", it's supposed to be reliable sources, which may include reliable news sources. Unfortunately in this case the balloon boy incident is pretty low stakes, so I doubt any reliable news source is interested in revisiting it. I do agree that a lot of news sources are not very thorough about what & how they report, but to be honest Internet Historian is a far worse source than what's used now, even if the video is entertaining and/or informative. And what would you have, Wikipedia make up its own stories? It's really just not Wikipedia's job (the editors' jobs) to determine "truth". HarryKernow (talk) 22:51, 26 January 2023 (UTC)
![]() | This
edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
In Popular Culture: the Balloon boy hoax is mentioned in the Fallout Boy rendition of Billy Joel's Hit Single We didn't start the fire Rayven1203 ( talk) 15:44, 12 July 2023 (UTC)
Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a
"change X to Y" format and provide a
reliable source if appropriate.
Not done: please provide
reliable sources that support the change you want to be made.
Xan747 (
talk)
01:05, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
![]() | This
edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
We should change this to the Balloon Boy incident, not hoax. They were innocent and victims of malicious persecution. The guy was even pardoned. 2001:569:BD51:1600:BC27:73BB:C19A:447 ( talk) 20:16, 23 June 2024 (UTC)