Below are answers to
frequently asked questions about the corresponding page
Douglas MacArthur. They address concerns, questions, and misconceptions which have repeatedly arisen on the talk page. Please feel free to change this material in light of new discussion.
Controversies, praise, and criticism
Q1: Why isn't there a criticisms/controversies section?
A1: Because a section dedicated to criticisms and controversies is no more appropriate than a section dedicated solely to praises and is an indication of a poorly written article. Criticisms/controversies/praises should be worked into the existing prose of the article, per
WP:CRIT.
Q2: Why isn't a certain controversy/criticism/praise included in this article?
A2: Wikipedia's
Neutral Point of View policy says that "All Wikipedia articles and other encyclopedic content must be written from a neutral point of view, representing fairly, proportionately, and as far as possible without bias, all significant views that have been published by reliable sources. This is non-negotiable and expected of all articles and all editors." Criticism or praise that cannot be
reliably sourced cannot be placed in a biography. Also, including everything about MacArthur in a single article would exceed Wikipedia's article size restrictions. A number of sub-articles have been created and some controversies/criticisms/praises have been
summarized here or been left out of this article altogether, but are covered in some detail in the sub-articles.
Q3: This article needs much more (or much less) criticism/controversy.
A3: Please try to
assume good faith. Like all articles on Wikipedia, this article is a work in progress so it is possible for biases to exist at any point in time. If you see a bias that you wish to address, you are more than welcome to start a new discussion, or join in an existing discussion, but please be ready to provide sources to support your viewpoint and try to keep your comments
civil. Starting off your discussion by accusing the editors of this article of having a bias is the quickest way to get your comment ignored.
Other issues
Q4: This article is over 100kb long,
WP:SIZE says that it should be broken up into sub-articles. Why hasn't this happened?
A4: The restriction mentioned in WP:SIZE is 100kB of readable prose (which corresponds to about 10,000 words), not the byte count you see when you open the page for editing. As of December 2023, this article had about 19,300 words of readable prose (114 kB according to
prosesize tool), which is over the limit. The rest is mainly
citations and invisible comments, which do not count towards the limit.
Q5: I added something to the article but it got removed. Why?
A5: In all probability what you added was trivia, unsourced information or information cited to an
unreliable source; such information is usually removed quickly. Articles on Wikipedia require reliable sources for an independent verification of the facts presented, consequently any information added to an article without a reliable source is subject to removal from the article at any Wikipedian's discretion.
Q6: I tried to edit this article but couldn't. Why?
A6: This article has been indefinitely
semi-protected due to persistent
vandalism or violations of
content policy. Semi-protection prevents edits from
anonymous users (IP addresses), as well as edits from any account that is not
autoconfirmed (is at least four days old and has ten or more edits to Wikipedia) or
confirmed. Such users can request edits to this article by proposing them on this talk page, using the {{
editsemiprotected}} template if necessary to gain attention. They may also request the confirmed userright by visiting
Requests for permissions.
Below are answers to
frequently asked questions about the corresponding page
Douglas MacArthur. They address concerns, questions, and misconceptions which have repeatedly arisen on the talk page. Please feel free to change this material in light of new discussion.
Controversies, praise, and criticism
Q1: Why isn't there a criticisms/controversies section?
A1: Because a section dedicated to criticisms and controversies is no more appropriate than a section dedicated solely to praises and is an indication of a poorly written article. Criticisms/controversies/praises should be worked into the existing prose of the article, per
WP:CRIT.
Q2: Why isn't a certain controversy/criticism/praise included in this article?
A2: Wikipedia's
Neutral Point of View policy says that "All Wikipedia articles and other encyclopedic content must be written from a neutral point of view, representing fairly, proportionately, and as far as possible without bias, all significant views that have been published by reliable sources. This is non-negotiable and expected of all articles and all editors." Criticism or praise that cannot be
reliably sourced cannot be placed in a biography. Also, including everything about MacArthur in a single article would exceed Wikipedia's article size restrictions. A number of sub-articles have been created and some controversies/criticisms/praises have been
summarized here or been left out of this article altogether, but are covered in some detail in the sub-articles.
Q3: This article needs much more (or much less) criticism/controversy.
A3: Please try to
assume good faith. Like all articles on Wikipedia, this article is a work in progress so it is possible for biases to exist at any point in time. If you see a bias that you wish to address, you are more than welcome to start a new discussion, or join in an existing discussion, but please be ready to provide sources to support your viewpoint and try to keep your comments
civil. Starting off your discussion by accusing the editors of this article of having a bias is the quickest way to get your comment ignored.
Other issues
Q4: This article is over 100kb long,
WP:SIZE says that it should be broken up into sub-articles. Why hasn't this happened?
A4: The restriction mentioned in WP:SIZE is 100kB of readable prose (which corresponds to about 10,000 words), not the byte count you see when you open the page for editing. As of December 2023, this article had about 19,300 words of readable prose (114 kB according to
prosesize tool), which is over the limit. The rest is mainly
citations and invisible comments, which do not count towards the limit.
Q5: I added something to the article but it got removed. Why?
A5: In all probability what you added was trivia, unsourced information or information cited to an
unreliable source; such information is usually removed quickly. Articles on Wikipedia require reliable sources for an independent verification of the facts presented, consequently any information added to an article without a reliable source is subject to removal from the article at any Wikipedian's discretion.
Q6: I tried to edit this article but couldn't. Why?
A6: This article has been indefinitely
semi-protected due to persistent
vandalism or violations of
content policy. Semi-protection prevents edits from
anonymous users (IP addresses), as well as edits from any account that is not
autoconfirmed (is at least four days old and has ten or more edits to Wikipedia) or
confirmed. Such users can request edits to this article by proposing them on this talk page, using the {{
editsemiprotected}} template if necessary to gain attention. They may also request the confirmed userright by visiting
Requests for permissions.