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(another editor noticed the problem and fixed it himself.)
Could someone please review the statements in the Huntington article under the heading "Who Are We and immigration", especially everything after the first paragraph. In my opinion that looks like a blatant transgression of NPOV, but a second opinion would be great. I also note that the passage is referenced to some schmuck's blog, not a reliable source. Please help me out as to what to do after the assessment has been conducted. Thanks for your help. - The Fwanksta ( talk) 20:11, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
Can the following comments be reviewed by someone not at Acadia University or dealing with its newspaper? "The Editor in chief for 2007 - 2008 is Lucas Timmons. It is illustrated in his editorial of 25 October, 2007, entitled The world's smallest $8,062 violin, that Mr. Timmons is incredibly lacking in journalistic integrity, objectivity, and harbors a general lack of respect towards the largest demographic in his reader base - the students of Acadia University.[1]" It seems the author has a problem with the Editor-in-Chief, but I don't think disagreeing with an opinion piece is basis for calling journalistic integrity into question. 2 March 2008.
It might be nice if there were some clearer guideline for NPOV for admins to follow like 3RR. We do have warnings like {{subst:uw-npov1|Article}} and so on. Maybe a "3 strikes and you are out" rule? Maybe if someone asks what is NPOV repeatedly (3 times? 4??) over a short period (like a week), hoping to get a different answer and clogging up talk pages with spamming and tendentious argumentation, they could be warned and then sanctioned? Maybe introducing NPOV edits over and over would be sanctioned once warned? This would make it easier to track and easier for admins to address. The problem is, if someone says $%^&, an admin can tell that. If someone reverts 3 times and has been warned, an admin can tell that. If someone is pushing NPOV, no admin wants to be bothered. And involved admins cannot get involved or lose their adminship.-- Filll ( talk) 17:59, 28 February 2008 (UTC)
Please review Gillian_McKeith. IMO the article is too critical. Slow, gentle, edits between groups means the article has drifted away from a concise description of her and her work and controversies surrounding her (which certainly are notable) into a jumbled mish-mash of BLP-skirting attacks and hippy nutritionist POV. Most of that just requires gentle tweaks to fix. I'm concerned about the cats that get added, especially the "resume frauds and controversies" which should probably be renamed. Dan Beale-Cocks 19:30, 28 February 2008 (UTC)
I think there is some misunderstanding here. You have seen the 3RR noticeboard? People go there, present diffs that show there has been a 3RR problem and that the person who did it was warned. Sometimes others provide other diffs if they disagree. And then, an admin gets a few other admins to suggest yes, someone should act. So one of them does. And that is that.
We should do the same here. So suppose that one of the editors on homeopathy claims to me that homeopathy is not a FRINGE belief, and does not need to be represented in proportion to its prominence, and need not have any negative or critical material in the article, especially the LEAD. And we argue about this and I am told over and over that homeopathy should not be described in a critical light. And I provide links to policy. And they are rejected. And I get frustrated. So I warn the person with an NPOV warning. And they continue. So I come here. I provide diffs to show I presented policy, and warned and it was all thrown in my face. And people can see the situation from a quick glance at the diffs. And decide to act, or not. Maybe a 24 or 48 hour block to get their attention. Maybe a warning. Maybe an escalating block or longer block or whatever. And the person who is coming across the situation for the first time does not need to read 300 KB of talk page and 100 KB of article page. They can see 20 sentences in 2 or 3 diffs. And make a decision. -- Filll ( talk) 00:47, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
There are some very simple cases. And of course there are more complicated cases. Which I think it states above might require an RfC or something. But a lot that I have seen are just simple. However, it is not easy to get anyone to act on them since the powers that be and culture has looked down on NPOV I believe. But my hope is, with this noticeboard and maybe a set of reasonable procedures, we can elevate its status and make it more readily and more easily and more frequently enforced. And then stop a HUGE problem with WP culture.
For example, I have been in MANY conversations where someone says "I want to do X". I and 10 others tell this editor that they cannot do X since it violates NPOV. And they fight and argue about what NPOV is and how they should be allowed to do X. And no one can do a darn thing about it. And we spend hours and hours and sometimes weeks or months on this nonsense. When really, the first day the person who says "I want to do X" and we point out that it is against NPOV, should be blocked immediately if they do not actually understand, and continue to argue against policy. That simple. One, two, three, block. It would change a lot.-- Filll ( talk) 01:48, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
For a real example, lets consider the MH case that turned into the big long 2 month + Arbcomm proceeding and 2 RfCs etc and wasted an infinite amount of time and lead to at least two admins leaving WP, at least for a few months and maybe longer. It started as an NPOV problem, at least in part. If MH had pushed his NPOV ideas, I would have been able to tell him the policy. He continued to argue. I could have hit him with a warning. And he might have continued to argue. I could have then brought it here with maybe 3 diffs. And the whole thing could have been resolved. No week of fighting. No controversy about his block. Maybe he would have learned his lesson after a short block and be productive today. We would have saved him as a potential editor, the admin who was hauled up on charges as a test case, the arbcomm member who left in embarassment, the ugliness of two RfCs that were pointless, the endless fighting and bickering etc. All might have been resolved quickly by pounding the crap out of MH very quickly and threatening him savagely for violating WP policy. And maybe scaring him into behaving. And that would have been that. And his behavior would have been documented early before things escalated out of hand etc. So...-- Filll ( talk) 02:04, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
I am afraid Anthon01 your situation probably falls in the 80%. Your issues with NPOV are just not that difficult. However, some want to make these issues difficult. But to everyone who has half a clue, or who does not have an agenda, it is simple. And we have described what to do with the 20% several times on this page. Might be a useful exercise for you to actually find it and read it, but I am pretty sure that option is not relevant to your problems.-- Filll ( talk) 03:06, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
Deadly nightshade is used in homeopathic prepartions for acne, boils, and sunburns despite the absence of any scientific evidence for the effectiveness of such a use. 1 2
An argument against inclusion is based on an interpretation of the WP:UNDUE portion of NPOV. This interpretation warrants that a source must be presented which shows not that Deadly Nightshade is prominent to Homeopathy but rather that Homeopathy is prominent to Deadly Nightshade. I have asked for passages from NPOV which justify this rationale and have not seen an answer. Meanwhile, many references have been provided all confirming that Deadly Nightshade is in fact used in the preparation of a homeopathic remedy. This usage has been notable enough to be researched in a few dozen studies published in notable scientific journals, and written about in both homeopathic and non-homeopathic books; most relevant to this discussion is its mention in the Oxford Book of Health Food and its description in Medline. My thought is that if we are indeed looking for "prominence", the mentions in high-quality sources such as these provide such. However, the requirement that those against inclusion are asking to be met in order to satisfy WP:UNDUE is a source which explicitly quantifies just how prominent homeopathy is to Deadly nightshade. (I am unsure if this means that they believe that WEIGHT requires us to present a source which gives an estimate of how many people use such a remedy, or what percentage of a deadly nightshade crop is used for homeopathic preparations, or something else.)
The other point I would like to bring up is that the proposed sentence does not include any kind of minority viewpoint. For it is not a "viewpoint" that Deadly nightshade is used to prepare several kinds of homeopathic remedies. This is absolute fact. No opinion about it. (Just do a Google search for "deadly nightshade homeopathy" - or use its other names "belladonna" and "atropa" and marvel at all of the remedies available for purchase!) The only viewpoint in this sentence is that there is an absence of scientific evidence for the effectiveness of these remedies. This of course is not a minority viewpoint, but rather the scientific viewpoint. In my estimation, a minority viewpoint would be something to the effect of: Homeopaths maintain that such remedies are effective. However, this is not part of the proposed sentence.
So there it is. Neutrally worded from the sources and totally verified. The question which I would like answered is: Does the inclusion of this text at Deadly nightshade in any way violate WP:NPOV? If so, how? Please be specific.
Finally, I am not looking for opinions about the merits of homeopathy from other editors here. Though if it helps, please know that I don't believe in homeopathy. I am not supporting inclusion because I am a "true believer" but rather because I think this would be interesting and relevant information for a reader of this article to have; every bit as interesting and relevant as Deadly nightshade's recreational drug use, other medicinal uses, folklore and mentions in the media/pop culture. All I want to know is if the inclusion of this text violates NPOV in any way and if so, how? Thanks (and I think this board is a fantastic idea and a longtime overdue)! -- Levine2112 discuss 03:13, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
I made some comments which help in this regard here. I think that they serve to explain things as well as we need to. ScienceApologist ( talk) 03:53, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
Effectively, it is the prominence of the connected idea with reference to the subject that needs to be established in order to justify the inclusion or exclusion of an idea per the undue weight clause.
The only way to determine the prominence of a connected idea with respect to the subject is to find reliable sources that assert the prominence of the idea with respect to the subject.
A reliable source in this instance is any mainstream independent source that is about the subject in question.
Generally speaking I find the statement at the top of this section to be Original research. Personally I think it is likely to be true. So allow me to suggest that we find renowned scientist(s) to quote or paraphrase within the statement itself. And furthermore if there are other renowned scientist(s) who dispute that statement we should find a way to quote or paraphrase them. Another option would be to simply tag the article or section with an OR tag and leave it for a future Rfc. : Albion moonlight ( talk) 11:15, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
My personal preference has been to suggest that we forge some sort of compromise that the major players on both sides of this issue would sign onto, and we could point to in the future and enforce. My suggestion has been that (1) we have a centralized list of the major notable homeopathic remedies (also suggested by User: ScienceApologist, and which we now have) (2) We agree that to pick some arbitrary number of the "most notable" or most important of these homeopathic remedies which would be potentially have a short statement like that at the top of this section included in their articles (possibly the number would be about 40 or 50 or 60 or so) (3) We try to establish under the WP rules cited above such as WP:UNDUE for each individual article whether the mention of homeopathy is appropriate or not.
After our quota of 40-60 materials has been filled, any new article in which someone wanted to introduce a homeopathy discussion would have to be judged more appropriate than one of those articles already having such a mention, and passing that threshold, replace that article in the list. We could do the same for biographies of people who used homeopathy as well, so that every famous person who is rumored to have used homeopathy or who might have used homeopathy or who might have tried homeopathy does not end up with a paragraph promoting homeopathy in their Wikipedia biography. If we forge this agreement and get a substantial number on both sides interested in homeopathy to sign on, then we will have clear guidelines that all can abide by. Anyone new coming to the discussion will have evidence of a consensus they have to live with, or replace with a similar new consensus.
The advantages of this are that we do document homeopathy appropriately, but we do not go overboard and create a situation where we could potentially have thousands of homeopathy miniarticles included in chemical articles, plant articles, animal articles, mineral articles, biography articles, geography articles, political articles, and so on. For example, just because there are over 100,000 homeopathy doctors in India, should there be a section in the article India stating this? There were 315 registered professional homeopaths in the US in 1992. Should the article on the United States have a section discussing the prevalence of homeopathy in the US? Should there be a similar section in the articles of every country documenting the use of homeopathy in each country? Clearly at some point this is ridiculous and objectionable for a number of reasons. So instead, why don't we come up with some sort of compromise all can live with instead?-- Filll ( talk) 14:27, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
Thanx Levine2112, I was curious if someone was going to be curious and ask me specifics about some source info to those claims that I made about Belladonna, its early double-blind proving (in 13 cities, not 16 as I previously and accidentally cited) and its applications in the prevention and treatment of scarlet fever. For info about the proving, see Journal of Surgery, Gynecology, and Obstetrics, 1907 [4] See also Ted J. Kaptchuk, Intentional Ignorance: A History of Blind Assessment and Placebo Controls in Medicine Bulletin of the History of Medicine - Volume 72, Number 3, Fall 1998, pp. 389-433. [5] And here's a great reference to an impressive website of objective historical and research information. This site was previously listed at the article on homeopathy, but it was deleted (totally inappropriately). Chalmers I, Toth B. Thomas Graham Balfour's 1854 report of a clinical trial of belladonna given to prevent scarlet fever [6] I hope that this solid info will now be accepted as useful, for it is RS and notable. DanaUllman Talk 07:25, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
Deliberate exclusion of the fact that belladonna is used in the production of homeopathic medicines would be a obvious violation of NPOV. I would not include the mention of acne, boils and sunburn, since those are not indications for use (according to homeopathic practice). Fever, inflammation, and redness of mucous membranes are more appropriate indications (and can be sourced to Homeopathic Materia Media references). Arion 3x3 ( talk) 14:04, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
How many plants should have a mention in them on this? And how long should the mention be? Should it be a purely positive mention or a purely negative one or positive with caveats? How many plants? 100 plants? 1000 plants? 2000? 3000? more? Should minerals used in homeopathy have a similar mention? 1000? 2000? 3000? More? Should chemicals? Should animals? What about exotic homeopathic remedies like starlight and lightning storm? Should the articles on lightning and storms have subsections on homeopathic uses? Should the article on the Berlin Wall have a section on homeopathic use? Should all telescope articles have sections on homeopathic use? Should all optical articles have sections on homeopathic use? Should all articles on atoms and molecules have sections on relation to homeopathy? Should all planets and stars whose light might be used in homeopathic remedies have sections on homeopathic use? Should biographies of people that used homeopathy have a mention of homeopathy in their articles? How many? 100? 500? 5000? Should biographies of people that expressed an opinion of homeopathy have a mention of homeopathy in their articles? Again, how many biographies? What about the biographies of associates and friends and relatives of people who used homeopathy? How about people who might have used homeopathy but we do not know? How about places where the plants that are used in homeopathy grow? How about the countries that have passed laws about homeopathy? How about the people that voted on the laws about homeopathy? How about gardening articles; should they have sections on growing plants for homeopathic use? You see, without some sort of boundary, and some sort of guideline, I could envision putting a section in almost any article on Wikipedia on homeopathy. Every single article on Wikipedia could be required to have a subsection on homeopathy. What would you think of that?-- Filll ( talk) 18:53, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
Seems pretty easy to understand. Unless you are trying hard not to understand, and engage in WP:TE instead.-- Filll ( talk) 04:12, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
I think the sentence in question (at the top of this section) is POV, and its tone is not neutral. Try this:
Deadly nightshade is used in homeopathic prepartions for acne, boils, and sunburns, although the effectiveness of these preparations has not been proven. 1 2
-- Una Smith ( talk) 06:22, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
Since we agree on most of these issues, what would be wrong with helping me forge a compromise? Suppose we decide to try to make a list of the 50 most notable homeopathic remedies and then made sure their articles included a note of their homeopathic use. And we eventually have maybe 20 or 30 homeopathy articles and subarticles, and maybe another 50 homeopathic biographies. Then we decide that 50 remedies is just too few. Then we can change the compromise as needed as long as there is consensus. But the reason to do this is to try to put some order in the process, and make editors on all sides feel comfortable that their views will not be ignored. If someone in the future decides they want to create another 100 homeopathy articles or put homeopathy sections in other articles, or something else in violation of the compromise, we can use the compromise to reign them in. Also, if some pro-science editor decides we have to get rid of all homeopathy on Wikipedia, and roll back to 5 articles in total, including biographies, then we can point to the compromise and show how this position does not have support and consensus. So help me forge a compromise so people feel comfortable with the situation. It might help to relieve a lot of the tension. It might not work as well, but it is worth a try I think.-- Filll ( talk) 21:41, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for your comments here thus far. Even though that this board may not be the proper place to discuss such things, I still do appreciate all of the suggestions for changes to the text, ideas for cross-article compromise, insights into the historical context, etc. However, with regards to my original question, thus far all editors contributing here seem to support that the text does not violate WP:NPOV in anyway. Is this correct? Are there any editors who believe it does violate NPOV and if so, how specifically? -- Levine2112 discuss 06:41, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
I don't understand what is going on in the discussions that are being continued here. On one hand it seems clear to me that homeopathy should be mentioned in the deadly nightshade article: I am only marginally interested in homeopathy, but when I hear about deadly nightshade I think of tomatoes, eye drops and homeopathy. (Of course this is only "original anecdotal evidence".) For a Google search for "belladonna 6X" I get 70,000 hits. In German it would be "Belladonna D6", which gets 30,000 hits. In comparison, Paracetamol gets 3,6 million hits, i.e. only 36 times as many. I think this indicates that homeopathic use of belladonna is significant to the point where it would be strange not to mention it in the article. (It also shows that the "no molecules left" argument is a red herring here because 6X is a dilution of 1:1 million, which doesn't get at all near the Avogadro constant). On the other hand, I don't see why Levine2112 is unhappy with Filll's proposal, which looks as if it should take care of this and many similar clear cases and would also deal with real borderline cases in a relatively fair and effective way. (Although there would be some limited potential for bias if homeopathy supporters prioritised by relevance of substances to homeopathy rather than relevance of homeopathy to substances.) Is it because it's a kludge? Or is fear of a Trojan horse involved? It looks as if both sides could be more open to the other's arguments here. -- Hans Adler ( talk) 12:02, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
Suggestion prior to compromise: What might be helpful is to look at the top 100 (HOMEOPATHY'S GREATEST HITS) on google to see how many hits they get. The numbers of remedies reaching a minimal threshold for inclusion might be even less then 100. Anthon01 ( talk) 13:19, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
Let's review. The question is Does the inclusion of this text at Deadly nightshade in anyway violate WP:NPOV?
The original text:
Deadly nightshade is used in homeopathic prepartions for acne, boils, and sunburns despite the absence of any scientific evidence for the effectiveness of such a use. 1 2
The revised text:
Deadly nightshade is used in homeopathic preparations for acne, boils, and sunburns, although the effectiveness of these preparations has not been proven. 1 2
"although the effectiveness of these preparations has not been proven." is too much and not appropriate to a plant article. We are not discussing the effectiveness, simply the use. I recommend:
Deadly nightshade is used in making homeopathic preparations
If the use is presented in a medicinal use section, its effectiveness is implied. The following formulation would work, or it could be moved to an alternative medicine section:
Deadly nightshade is used in making homeopathic preparations, although the effectiveness of these preparations has not been proven.
Consider these contrasting sentences:
1. Deadly nightshade is used by con-artists to defraud deluded persons suffering from trivial ailments.
2. Deadly nightshade is used by physicians to cure boils.
3. Deadly nightshade is used by medical practioners to treat boils.
4. Deadly nightshade is used by homeopaths for boils.
Sentence 1 is probably true; that is, yes, some con artists sell harmless placebos just to make money. Sentence 2 is presumably false. Sentence 3 implies intended efficacy by licensed caregivers and is doubtful. Sentence 4 can sound like 3 if "homeopath" is taken to imply "medical practioner" and "for" is taken to mean "treat", both of which are reasonable interpretations by otherwise disinterested laymen. For that reason, the sentence used in the text should include qualifications regarding efficacy (as sourced) so as to avoid a false but reasonable interpretation by the reader. I believe our difficulty is just that ambiguity in the term homeopathy, that is, connoting, or denoting, medical treatment; versus connoting, or denoting, fruad. The difficulty with each position is the evidence for the other: quacks do indeed sell snake-oil and some homeopathic processes are flatly disproven; but physicians (real physicians) do sometimes prescribe "homeopathic" remedies. The reason is that homeopathy is not so simple as either its fans or its critics make out and "homeopathy" does not define a definite and consistent body of science. So I seek agreement on this intermediate statement:
Some prepartions labelled as "homeopathic" have no scientific basis for medical use, however, some actually do.
My pending example of this is the trade-marked (I think) "Smoke-Ease" (I found a list of ingredients). The botanical ingredients all look relevant for alleviating the discomforts of quitting nicotine. However, I am told that properly, one of the ingredients is something diluted-to-zero (the earmark homeopathic activity, which has no scientific validity known). My own assumption, to date, is that any diluted-to-zero component would have only a placebo effect (or marketing effect), and the actual medical amelioration would come solely from the botanical ingredients (which includes, for example, an expectorant, that really would help during the few days of nicotine withdrawal marked by cold-like symptoms). Can we agree definitely that yes, some homeopathy is dubious (if not outright bunk) but that no, some homepathy is effective (even if the term "homeopathy" itself can be misleading as it is widely used)? Pete St.John ( talk) 18:58, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
This is basic begging of the question. There are two issues:
These two issues are needed in tandem. You cannot just ask the question if inclusion of a particular phrase is in violation of NPOV. You must ask the entire question clearly lest you assert a consensus for a point that is of no relevance. ScienceApologist ( talk) 04:34, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
SA, your attempt to define the debate in your own terms is a weak form of rhetoric. Your assertions of fact and policy don't become more persuasive through repetition, nor through the use of Bold text or spurious section headers. Dlabtot ( talk) 17:16, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
So where do we stand. Can we add the phrase (or some amalgamation suggested above) to the article without violating WP:NPOV? -- Levine2112 discuss 01:35, 5 April 2008 (UTC)
I also think that we are clogging this page with unnecessary effluvia. I do not think the board is meant to be empty space we can jam full of homeopathic discussions. And then we are doing it one by one, instead of addressing all the plants, or all the remedies, in one comprehensive agreement. So we are having a huge discussion about one out of potentially hundreds or thousands of such remedies. This is just silly.-- Filll ( talk) 23:04, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
I would like to draw attention to a policy change discussion, concerning to expand/clarify the requirement of "what is due".
— Xiutwel ♫☺♥♪ (speech has the power to bind the absolute) 11:27, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
AeronM ( talk · contribs) has undertaken a campaign to push POV in at least two areas on Wikipedia. AeronM is editing articles relating to fluoride (see also water fluoridation and water fluoridation controversy) and "natural horsemanship" (I know nothing about the latter topic). When AeronM's editing is challenged, AeronM responds with accusations of "edit warring" or other abrasive comments. Every editor who has commented on AeronM's edits at the fluoride articles, at least, has disagreed with the edits. AeronM has been warned previously about POV-pushing. Further advice or input is requested. · jersyko talk 01:57, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
Provide us with diffs to show evidence of POV pushing. Do not expect people to research this for you. No one has time to dig through many K of edits.-- Filll ( talk) 04:20, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
Surely, accusations against an editor do not belong here; they belong on RfC. Does the article in question have POV issues? Probably. -- Una Smith ( talk) 06:27, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
Provide us with diffs to show evidence of POV pushing. Do not expect people to research this for you. No one has time to dig through many K of edits.-- Filll ( talk) 04:20, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
Third request: Provide us with diffs to show evidence of POV pushing. Do not expect people to research this for you. No one has time to dig through many K of edits. -- Una Smith ( talk) 18:16, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
Again, accusations against an editor do not belong here; they belong on RfC. This venue is for evaluating articles for NPOV or lack thereof. -- Una Smith ( talk) 18:19, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
Having looked at some of the edits to the fluoridation article, it does appear that it could do with a bit of rewriting and that some of the attempts to push the "fluoride is a terrible plot" POV are not really NPOV. As I understand NPOV, we need to have all sides presented, not just slant it one way or the other.-- Filll ( talk) 21:09, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
jersyko accuses AeronM of POV pushing. As evidence, jersyko has provided a single diff ( this). Per Wikipedia:Tendentious editing, POV pushing is repeated biased edits to a single article or group of articles. -- Una Smith ( talk) 00:30, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
It seems clear to me now that in the interest of saving myself time and effort, I've chosen the wrong forum to bring up AeronM's POV pushing. This was obviously much more appropriate for a user conduct RFC. Recognizing that, I now plan to begin one in the next month or so assuming the current editing trend persists. My apologies to all for my mistaken use of this noticeboard. · jersyko talk 01:03, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
Given this, I suggest this notice should now be closed. -- Una Smith ( talk) 15:39, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
The continuing conversation about who mentioned whom isn't helping solve any problems. I've marked this thread as resolved and will take it to user conduct RFC in due course if inappropriate behavior persists. · jersyko talk 16:47, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
Mediation/Third Party Resolution is required for the Akrotiri and Dhekelia page.
In the section Dispute with Cyprus, the so-called comments of the President of Cyprus are being made, even though the source doesn`t state `has cast fresh doubt on the continued British presence`, The phrase has been added. This is a POV being expressed here, even though the base is legitimatly and leagally British. Which further means any comments by the President are not of note, excpet to make Greek POV feel better.(even though there is no source to prove he made the exact comments).
This has reached a situation of continued Reverts by a certain use and less so by another, and this has now reached an impass, which needs resolving by a third party. Your help would be greatly appreciated, no matter what the outcome. Thanks Rockybiggs ( talk) 15:59, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
Piotrus ( talk · contribs) is in apparent collaboration with Molobo ( talk · contribs). I don't think that it is right for administrators to behave as he has done in the article Morgenthau Plan. Molobos edits are heavily contested in the Morgenthau plan, see the article talk page, and he simply selects to revert back to include all of Molobos edits. And don't even bother to explain himself at talk.-- Stor stark7 Talk 01:00, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
I would list this page under BLP/N, but it involves a company. After the short lead, the main thrust of this article was a corporate malfeasance issue. This is severely undue in its weight, and ought to be fixed. If it were a BLP issue, it wouldn't be allowed to stand. The Evil Spartan ( talk) 20:46, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
The paragraphs about the pipe organ are a tad opinionated: "Richard Hills play this incredible instrument", and "its wonderful sounds"... I think it needs a bit of a rewrite?
I admit I'm a little uncomfortable with articles on commerical concerns. This article, to me, is way too favorable, and reads like a promo piece. I pared it down a couple of months ago, to this, but after a decent interval it was reverted to its current form, which is pretty much the way I found it in January. Would someone take a look, confirm that I'm not crazy, and maybe help bring a little order there? Xymmax ( talk) 15:55, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
I loves me some Pete Miser, but I don't think the existing article has a NPOV at all:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Miser —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.1.145.232 ( talk • contribs) 18:50, 10 March 2008
Here an image of what an editor claims to be a victim* is included with no other information explaining what makes this victim notable enough to appear in an image on this article. Instead it is supposed to represent the conflict between the US and Iran somehow according to its uploader with Iran playing the part of the "dead"* child. The whole concept seems incredibly POV, including a nameless child in this article is like including images like these in our 9/11 articles: Warning extremely graphic content Photo showing part of a 9/11 victim on street below the WTC or this victim inside the Pentagon, they'd add nothing to it as people are expected to be killed in such an event and showing victims would only serve to engender an emotional bias. That's exactly what this image does on Iran Air Flight 655, showing a nameless child victim without a clear reason is obviously targeting people's feelings...which we are specifically not supposed to do.
Based on that understanding I, and at least five others,** have removed or support removing it from the article. However there is a kink, representing the situation as a lone edit warrior trying to remove an image for which good arguments for its retention are being ignored, one of the image's supporters had the page protected with it still included, essentially locking in the POV image. Since it's a policy we're talking about and not a simple edit I thought it'd be more appropriate to make the request here rather than WP:RFP#Current requests for significant edits to a protected page
(* There are whole cans of worms involving the accuracy, copyright, and other aspects of this image totally unrelated to NPOV concerns. **So you, the reader, know I'm not just making up a number: Editor 1 • Editor 2 • Editor 3 • Editor 4 • Editor 5) Anynobody 06:24, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
I hope this is an acceptable place to post my request for help. The anonymous user 66.182.15.218, User talk:66.182.15.218 has been posting many, many edits, all of which look to me like ads for the company ZAP (motor company). I have undone some edits, and the user has reverted me in one instance so far. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Fbagatelleblack ( talk) 18:45, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
Waterboarding is an article with a NPOV conflict, and the editors on this page want some help. The conflict revolves around if wikipedia can say "Waterboarding is a form of torture" or not. All the expert medical sources say that it is a form of torture, all non-american legal sources say it meets the UNCAT definition of torture, all US military sources say it violates GCIII as a form of torture. One right wing politician has said publicly waterboaring is not torture but most american politicians (obama, mccain and clinton etc) say it is. Any outside help would be useful. (Hypnosadist) 01:58, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
I posted an NPOV notice at Atheism here because I think it is a glaring NPOV violation in a featured article at that! You guys here might help to keep an eye at this article, and check its neutrality. Kleinbell ( talk) 05:22, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
The coexistence of Atheism and Criticism of atheism is a clear example of a POV fork. From Wikipedia:Content forking : Articles should not be split into multiple articles so each can advocate a different stance on the subject. More details can be found in Wikipedia:Criticism that says : Don't make articles entirely devoted to criticism of a topic that has ... its own Wikipedia article. How long have these two article existed separately? They must be fused back together or, if too long ( WP:SIZE), prominently linked to each other as per WP:SS. Emmanuelm ( talk) 14:57, 13 March 2008 (UTC) (cross-posted at Talk:Atheism)
(outdent) While we must be wary of such "Criticism of..." articles being written as to be a POV fork, the presence of such an article reflecting upon a major world religion is in and of itself not necessarily a POV fork, if only because the subject is notable (e.g., there are academic fields of study in criticisms of most world religions). This may be easier to see if we note that apologetics for (say) atheism might be deserving of an article (although under no circumstances would it be in lieu of the article on "Atheism" proper). Baccyak4H ( Yak!) 16:58, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
Example of tone
The tone shows the article is written from an atheist point of view, e.g. :There is a position claiming that atheists are quick to believe in God in times of crisis, that atheists make deathbed conversions, or that "there are no atheists in foxholes".[30] Some proponents of this view claim that the anthropological benefit of religion is that religious faith enables humans to endure hardships better (c.f. opium of the people).[citation needed] Some atheists emphasize the fact that there have been examples to the contrary, among them examples of literal "atheists in foxholes". -- Comment: claim a word to avoid is used for the theist position. Then are rejoinder from the atheists immediately.
Bibliography and body Lacks some notable sources and opinions:
Dinesh D'Souza of Hoover Institute of Standford University ( a very notable author) - his book and perspectives on atheism:
Paul Vitz - Stanford University (1962) and prof emeritus of psychology at New York University. Professor/Senior Scholar at the Institute for Psychological Sciences (IPS) in Arlington, VA.
Tomas Crean - Interview on his book; * Amazon review of atheist who liked the book
John Haught - Landegger Distinguished Professor of Theology at Georgetown University. Founder of Georgetown Center for the Study of Science and Religion
Vox Day -
Paul Johnson - famous historian
Rationale section is sheer apologetics - yes I agree with Emmanuel that the criticism of atheism is a pov fork and has to be fused back in summary form. (I was referring above to the evasiveness of the people who contradict him).
Demographics section is apologetic - only the positive correlations are included.
Morality section - one short criticism phrase and lines upon lines of response!! Kleinbell ( talk) 10:22, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
Editor Gni is apparently a single purpose account intent on inserting the POV of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America in a handful of article, including that one. This editor has been edit warring over formulations in the article, belligerently replacing well sourced phrases such as the organization being "pro-Israel" and supporting boycotts with PR phraseology lifted from the CAMERA website. While CAMERA (or any organization) may certainly wish to portray themselves a certain way, for tax purposes or for whatever reason, an encyclopedia describes an organization based on what reliable sources say. Ther article also has a section Accusations of anti-Israel bias made by CAMERA, comprised of a selective list of such accusations against NPR, major media, Steven Spielberg, etc. Gni keeps deleting balance added to this section (specifically, a response from NPR's ombudsman) with the somewhat idiosyncratic (and WP:OWN) claim that "This section isn't for comments about CAMERA."
An outside look at this edit warring would be appreciated. Boodlesthecat ( talk) 20:49, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
after not being helped in Wikipedia:Editor assistance/Requests I bring the discusion here:
Islamic Pov pushing in the Inventions in the Islamic world article, selected quotations (often from highly dubious Islamic sources) are used to claim an invention is Islamic, all I want is a small part to say that just because the invention happened in an Islamic controlled state doesn't mean the inventors were devout Muslims. This goes against the pov pushing agenda though Oxyman42 (talk) 16:09, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
Comment : the article is about "Inventions in the Islamic world" it does not mention the Quran or aspects of the Muslim faith. I only came across the article by looking at Recentchanges, if you think the article if POV then instead of adding another POV source like this (which appears to be straight out of conservapedia) - state what is wrong and where. Instead bias has been introduced (copy pasted in fact - a first person opinion) in the lead section from FrontPage Magazine. Pahari Sahib (talk) 19:21, 8 March 2008 (UTC) reply: surely a way of trying to balance a debate is to include opinions from both sides? There are about 100 quotations from dubious Islamic sites, or quotations carefully selected and taken out of context to support an argument. I added that (single) quotation after several others were deleted by pov pushers such as "many of them (the inventions) had direct implications for Fiqh related issues" this quotation was supplied by a Muslim when it suited the point he was trying to make but deleted it when I added it to the article as it did not support the pov agenda"In English we use the word “Islam” with two distinct meanings, and the distinction is often blurred and lost and gives rise to considerable confusion. In the one sense, Islam is the counterpart of Christianity; that is to say, a religion in the strict sense of the word: a system of belief and worship. In the other sense, Islam is the counterpart of Christendom; that is to say, a civilization shaped and defined by a religion, but containing many elements apart from and even hostile to that religion, yet arising within that civilization."Bernard Lewis in What Went Wrong Any edit which goes against the pov pushing agenda is deleted by someone from WP:ISLAM which is unlike a normal Wikiproject as it is a group of pov pushers intent of pushing their views rather then improving wikipediaOxyman42 (talk) 20:39, 8 March 2008 (UTC) Well I am not a member of WP:ISLAM, but you should at least try and follow WP:MOS and cite it correctly - and not overload the lead section with your POV. Pahari Sahib (talk) 20:46, 8 March 2008 (UTC) There needs to be a wikiproject just to monitor the stuff coming from WP:ISLAM, I did try and cite it correctly, but every time I try and add something here it is reverted by pov pushers from WP:ISLAM. the whole article at present amounts to one big pov push from WP:ISLAM and it is somewhat beyond one person to check 150 odd quotations to see if they are correct Oxyman42 (talk) 21:29, 8 March 2008 (UTC) If you believe there is a 'big pov push' from whatever quarter, I suggest you take it to Wikipedia:AIV. Pahari Sahib (talk) 21:49, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
For background please see
I have a question about aplying Attributing and substantiating biased statements to IDABC. IDABC is part of the European Commission, a part of the European Union. As such it is a government site that reports news on some topics. One of them is open source. I do not find their news articles biased. But another editor (WalterGR) is quoting a policy from WP:NPOV, Attributing and substantiating biased statements and is requiring material used from them not just attributed to IDABC, but to IDABC's Open Source News. Is IDBAC considered biased and should material from it be subject to the Attributing and substantiating biased statements to the point of using IDABC's Open Source News? The policy clearly is about biased sources, I dont think IDABC is biased. I believe that a simple linking to the news reference is enough or at most saying according to IDABC. Am I correct in my applying of this policy? Kilz ( talk) 12:54, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
This is a problem I'm seeing more and more on Wikipedia, and which I am correcting wherever I can, where we have poorly formed lead sentences such as:
Granted, Washington won and was nominated for those awards, but to put it in the lead sentence in such a way makes the article's lead sentence sound like something more suited for a press kit or a fluff piece than an encyclopedia. I've been correcting this issue wherever I can (moving mentions of awards to later parts of the lead section); this is typically a problem rising from anonymous editors. -- FuriousFreddy ( talk) 13:28, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
the article for Jonas Brothers has the sentence "Gina is a hotti..." and other random, unnecessary opinions edited to it today, but it is protected.
I say those sex abuse scandals should not be in the article at all. It is a news event, not a fact about th RC Church!!!
-- 71.53.11.54 ( talk) 20:49, 18 March 2008 (UTC) Connor
Plese review the article on Edenic_diet. I don't know anything about the Edenic diet, but the article seems to take a negative, mocking tone toward the subject. Quote: "It incorporates self-reflection, guilt and self-righteousness..." AutumnKent ( talk) 18:07, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
On Fiador (tack), created 4 days ago, I have been contributing content on a minor item of horse tack that is called throughout the Spanish speaking world a "fiador". A derivative form of this item, and this term for it, is used in the United States in a very narrow context. Two Wikipedia editors familiar with that context are deleting from Fiador (tack) all content not conforming with that context. Their contention seems to be that the English Wikipedia should restrict its scope to "describing the term primarily as it is used in English language-speaking countries" ( diff). I contend that Wikipedia is a worldwide encyclopedia and that it describes things, not terms. -- Una Smith ( talk) 06:45, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
The entry for Glen Heggstad is written like an advertisement for a person. It certainly suffers from one POV, but should it be flagged for anything else, too? A great example is the paragraph that begins "Glen makes friends easily and often." Tedder ( talk) 05:25, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
It seems to me that a popular but disputed political position is being adopted as the "true" position and as the first word of description rather than being attributed to those who hold it on an article. I understood the neutral point of view policy to say that is improper - can someone tell me if I misunderstood it or not? I commented on the Talk page here [15]. Thanks, -- Robertert ( talk) 09:45, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
The page for the Canadian cosmetics company Lise Watier at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lise_Watier is not impartial and does not appear to me to conform to Wikipedia's NPOV policy. I will not change it myself but wanted to bring it to the attention of those to whom it is important. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.151.151.3 ( talk) 15:25, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
Zenboy29 (
talk) has been editing the the
Durban article as well as a few other with non neutral point of view.
This user is adding the same section of text in various articles, (and it is been reverted),
2010 FIFA World Cup, and
South Africa (but another user
Zindabad 76 did the original set of edits.
[16])
I have tried, (
on his talk page), to explain to him what the problems were with the edits but he keeps re-adding his changes.
He has now started accusing me of political censorship.
[17]
I know that on the face of it, it looks like an edit conflict, but his references cannot be accessed, (either broken or you have to subscribe), or are simply unrelated to the section of text.
Can an Admin please have a look at it and help us out. Thanks
FFMG (
talk) 15:53, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
This article is not neutral at all. Just read it, it's obvious. I'm not going to do anything about it because I've got to go get a bath and cut my toenails, but you guys might want to sort it out or mark it in some way. Cheers. 80.195.89.127 ( talk) 21:24, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
User:LightSpeed3 has actively campaigned to remove as many references to Tesla Motors as possible in electric vehicle-related articles to which developments at Tesla are clearly relevant.
Example diffs:
Here is my NPOV warning to him:
I will leave his last revert on Electric car unaltered until this matter is resolved. Thanks for your help. Fbagatelleblack ( talk) 19:18, 29 March 2008 (UTC)
The article, mainly the milestone section, seems biased against the 360 and the PS3 and favoring towards the wii. For example, if you look there than you will find games of diferent consoles, which is good, except that not one wii game is criticized but every other game is, with the exception of oblivion.
Here is one case: Super mario galaxy:"currently one of the most critically acclaimed titles of the seventh generation, sold more copies in its first week, including over 500,000 in the US, than any other game for the Mario title in the history of the franchise.[122] It is second only to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as the overall best-reviewed game of all-time, as listed on Game Rankings.[123]"
that is biased. one web site saying SM Galaxy is the second best game of all time does not make it so. Plus, does it really make it a legacy if it sells more copies in it's first week than other mario games. These two things are weak reasons that only add bias to make it seem greater than it really is.
Whats really annoying is all I could do to alert people, besides this, was to post my complaint on the talk page, PandaSaver ( talk) 03:16, 30 March 2008 (UTC)PandaSaver
Several editors would like to include brief mention of the alternate theories surrounding the events of 9/11 at the Pentagon. A very short paragraph with two useful links presenting evidence including CCTV footage and numerous eyewitness accounts was put forward. This was edited slightly so that is was even more unbiased. The user Ave Caesar and others keep removing this section. A detailed discussion can be seen on the discussion page for this article. I am convinced that the banning of such a point of view held by a great many people and with evidence to support it is contrary to Wikipedia's Neutral Point of View Policy. I would appreciate it if someone could look into this. Thanks. -- MTC1980 ( talk) 05:34, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
Cox_Communications has had the Nomination for NPOV tag since December '07. It's had significant updates since then. Request an independent review. IPingUPing ( talk) 00:41, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
Someone constantly changes the name of the composer to it's Ukrainian way. I remind you that Dmitry Bortiansky lived mostly in Saint Petersburg, where he also died, and spoke mostly Russian. Not only that, but when his music was released in the Germanic-language countries, his name was spelled in the Russian way, Dmitri. I dont see any logic to the attempts to change his name into the Ukrainian formulation but pushing nationalistic agenda. I was offered a "concensus", but i didnt seem to see what concensus could come here. Shpakovich ( talk) 12:52, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
i have sources that WP:Verifiability WP:No original research. i try to make WP:Neutral point of view. but my arguments are blocked by admin.-- Qwl ( talk) 22:46, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
I would like some critical eyes to look at indigenous peoples and let me know whether any of you think that this is a case of a POV-pushing. There seems to be very little debate in the academic world about whether indigenous peoples were here before the advent of European colonization. I can't understand why there would only be two sentences dedicated to "Indigenous viewpoints" and a whole complete section on "Non-indigenous viewpoints". Also, the lack of citations throughout this section is very sketchy to me.
I would not like to think that anybody in the Wiki community is racist or biased. However, when you see articles like this, that are so one-sided, it would certainly be easy enough to draw that conclusion.
Any comments can be left on my talk page. Thanks!! Blueelectricstorm ( talk) 01:44, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
I am editing the Marble Slab Creamery article to sound as netral as possible but it keeps getting tag. Can someone please let me know what further changes to need to be made in order to get rid of the "advertisement" tag at the top of the page? Radhaus ( talk) 15:52, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
Would anybody put the 2008 Canadian Commercial Seal Hunt article on watch? The big part of the seal hunt begins in April, and it is a very controversial topic. Bib ( talk) 13:15, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
I am part of a two-man team trying to introduce the benefits of using alternatives to sandblasting like Sodablasting, as its quick to set-up and start working using a food based media.
I was annoyed to find this rather biased 'advert' for Dry Ice Blasting which apparently has no down side to its use, method or application.
I am refering to this specific page and section below:-
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_ice_blasting
"Soda Blasting Main article: Soda blasting Soda Blasting is generally an effective cleaning method. However, Soda Blasting, like all open blasting,* creates a great deal of secondary waste. Often, the time spent blasting is matched, if not doubled by the time it takes to clean up the extra waste soda blasting creates. In fact, the residue and waste left behind by soda blasting can adhere to wood and other substrates being blasted.
There is also evidence that soda blasting can have a negative effect on the PH levels of the soil it comes into contact with after blasting, thereby killing surrounding vegetation. This is not the case with CO2 blasting"
It follows that if there is not a lot of waste to clean up how can it take longer than doing the job in the first place?
I would like to see the evidence of 'soda residue' adhering to substrates that have been blasted
Also, Re 'PH' levels there are not mounds of soda piling up over vegetation after use, what powered dust there is, is simply rinsed away. The amount of soda required for "killing surrounding vegetation" would have to excessive and not have been rinsed away.
Can anyone comment on any disadvantage to dry ice blasting or is it the worlds saviour? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.154.37.24 ( talk) 14:03, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
This article has loads of POV problems. First, I suspect that Wikipedias have built-in cultural bias according to the their language. My guess is that a disproportioante number of editors of the English-language Wikipedia are American or sympathetic to its policies. In this article, French concerns about US policy and culture are sweepingly characterized as anti-Americanism. If French editors were equally represented here, would there really be a consensus that French concerns are fairly dismissed as anti-Americanism? Would pro-American commentators be as dominantly represented as they are now? Really trivial (I think) things like a decline in "favorable opinion" polls among the British are given as examples of anti-Americanism. Protest spurred by sexual assaults by US military in Japan is dismissed as anti-Americanism. Even without cultural bias, this article is full of POV just because calling something anti-American is an interpretation of the event or situation. Yet, this article's method is to give examples of what the editors have decided (i.e. interpreted) as anti-Americanism. This article gives an overwhelmingly American view of anti-Americanism.
Another problem is that the editors insist on treating it like a dictionary entry. So, there is no agreement about whether the thing the article is about is prejudice or possibly reasonable opinion, policy or culture, criticism or hostility. Everybody is just arguing their POV about what "anti-Americanism" means..... Life.temp ( talk) 11:19, 5 April 2008 (UTC)
Please will someone review this entry afresh. What exactly is contentious?
Simon Prebble (born February 13, 1942) is an English actor and narrator,
[edit] Early life Born and raised in Croydon, Surrey, he is the son of the novelist, screenwriter and Scottish historian, John Prebble and fashion artist Betty Prebble (both deceased).
[edit] Career In 1960 he attended Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London and began his acting career in one of Britain's first live television soap operas, 'Home Tonight' with David Hemmings. For the next eleven years he worked extensively on radio and television and in provincial repertory theatre including a year with Ian McKellen's Hamlet. In 1973 Prebble joined the newsroom at Capital Radio, the first legal commercial music station in Britain, where he hosted London's Day. He then embarked on a career as a presenter and voice-over announcer, including thirteen years as the promo voice of Thames Television, and from 1984 he was the announcer for the British version of the phenomenally successful game show 'The Price Is Right' with Leslie Crowther. In 1990 Prebble moved to New York where he continued doing voice-over work. As well as recording numerous radio and television commercials, he also hosted and narrated several television documentary series, notably 'Target-Mafia'. He has character-voiced various television cartoon series, such as 'Courage the Cowardly Dog'. His film voice work includes playing Ernest Shackleton in the 2000 documentary 'The Endurance' and the opening and closing voice of the elderly Casanova in Lasse Hallström's 2005 film of the same name. In 1996, he was a lead actor for a year (as the villain Martin Chedwyn) on the American daily soap opera 'As the World Turns'. In the U.S., he also began narrating audio books, and to date has recorded over 325 titles. As one of AudioFile Magazine's 'Golden Voices' and 'Best Voices of the Century', his work has gained him five 'Listen Up' awards, nineteen 'Earphone' awards, and eleven nominations for the 'Audies' (the audiobook 'Oscars'). In 2005, he was named 'Narrator of the Year' by Publishers Weekly. In 2003, at Chiswick House, London, he married Swedish graphic artist, Marie-Janine Hellstrom. In 2007, both he and his wife became US citizens. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Simon prebble ( talk • contribs) 23:09, 5 April 2008 (UTC)
-- 98.220.214.153 ( talk) 23:07, 6 April 2008 (UTC) Rather than citing Church of the Brethren documents that show that the denomination takes a given stance, most citations in the article appeal to the Bible for verification. This citation of Biblical references implies defense of the ideas assumed to exist wihtin the denomiantion as fair CChristian doctrine rather than proving that the idea or view is actually associated with the Church of the Brethren.
There was a serious NPOV issue on this article, which I have endeavoured to clear up in this edit. I'd be glad if another editor could check the rewrite and remove the NPOV tag if appropriate. Matt's talk 17:32, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
There is a developing NPOV issue on this article. In the past there have been serious edit wars and it appears to be starting again. I have attempted to re-work the article and propose a way that would reflect the beliefs of prophecy from different belief systems. My initial work was in tidying up Christian POV, though I have suggested that all areas need improving. An editor has started changing the emphasis of the article to be about the experience of prophecy, and is taking a definite POV, namely that of Judaism. As the Wikipedia articles always rates highly in Google searches and the like, this will give a very misleading perception.
In my way of thinking, prophecy is not just restricted to one religion or another, even the wacko who stands on the street corner shouting the end of the world is nigh, has the potential and possibly the right to be included as a prophet. Prophecy is very subjective and certainly has the potential to be interpreted in a number of ways.
What is the way forward in getting this article back to being a general encyclopaedic article about prophecy? Also what is the Wikipedia position about an individual editor taking unilateral decision about the direction of articles. Regards Paulrach ( talk) 15:56, 8 April 2008 (UTC)
We're looking for outside eyes to determine if the POV tag still belongs on the natalizumab article. Thank you for your help. Antelan talk 23:05, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
This is a mix of spam, and NPOV, and, very soon, 3RR. Karojaro seems determined to impose his own viewpoint, not to mention advertising for the cause he seems to favour. And threatening a reverter with blocking [23] doesn't help. This isn't my area - I just do anti-vandalism. What's the right course of action here? Philip Trueman ( talk) 20:05, 11 April 2008 (UTC)
So there's a new ID movie coming out called Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, and in the Claims that intelligent design advocates are persecuted section there is this:
Now, I haven't looked into the refs much but they're probably good. Ref 20 is from 2006 and doesn't discuss the 2008 film, it's a general ID ref. These type of refs seem common on pages related to ID, and when they're discussed on the talk pages people seem to be of the view that NPOV requires adding these opposing viewpoints. I don't disagree that WEIGHT requires the majority view that ID is bunk on the main ID page, but it seems to me that on this film's page WEIGHT would require that we document people's views on the film and not ID in general. Am I right? wrong? it's complicated? - Peregrine Fisher ( talk) 14:59, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
An editor has commented here that usage of Poles, Jews, Lithuanians, Soviets and so on is non-neutral. I have disagreed; an edit war occured (related to those and other issues) and the article is protected. Comments would be much appreciated here; I have presented there a short rationale why the suggested more specific terms are in fact erroneous.-- Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk 20:31, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
Dear all, It is my understanding that Wikipedia services are promoted, among other things, as an educational site – a place whereby one can easily access and obtain information about various issues of interest. It is also my understanding that Wikipedia supposedly prides itself in the integrity and unbiased nature of the articles contained therein. However, much evidence would testify to the contrary. The full, unbiased disclosure truth is what is essential here, and Wikipedia does not come close to providing it in several areas, in particular fields relating to the creation-evolution controversy. I was wondering if someone could please clarify why there are multiple anti-creationist articles, while any attempts at uploading pro-creation articles are deleted? Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.154.46.104 ( talk) 08:21, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
Could someone uninvolved take a look at recent edits to The Economist? Opinion pieces by arguably partisan left-wing sources ( Socialist Party (UK), George Monbiot, JK Galbraith) are being used as reliable sources. I fear there is pov-pushing at work. Thank you, Skomorokh 20:45, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
I saw interwiki link added to the backlog category today and it got me poking around that page in other languages. The Germans had a neat little chart with several grades of priorities listed. Their first priority grade had both Wikipedia:Deletion review and Category:NPOV disputes. I tried to imagine what it would be like to really give these disputes the same attention as the articles under deletion review. Then I looked to see how well they really did; the Germans have only 455 articles in this category. I was impressed. Then I thought to add up how many we have I imagined it would be a few thousand. It is 8,100 articles in the monthly subcategories alone. I didn't hit the topical subcats in case of duplication. That is a great deal more than I expected. The tags that correspond to this cat are: {{ 1911POV}}, {{ Coatrack}}, {{ NPOV language}}, {{ Totally-disputed-section}}, {{ Obit}}, {{ POV}}, {{ POV-check}}, {{ POV-intro}}, {{ POV-map}}, {{ POV-section}}, {{ POV-statement}} and {{ POV-title}}. I spend a lot of time with backlogs so I am pretty numb to these big accumulations. How do the people on this board feel about there being over 8,000 articles tagged with various bias issues? Is this category as big a deal as the Germans think it is or is it just another backlog?-- BirgitteSB 00:19, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
The Orphan Works page is not only bad, its seems very biased towards the protection of the orphan works law, which is now under review. —Preceding unsigned comment added by RickO5 ( talk • contribs) 05:40, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
I provide official information the only one there is about this article here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Tenshinhan#Third_Eye however they insist to keep fan made references in the article here ^ "Biographies Tien" (2001). Retrieved on 2008-03-14. “People often wondered if this three-eyed warrior was even human like Krillin or Yamcha. He is.”-- Saxnot ( talk) 11:07, 16 April 2008 (UTC)Saxnot
I have tried to change this 3 or 4 times and it keeps getting deleted. Who ever is doing it, is accusing me of not being neutral. I am just referencing other articles where she puts her words in context her self.
The current Wiki article is one sided and takes comments out of context and uses a liberal political pendants vitriolic rant against her and Clinton to end it. WHAT IS FAIR ABOUT THAT?
OBAMA's race speech compared Ferraro to Rev Wright and says she has deep seeded deep-seated racial bias. Clearly Rev Wright and Ferraro are not on the same level regarding comments. Ferraro responded to that. That should be in there.
My complaint is it is one sided, not fair and takes a few comments out of context. Some balance should be given to her own defense or at least put in context.
Clearly reference to Keith Olbermann of MSNBC "Special Comment" and his vitriolic point of veiw about her comments is bias. Who cares what Olbermann says. His "special comments" are personal rants. They are so bias and a rant, they are not acceptable. IF they are OK, than some quote defending her comments are in order, like Bob Johnson?
Olbermann is voted in the top 100 most influential liberals by a international group. He also has only used his "Special Comments" in the past to only bash the Bush administration. Fine, but his taking a full 5 minutes to make a PERSONAL editorial against a DEM (who is normally favorable towards) is NOT appropriate to keep. His treatment of Obama on his "Count Down" show is near fawning and kid gloves. Obama's Bitter comment and Rev Wright issue where in a very supportive, how can we fix this" tone. NO COMMENT MADE BY OLBERMANN regarding Clinton's campaign is fair or appropriate.
ITS Olbermann's OPINION! I DID NOT PUT THIS IN THE Wiki ARTICLE, but just explaining that Olbermanns quotes are NOT appropriate.
How about Randi Rhodes of Air America, fired for attacking Ferraro and Hillary clinton with a profanity tirade. I think the NON neutral aspect of media attacking Clinton and not Obama is relevant. If it is not relevant, than Olbermann's comments should be removed.
I added some references to Ferraro's comments, where she defends herself. They are her own words. Clearly the author of this section is an Obama supporter. I would just like to give reference to ALL her words, not where she says she is being attacked for being white. That is one off handed comment in a long dialog.
Also ref are not working. I keep deleting and putting citation needed.
The quotes and comments basically take two of the worst comments out of context and end it with a commentary by OLBERMANN. If there is going to be a PERSONAL COMMENT attacking her, than there should be quotes defending her, ie, Bob Johnson.
Fine she said Obama is lucky to be black (in the context of the 2008 race). Fine she said I feel like I am being attacked for being white. Right she said it. But how about her claims of Obama using the race card? They have called it about 4 or 5 times, when any one makes mention of getting black votes or that his status as a black man helps him. Is that not true or not relevant?
WHY ARE HER WORDS Controversial? Because Obama and his supporters say so?
I am new at this but how do stop this person from deleting my additions? -OR- there Olbermann's' comments should be removed because they are NOT neutral. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gmcjetpilot ( talk • contribs) 17:13, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
Olbermann comments where made on his MSNBC cable show "Count Down" during a segment called "Special Comments", which usually was reserved for criticism of the Bush Administration. [25]. Polls indicated pro media bias against Clinton and more favorable reporting towards Obama. [26] The topic of bias was also the subject of a skit on Saturday Night Live, mocking journalist fawning over Senator Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. and ignoring Hillary Rodham Clinton during a Faux CNN debate. [27] The SNL skit had such an impact, it was discussed by the Clinton campaign and was a topic on political pundit TV, cable and radio shows, as well as the internet.
Note that nothing in these four sentences mentions Ferraro, who is supposed to be the subject of the article. Rather, it has more to do with media bias in favor of Obama and a Saturday Night Live skit that satirized that. Thus, it's understandable that this section would get taken out of the Geraldine Ferraro article. Furthermore, giving Obama's name as Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. tends to be associated with a desire to portray Obama negatively by emphasizing his Arabic-sounding middle name. His name is sufficiently uncommon that he isn't going to be confused with anybody else named Barack Obama in this context. -- Metropolitan90 (talk) 02:55, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
The "Promotion of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution" Overview section is biased towards an evolutionary perspective.
Title
1. The title "as an alternative to evolution" assumes that evolution is the standard to which all other beliefs are labeled "alternatives".
Overview Section
2. The last sentence of paragraph two is speculative and unnecessary: "Intelligent design ... has been scientifically unproductive and has not produced any research to suppress, having failed to find any way of testing its claims."
3. The third paragraph implicitly defines "science" in only one way(the scientific method), without regard to other possible meanings of the word. In addition, religious beliefs are implicitly presented as contrary to "science" without any evidence, for supposedly "they cannot be tested by experiment, do not generate any predictions, and propose no new hypotheses of their own".
4. The third paragraph assumes that all scientists are evolutionists: "The scientific theory of evolution is opposed for religious reasons by proponents of intelligent design and other forms of creationism, but is overwhelmingly accepted by scientists."
5. The third paragraph has a critical review instead of a balanced presentation of the facts: "According to one estimate, "99.9 percent of scientists accept evolution."[32] The film portrays this as an end to debate ... In fact, there is vigorous debate on many aspects of evolution, and the scientific status quo is frequently successfully challenged by ideas supported by sound research and evidence."
In short, the Overview section is hardly "neutral". —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jweston2 ( talk • contribs)
On several occasions I've attempted to work on the Criticisms of capitalism page. Understanding that it's a contentious issue, but with some knowledge to (hopefully) share, I arrived at the page and found it in complete shambles. The original article was incoherent, point-counterpoint-point-counterpoint arguments with shotgun facts/opinions thrown around. I approached the page with good faith and mentioned on the talk page that I was planning to work on the article. Looking at the talk page it looked like a dipsute in early-2007 either scared away or disheartened a number of editors and now there was one editor left ( User:Ultramarine). In any case, I set about to (essentially) rewrite the article, taking special care to cite all of my entries (by the end I had added over 25 references). In order to keep the article non-contentious, my idea was to give historical background, focusing on critics who have been the most influential and working towards the modern day. I didn't have some anti-corporate agenda, or plan to play up some big capitalist conspiracy, I just wanted to provide a coherent description of the subject matter with attention to history and current thought (something an encyclopedia does, right?). So I didn't think it would be a problem... UNTIL I made my first edit. Within the hour, 10 edits were made in quick succession. [28] This continued for a couple of days as I continued editing. Ultramarine's philosophy was to delete/revert first and ask questions later -- not very inviting for someone relatively new to the Wikipedia project. It certainly wore my patience very thin. I took a break from the article for a couple of weeks. When I returned, Ultramarine was still at it, and I had had enough. Ultramarine moved a paragraph to the talk page under the heading "Errors" and continually used insulting taglines such as "npov" [29] and "corrected" [30], as if my edits are neither neutral nor correct. Ultramarine's edits ONLY come as a reaction to mine, insisting that this is necessary to uphold WP:CFORK. In my opinion, his/her editing style is very condescending. Ultramarine makes little attempt to integrate edits into others, but just hammer some sentence in the center of a paragraph, often worded in such a manner that it downplays the rest of the paragraph or implies that any other argument is stupid ( this is a prime example, notice use of "Regardless...")
I would like some outside comment, not only on editor conduct but also on the interpretation of
WP:CFORK. Does it necessitate every sentence being followed by a rebuttal? It seems like that would make it unreadable, in my opinion. I also don't believe the spirit of that rule is to make every contentious article an incomprehensible ideological battleground. Rebuttals should not be omitted, I think, but it seems like someone going to a "criticisms of capitalism" page is primarily looking for that type of information, not a jumbled mess of point-counterpoints. There's certainly a way to do this that doesn't make it into a huge mess, or make an editor not want to touch any article with any hint of controversy. I should also note that I'm taking a break from the page, but any comments/suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.
Inserted later: I'm done editing that page for now. I didn't start editing on Wikipedia to engage in some ideological battle or to be made into an idiot. Uwmad ( talk) 07:15, 20 April 2008 (UTC)
Could anybody check Special:Contributions/Ewenss for contributions to Jeremiah Wright sermon controversy and Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago? The user insists on making incredibly-POV edits to these articles, and reverts others when trying to correct him. Thanks, Grsz 11 18:56, 20 April 2008 (UTC)
I'm wondering if editors can weigh in on a recent discussion over whether the overview of this article should state in a header that the film portrays science as atheistic. [35] My feeling is that it clearly can't, as the film doesn't say this and no sources say this about the film. What the sources do say is that the film views the "scientific establishment" as atheistic, and believes that they are imposing atheism onto science. From one critical review: "Expelled’s main theme is that intelligent design is under systematic attack by “Big Science” – the scientific establishment – which refuses to recognize its scientific validity because of a previous commitment to atheism and materialism." [36] As we quote writer/narrator Ben Stein: "There are people out there who want to keep science in a little box where it can't possibly touch a higher power, and it can’t possibly touch God."
I'll let others present the arguments in favor of the current version if they like. In my view this is a very clear case: we may believe their argument is anti-science, and we may be right, but that isn't something we can ourselves incorporate into their argument. Accordingly, it should say either "Portrayal of evolution as atheistic" or "Portrayal of the scientific establishment as atheistic," something equivalent, or remove the header altogether. Any thoughts on this welcome, see the latest discussion here. Mackan79 ( talk) 14:58, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
I hold very deep WP:NPOV concerns over the article covering MTV here. An editor recently created a new pov fork page " Criticism of MTV" that lists every "criticism" of the article thats been previously listed in the main MTV article for a long time. As suggested on talk page, an editor argued that it "follows" NPOV because it creates more "balance" here by making one article about MTV (positively) and another article about "criticism" (negative).
However, I sharply disagree with this decision because I feel that it violates NPOV! Additionally, I've tried using WP:CRITICISM and WP:POVFORK to convince editor to integrate, but the editor disagreed. Thus, i am asking for additional help with this issue, since me and the other editor are the only ones involved here. Thank you very much! (By the way, both MTV/Criticism articles are tagged {{NPOV}} due to the aformentioned issues)-- Andrewlp1991 ( talk) 05:36, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
This article describe this esoteric product from the point of view of the sellers. In fact this salt is not from the Himalaya Mountains, it does not contain 84 Elements and it has no therapeutic properties. This are all assertion in a fraudulent intent. In Germany (sorry my English is bad) there are official informations of ministries to warn of this cheat. Compare the article in the German Wikipedia [38]. 85.181.60.123 ( talk) 06:19, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
The whole section is nothing but an elongated hit job. It is entirely not NPOV and should either be severely amended or removed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sluhser589 ( talk • contribs) 06:31, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
Please see this diff [39]. I'm told my edit is POV (and OR, but that's a different board). Now that it is removed, is the article NPOV but with my 'alleged' it became POV? Thanks. -- Doug Weller ( talk) 16:48, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
I would appreciate some more expertise in a debate between myself as a fairly inexperienced occasional editor, and an administrator, on the relevance of a whether a brief mention of the Church of Scientology as a notable client is appropriate on the Latham & Watkins page. The debate is ongoing at Talk:Latham_&_Watkins#notable_clients_and_transactions but it is worth knowing that it took several attempts by me to engage this administrator in debate, rather than just avoidance via deletion of my comments on the article's talk page and his own talk page.
In brief, I do not believe the administrator is practising NPOV as per the written policy, and that he is further trying to stretch WP:V to breaking point to further his POV.
Note that the debate is not whether the facts are or are not phrased in a NPOV way, nor whether they can be, nor whether the facts as described are true, but whether including (appropriatly briefly) these facts in any way would inherently unbalance the article. My contention is that a significant number of people coming to the page would be interested in this information about the company - certainly as many as would be interested in much of the current information, and that therfore these facts rightly deserve a couple of sentences in the article. Jaymax ( talk) 14:38, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
On the Hans Reiser article, an anon IP editor changed the article from known for "Murder of Nina Reiser" to "Convicted for the murder of Nina Reiser" here [40], with the edit summary wtf? *murdered* ? are you sure? do you have a body? where's the murder weapon? the court convicted, but unless there's definite proof, he is convicted for, but not proven a murderer. due process, kthx. I reverted the change and explained that the court case was the due process and proof. The change has since been reverted again by the IP, and then by another editor with the summary I'm sorry, but hes just convicted.
I don't want to edit war on a topic that's already gotten a bit heated at times, so I came here. The subject of the article has been found guilty of the crime, but the other editors want it specified he was only known for being "convicted of the murder of Nina Reiser," and not the "murder of Nina Reiser." Making that change seems pretty POV to me, indicating that even though he was convicted he's still not officially a murderer. However, I'll certainly defer to more experienced eyes. Thanks! Redrocket ( talk) 18:59, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
Might I ask that the Reviews section of The Dawkins Delusion? be checked? I have a feeling that there isn't a good balance in the reviewers in terms of their stance and if they themselves are credible. Since I prefer not to rely on my opinion, I wish to know if this is a matter of editing or just personal bias on my part. Thanks for looking into this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Miles007 ( talk • contribs) 16:17, 6 May 2008 (UTC)
It should be well known how statistics can be used to mislead. The saying goes, "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics." I have found the perfect example of this on Wikipedia under the article on Three Strikes Laws.
The graph shows the crime rates before and after the three strikes laws were implemented. The problem with it is it's single perspective of comparison (before and after). There has been no attempt to explore other possible causes for the drop in crime rates such as the number of young males, nor comparisons with other states crime rates that did not implement a three strikes law (ex. New York). It simply doesn't measure up to any sort of scientific scrutiny, and any graph or statistical analysis that is even considered for use on Wikipedia ought to be scrutinized in this sense.
You wouldn't have an article on the theory of evolution if it didn't live up to objective support. In fact, if that were the case, it wouldn't be considered a theory by anyone.-- 132.198.252.6 ( talk) 04:54, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
Well, yes, that is useful on the general topic. This graph, in particular, is not a correlation graph, so it can't imply a relation, nevermind causation.-- 132.198.92.22 ( talk) 09:40, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
You're right, it's a rather odd graph. I wouldn't be able to tell whether the way it presents the data is misleading unless I had the actual data and could draw the appropriate graph of actual crime statistics against years and see how they compare, but the fact that it's so strangely drawn (the numbers on the ordinate reflect ratios rather than crimes, which isn't, lets say, a ... straightforward way to present time series of crime data), along with the statement that it was taken from an advocacy website: "The overall purpose of this figure is to provide data to help evaluate the claim of http://www.threestrikes.org/TenYearReport04.pdf that the three strikes law caused a massive decrease in crime as described in the Three strikes law article." does raise a statistician's eyebrow. If the purpose of showing the graph is to give the idea that the three strikes law "caused" a drop in crime, then the the graph is misleading in and of itself, since correlation wouldn't imply causation even if the trend in the graph accurately reflected the trend in the data and even if the drop in crime actually started after the change in the law, which it didn't, even according to this graph. (Rape, larceny, burglary had been dropping steadily since around 1980, and though aggravated assault and robbery had peaked early in the 90s, they had started dropping before the law was passed. Only murder and car theft appear to have started dropping concurrent with or following the passage of the law). The text of the article does point out that the same drop in crime occurred all over the US during the same years, in states without three strikes laws as well as in states with three strikes laws, which rather negates the strong claim made in the website and apparently intended to be suggested by the graph that the three strikes law CAUSED the drop in crime.
Surely an advocacy website isn't considered a reliable independent source... if it is, it's no wonder Wikipedia contains so much misinformation. If not, then I'd approach improving the NPOV of the article by addressing the RS problem with the graph. Good luck Woonpton ( talk) 16:08, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
Would appreciate further opinions on whether the recently created Dorje Shugden controversy is a POV-fork. I said on the talk page that that was my opinion but an editor has created the new article anyway, probably not understanding what I was saying. In my view there is not enough reliably-sourced material for two articles, but I would appreciate some other views. I found the page from a note posted on the fringe theories noticeboard. Itsmejudith ( talk) 09:19, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
Wikipedia:Dispute resolution mentions the noticeboards, but not this one specifically. While this seems at first glance to be an oversight, it strikes me that this noticeboard is already extremely busy, and making it part of the formal dispute resolution policy may cause it to become unmanageable. What do people think? 69.140.152.55 ( talk) 08:30, 12 May 2008 (UTC)
There was a Request for Comment (RfC) done on the "Race and intelligence" article in March on the question of whether the article was sufficiently neutral; the consensus was that the article was not neutral as shown here:
[41]. Some changes to the article have been made since the RfC. I would now like to ask for comments on the question: Does the article now meet
WP:NPOV and if not, what specifically should be done to the article for it to meet WP:NPOV? The RfC comments were not always clear on specific actions that should be taken. I am primarily interested in comments from those not involved in editing the article; however, if you are an editor of the article, please identify yourself as such. --
Jagz (
talk) 18:40, 5 May 2008 (UTC)
Jagz is just a low-order troll, we would all do best just to ignore him. WP:DNFTT Slrubenstein | Talk 09:55, 12 May 2008 (UTC)
There is a proposal to move the PRC article to the China. I wanted to know if equating PRC with "China" is a violation of NPOV because it implies the PRC to be the legitimate China. T-1000 ( talk) 16:34, 14 May 2008 (UTC)
The discussion is here: Talk:China/DiscussRM SchmuckyTheCat ( talk)
There is a claim going on at WP:fringe which people might want to look in on. Essentially, as I explain in my last post there, people are using the REDFLAG section, and also the FAQ on Pseudoscience to say that when you are dealing with articles which are about exceptional claims, the mainstream scientific view is the viewpoint of Wikipedia, and always carries the greatest WEIGHT in articles. Where the scientific POV cannot be determined through non-partisan sources, it may be derived from logical inference from standard textbooks on the general subject of the article (this is usually thought to be Original Research).
I think this is a good enough view, and if taken literally it is what the FAQ at NPOV says [43]- and the FAQ holds the status of policy. However, if this is what is intended, then the rest of WP policy needs to make it clearer. There are a lot of people who think that the scientific POV is usually notable, but not necessarily dominant in terms of WEIGHT and the POV the article is written from. The FAQ seems to contradict this view, by equating "mainstream" with "mainstream science," saying Pseudoscience is a social phenomenon and therefore significant, but it should not obfuscate the description of the main views, and any mention should be proportionate and represent the majority (scientific) view as the majority view and the minority (sometimes pseudoscientific) view as the minority view. This means that non-scientific views are always held in WP to be the minority per WEIGHT. If it were clear that articles on fringe subjects are written from the POV of mainstream science, then things would be much easier. But the FAQ is probably the only place we say that.
See also discussion here.
And please someone archive this page- hard to load. —— Martinphi ☎ Ψ Φ—— 21:47, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
I'm concerned with the Taser article and particularly tthat the Taser controversy article has been used to remove information from the Taser article that is important, but critical of the device. My understanding is that generally "criticism" sections within articles are discouraged as are creating spin-off "criticism" articles and that NPOV encourages the integration of information that might be seen as critical into the main article. For instance, over the past few months a section on Taser deaths has been moved from the first article to the second and information on safety and scientific studies conducted on the Taser that have challenged the claims made by the manufacturer. Can editors look at the two articles and consider whether they should be integrated and also, if the Taser article is too long, if a different criteria for splitting the article can be found - one other than controversial vs non-controversial? Reggie Perrin ( talk) 21:02, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
The "Advantages" part seems to be somewhat bias and not true, e.g. Exception Handling being an advantage over other languages. How come there's no "Disadvantages" chapter? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.252.76.76 ( talk) 02:18, 25 May 2008 (UTC)
There is a dispute over using the category "anti-Islam sentiment" in Jihad Watch. See Talk:Jihad Watch#Category Anti-Islam sentiment, Talk:Jihad Watch#Reminder and Sources and Talk:Jihad Watch#A few questions. There is an RfC filed ( Talk:Jihad Watch#Category discussion), but input in the discussion from some NPOV savvy people would be very helpful. Vassyana ( talk) 07:49, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
Can someone please have a look at this article. The article is vague in places, and a lot of what is written is clearly based on rumours and myths with little or no factual basis/support. The "Journey to Dehli" section is particularly poor, with no citations, and based on hearsay. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Redwings99 ( talk • contribs) 10:15, 29 May 2008 (UTC)
We are having a dispute over the question if there is place for a section on child abuse in the homeschooling article. Two entries related to this have been added at the homeschooling talk page 1 2. As we are more or less stuck on being of opinion that the other party is not neutral, I thought it was wise to ask for a third opinion. Species8473 ( talk) 19:42, 3 June 2008 (UTC)
I especially liked the comment by the Arizona authorities that changing the education setting does not change the propensity or otherwise for violence and abuse of children. I think in fact it is reasonable on the basis of the current evidence that Species8473 whilst presenting a very limited amount of evidence is also not presenting by any means a balanced or neutral view of the situation. Were that the case then we would need to insert similar, and perhaps far lengthier, discussions of child-abuse in articles relating to the Catholic Church, Day care, Schools and school systems, Seventh Day Adventist groups, Scouts, Girl Guides, sporting groups, well, anywhere children come into contact with adults. -- Johnday ( talk) 13:10, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
Well, in fact I invited myself. Perhaps I should ask what makes you an expert on the field? And who is Kim Fields? And more to the point, what has she got to do with the argument. What is even more galling about your infantile display is that the citations you give for Roman Catholic sex abuse cases and Scouting sex abuse cases do little more than re-enforce my point. Those are separate articles which deal with issues in a way which doesn't cloud the issue. The main article on the Church: Roman Catholic Church doesn't include a specific sub-heading on abuse, sexual or otherwise by male or female religious or by clergy. That is confined to the separate article which you cited. If you wish to create a separate article on child abuse by home schoolers then please do so. Johnday ( talk) 21:58, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
Based upon the POV of particular content, User:Memills and several anon accounts have been removing criticism from evolutionary psychology, segregating it into a very small subsection, and forking it out into evolutionary psychology controversy, a violation of NPOV. [44], [45], [46], [47], [48], [49], [50], [51], [52] A criticism and merge tag have also been added, [53], [54] suggesting that the information be merged into related sections per the NPOV policy. (See also: Wikipedia:Words_to_avoid#Article_structure) These tags have also been removed by Memills. [55], [56] Reliable sources documenting criticism and controversy (for example, [57], [58]) are abundant and should be accurately represented in not only the lead section, but the entire article as necessary. Viriditas ( talk) 08:53, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
I've just opened a policy RfC over at Talk:Arrow_Air_Flight_1285#Image about whether a Wikipedian's "artist's impression" of an event constitutes NPOV if there are other interpretations of the event. I opted for a general policy RfC over bringing it up here since there are other policy questions that have been raised as well. Input welcome! -- Rlandmann ( talk) 04:20, 7 June 2008 (UTC)
We got alerted in Wikipedia:OTRS that The Rules is not really written in an encyclopedic NPOV way and indeed, the article strikes me as making a lot of claims on the book's "message" without backing them up with any sources at all. Would be great if someone could look for some reviews etc. and try to attribute the claims there to a few sources. Thanks! -- Mbimmler ( talk) 20:35, 6 June 2008 (UTC)
It is a difficult subject but I believe violations of WP:NPOV, and WP:V have been introduced by recent edits as discussed on the talk page, here and here. I am not going to edit war over it and would appreciate some neutral eyes at the article. Some examples; stay-at-home mother is not an appropriate description of Leitao's electron microscopist and immunohistochemist experience in relation to the topic of the article. "Lab technician" is POV and not supported by sources which state biologist among other terms. "Son's toy microscope", and "he did say that several features of the case" is WP:OR. The use of special formatting to call attention to quoted POV material is not NPOV, and using disclaimers and WP:WTA such as claim, to diminish views held by Morgellons proponents does not fairly represent their viewpoints. Adding material that has nothing to do with Morgellons to add weight to the Role of the internet is also not NPOV. Thanks. Ward20 ( talk) 02:16, 8 June 2008 (UTC)
This article pretends to a certain neutrality, but then twice cites one journalist's (Kennicot's) negative critique of Mansfield, and offers another criticism from Greenwald in Salon with no other assessment. These sources accuse Mansfield of holding a "dangerous" point of view (based, in part, apparently, on Mansfield's failure to discuss the current war in Iraq) and of holding "a Machiavellian view of the role of the Executive branch" and "advocating pure lawlessness and tyranny." These are extremely strong charges, presented under the guise of authority, but with virtually no discussion, support or balance.
Then there is this: "He is perhaps most notable for his generally conservative stance on political issues in his writings, often in the minority compared to the outlook of his own as well as other top political science departments..."
Conservatives may well represent a minority of the political science profession (support?), but then this is true for any conservative in any poli sci dept. It also implies that Mansfield in particular has been judged and found wanting by the "top political science departments." These departments are not named, the criteria by which they have been determined to be the top departments are unknown, nor are the particular minority opinions of Mansfield cited, nor are the grounds for those departmental disagreements specified. This statement also suggests that Mansfield is not merely a conservative, but that this is his most notable aspect (not, say, his scholarship).
In all, the article needs re-writing. I didn't want to simply remove whole paragraphs, but I think the article ought to be flagged.
Someone suggested posting here. Could someone help on Talk:Philosophy with explaining WP:NPOV. I'm not asking for any help on the technical details of the subject, just another helping hand to explain what the policy is. The problem is that some of the sources conflict (not very much). I explained WP:NPOV and what is required in such cases (we present alternatives and so forth - I have put a quotations from policy on the talk page). But I am rather getting at end of tether. Thanks in advance! Peter Damian ( talk) 17:54, 13 June 2008 (UTC)
American Family Association: OK, this is a drive-by reporting of an article that has been involved in heavy edit warring. And it is no wonder: the entire article reads like a tract against the organization - half the article is a criticisms section, and the other half still reads like an indicment. Additionally, it is chalk full of sources like this one which have an agenda against the organization. It also includes heavy handed statements like "In response to Hurricane Katrina, the AFA Journal published a controversial article which praised the hurricane's destruction", which, while present in the source, are poorly worded (at best) and not backed up by statements on the opposite side. The Evil Spartan ( talk) 06:29, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
Is there an "opposite side"? Either the organization praised Hurricane Katrina or it did not. One of these propositions is the truth, and can be verified by citing the organization's own literature. There is no "opposite side" from the verifiable truth. -- FOo ( talk) 09:41, 19 June 2008 (UTC)
Hello.
A series of discussions has begun on Talk:World War II about whether authors / historians who claim a differing start date for World War II then 1939 represent, at least, a significant minority or not. A list of many of the non-1939 sources are shown below, any feedback would be appreciated. Oberiko ( talk) 10:54, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
Source | Author | Quote |
---|---|---|
Imperial Japan's World War Two, 1931-1945 | Werner Gruhl | The case that Japan's 1931, (or 1937 at the latest) major resumption of imperial expansion was the true beginning of World War II can be made based on several factors. These invasions constituted the first major violations of the Washington Conference Treaties and the Kellog-Briand Pact. While Japan was condemned as an aggressor by the League of Nations and the United States, the West's reaction was restrained, due to post-World War I pacifism and the worldwide depression. The lack of a more forceful reaction likely contributed to Italy's decision to invade Abyssinia in 1935 and Germany's decision to attack Poland in 1939, thus expanding World War II from Asia to Europe and Africa. It is thus argued that 1939 was not the true beginning of World War II |
Roscoe Pound and Karl Llewellyn: Searching for an American Jurisprudence | N. E. H. Hull | ...World War II would not begin in Europe, like the first, but in Africa and Asia, with Italy's invasion of Ethiopia and Japan's invesiture of China... |
The Rise of Modern Japan | Linda K. Menton, Noren W. Lush, Eileen H. Tamura, Chance I. Gusukuma | The global conflict we call World War II was in fact 'many wars, occurring at different levels and in widely separated places'... For Americans, World War II began in 1941 with the explosive Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. But for the Japanese, the war began much earlier-in 1937. |
A Companion to the Vietnam War | Marilyn Blatt Young, Robert Buzzanco | Japan invaded China in 1937, effectively beginning World War II in Asia. |
American History the Easy Way | William O. Kellogg | What became World War II began in Asia in 1937 when Japan invaded China. Actions taken by Germany and Italy during the 1930s led to war in Europe in 1939. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the United States declared war on Germany and Japan linking the Asian and European wars in what is known as World War II. |
Asia in Western and World History: A Guide for Teaching | Ainslie T. Embree, Carol Gluck | Aggression in Manchuria, 1931, followed by establishment of puppet state and Japan's withdrawal from the League of Nations, signals the beginning of the 'fifteen-year war.' The end of multi-lateral diplomacy as Japan decided to 'go it alone' as territorial imperialist in Asia; instigation of all-out war against China in 1937, with atrocities such as the Rape of Nanking and without victory-1937 as the beginning of World War II in Asia. |
The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II | Iris Chang | Americans think of World War II as beginning on December 7, 1941... Europeans date it from September 1, 1939, and the blitzkrieg assault on Poland... Africans see an even earlier beginning, the invasion of Abyssinia by Mussolini in 1935. Yet Asians must trace the war's beginnings all the way back to Japan's first steps toward the military domination of East Asia — the occupation of Manchuria in 1931. |
A World at Total War: Global Conflict and the Politics of Destruction, 1937-1945 | Roger Chickering, Stig Förster, Bernd Greiner | In 1937, when World War II started in the Pacific theater, both Japanese mobilization at home and warfare abroad headed in this direction. |
Critical Perspectives on World War II | James W. Fiscus | World War II started in Europe in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. But World War II had been raging in Asia since 1937 when Japan invaded China. |
War and Empire in the Twentieth Century | Imanuel Geiss, University of Aberdeen | The second Sino-Japanese war started in 1937, and it was really the beginning of World War II, because in the Far East it later merged with the Second World |
Causes and Consequences of the Second World War | Stewart Ross | In contrast, the Second World War was much more complicated. Starting in the Far East in 1937, different conflicts started in different regions at different times. These gradually became absorbed into the global struggle. |
The Library of Congress World War II Companion | Margaret E. Wagner, David M. Kennedy, Linda Barrett Osborne, Susan Reyburn | Some historians date the beginning of World War II to the Japanese incursion in Manchuria in 1931; others cite the full-scale Japanese invasion of the Chinese heartland in 1937 as the war's moment of origin. But Japan's military adventurism had as yet only regional implications. Arguably, Japan might have been appeased, and its provocations confined to one corner of Asia, by some recognition of its stake in China -- noxious as that might have been to recognized norms of international behavior, not to mention to the Chinese.But world war came only when Europe, too, plunged into the maelstrom with Germany's invasion of Poland in September 1939. (emphasis mine) |
The Dragon's War: Allied Operations and the Fate of China, 1937-1947 | Maochun Yu | On 7 July 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident ingnited a full-scale war between China and Japan, which, in the opinion of many, marked the real beginning of World War II in Asia |
The Origins of the Second World War | A. J. P. Taylor | Most wars begin raggedly. In the minds of Englishmen 4 August 1914 is unshakably fixed as the date when the first World war began; yet by then France and Germany had been at war for twenty-four hours, Russia and Germany for three days, Serbia and Austria-Hungary for almost a week. The second World war is vaguer still in its opening; the Russians date it from 22 June 1941, the Chinese from November 1937, the Abyssinians [or Ethiopians, as we now would say], I suppose, from October 1935, and the Americans from 7 December 1941. The American date is the most sensible. The war truly became world-wide — much more so than the first World war — only after Pearl Harbor. |
The Changing World of Soviet Russia | David J. Dallin | According to Stalin, the first skirmishes of this second World War began in 1937-38. |
Embracing defeat: Japan in the wake of World War II | John W. Dower | For Americans, World War II began in December 1941 and ended three years and eight months later. Japan's war, in contrast, began with the conquest of Manchuria in 1931 and expanded to all-out war against China in 1937 |
China: Its History and Culture | William Scott Morton | The date of the outbreak of World War II varies ... Americans usually reckon it from December 7, 1941, the date of the attack on Pearl Harbor. But for Europeans the war began in 1939, and for the Chinese in 1937. |
Research Guide to American Historical Biography | Robert Muccigrosso, Suzanne Niemeyer, Walton Beacham | In foreign policy he led the nation through the dangerous years of turmoil as the Second World War began in Asia in 1937 and in Europe in 1939 |
The United States in the world arena: an essay in recent history | Walt Whitman Rostow | ...On this view, the Second World War began with the Japanese seizure of Manchuria in 1931... |
Contemporary China: a reference digest | Trans-Pacific News Service | The second World War started in 1931 when Japan violated the sovereignty and the administrative and territorial integrity of China... |
The Columbia Guide to Asian American History | Gary Y. Okihiro | World War II began for most Americans when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands. But for many Chinese Americans the war started a decade earlier, when Japan's armies marched into northwestern China in 1931 and into Shanghai the following year. |
The long way to freedom | James Thomson Shotwell | ... a condition which grew worse instead of better until in September 1931 - the very time Japan started World War II in Manchuria... |
Gateway to Asia: Sinkiang, Frontier of the Chinese Far West | Martin Richard Norins, Institute of Pacific Relations | Not until 1931, when Japan began World War II by her invasion of Manchuria, was this remote Sinkiang hinterland at last roughly awakened. |
Writers & Company | Eleanor Wachtel | The Chinese call it World War II; they consider that World War II started in China and that the Chinese helped end the war. |
The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge | The New York Times | Japan occupied Manchuria as a protectorate in 1931-1932 and invaded China in 1937—the start of World War II in Asia. ... With Hitler's invasion of Poland in September, World War II began in Europe. (The Asian phase of World War II had begun two years earlier.) |
The War With Japan: The Period of Balance, May 1942-October 1943 | H. P. Willmott | Europeans date World War II from 1939 to 1945 and, with North Americans, date the Japanese part of the conflict from December 1941 to August 1945. The Japanese official histories date it from September 1931 and the start of the campaign in Manchuria; and, if such a date for the outbreak of the war would not command much sympathy in Western histories, there might well be more then a passing sympathy with any account that sought to establish July 1937, and the beginning of the China war, as the real start of the Second World War. |
The Last European War, September 1939/December 1941 | John Lukacs | THE LAST EUROPEAN WAR began in September 1939. It became the Second World War in December 1941. |
The Second World War: An Illustrated History | AJP Taylor | If a formal declaration of war marks the starting point, the Second World War began in April 1932 when Mao Tse- tung and Chou Teh declared war against Japan |
Japanese Army in World War II: Conquest of the Pacific 1941-42 | Gordon L. Rottman, Duncan Anderson | Japan (Nippon) viewed World War II, which it called the Greater East Asia War (Dai Toa Senso Senkum) as a series of interrelated wars. It had occupied parts of North China in 1931, and the war in China (Shina Jihen) began in earnest in 1937, in which Japan continued its creeping expansion. Conflict with the Soviet Union had occurred on the Siberian border in 1938-1939 in Manchuria, Manchuko, where a puppet state had been established by Japan in 1932. ... |
Flags of Our Fathers | James Bradley, Ron Powers | America went to war in 1941. The Europeans had been fighting since 1939. But for millions of Asians, World War II had begun a decade before, in 1931. |
War in Our Time: A Comprehensive and Analytical History in Pictures and Text | Harry Brinton Henderson, Herman Charles Morris | World War II Began in Manchuria, 1931 |
Paths to Peace | Victor H. Wallace | It has often been said, and with much truth, that World War II began in 1931, when Japan found the League powers unwilling to resist its aggression in Manchuria. |
A History of the Modern World | Robert Roswell Palmer, Joel G. Colton | In a sense the Second World War began as early as 1931 with the Japanese seizure of Manchuria. |
A War to be Won: Fighting the Second World War | Williamson Murray, Allan Reed Millett | Just when World War II began is a matter of interpretation. Western Europeans and Americans tend to ignore the Japanese incursion into China and to mark the war's beginning with the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. For Austrians, Czechs, and Slovaks, the war also commenced two years earlier, when the Third Reich used military force to swallow up sovereign nations in Central Europe... |
Japanese Economic History, 1930-1960 | Janet Hunter, Freda Utley, George Cyril Allen | ... If 1937 (when Japan's Second World War began) is taken as the base, ... |
Foreign policies of the United States | Hollis W. Barber | It is by no means out of the realm of reason to state that World War II began in Manchuria in 1931. |
Main Currents in American History | William Glover Fletcher, United States Army | Then the average American slowly began to understand that the second World War broke out in Asia in 1931 and that the Chinese, who refused to bow to the conqueror, had been fighting, for a decade, not only their own battles but those of the Republic of the West. |
Encyclopedia of World War II: A Political, Social, and Military History | Spencer Tucker, Priscilla Mary Roberts | ...Japanese official histories of World War II begin in September 1931 with the start of the Manchurian Campaign. |
When Men Lost Faith in Reason: Reflections on War and Society in the Twentieth Century | H. P. Willmott | We consider the Second World War in very narrow terms and with precise dates: 1939 and 1945. But Japanese official histories date the Second World War from September 1931 and the conquest of Manchuria. Even if one is inclined to regard July 1937 as a more reasonable starting line, one would not deny that the China Incident was nurtured in Manchuria: ... |
The American Military Tradition: From Colonial Times to the Present | John Martin Carroll, Colin F. Baxter | For Europeans the Second World War is given very precise dates: it began in September 1939... For the United States, this conflict also has very precise dates, but the dates are different from those of Europeans. It began in December 1941... When this war began for Japan, and for China, is quite another matter. |
The History of World War II - A Wall Chart | John Keegan | World War II has a simple story. It is that of the defeat of Nazi Germany and its allies by their enemies, eventually to be called the United Nations. The unfolding of the war, however, is by no means simple. It comprised several wars, at least one of which was already in progress when Adolf Hitler invaded Poland on September 1,1939, the date usually chosen to mark the war's beginning in the history books. That war was the one between China and Japan, which had opened in 1937 when Japan captured China's coastal cities; as early as 1931, however, Japan had violated Chinese sovereignty by seizing the northern territory of Manchuria.
Another of the wars comprising World War II stemmed from Italian aggression in Africa. In 1936 Mussolini annexed Ethiopia and then, after the outbreak of general war in Europe, invaded the British colonial territories on Ethiopia's borders. The first of Britain's victories of the Second World War were the defeat of those invasions, the liberation of Ethiopia and the rout of the Italian army in Libya. |
British Strategy and Politics During the Phony War: Before the Balloon Went Up | Martin Kantor, Nick Smart | The German invasion of Poland began on 1 September 1939, and the British government did, along with the French, declare war on Germany two days later. But these events did not makr the start of the Second World War. That conflict began more than two years later in December 1941 when, four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and with Mussolini in tow, Hitler declared war on the United States of America. |
In the text of the article a 1937 startpoint is taken as normative and Sept 1939 is not even marked by the smallest sub-heading. This is seriously misleading to the reader. All my attempts in the article to mark out Sept 1939 as significant have been deleted by Oberiko - who has then put warning notices on my page for my temerity in stating the obvious. Hitler's invasion of Poland is buried in the middle of a section, with no indication that this was important as the beginning of Hitler's war and his scheme of world dominatrion.
The text in the article runs as follows:
[THIS IS WHERE I ATTEMPTED TO PUT A SUB-HEADING ADVERTING TO SIGNIFICANCE OF SEPT 1939]
In a previous edit I attempted to put a sub-heading at September 1939 - the point where ALL global histories of World War Two start but was abused by Oberiko on my Talk Page and told I was being disruptive for pointing out the overwhelming conscensus. Oberiko is the owner of the article and has forced his fringe view on everybody, putting the fringe view as normative and relentlessly deleting anything which suggests that September 1939 was at all important. Colin4C ( talk) 10:00, 12 June 2008 (UTC)
Putting forward 1937 as either a common concensus or a concensus of historians is just plain wrong. According to the wikipedia the 1937 war was the Second Sino-Japanese War. Except that it wasn't even called a war but an "incident". This "incident" does not, by common and historical consensus mark the beginning of World War Two. To describe it as the concensus view is wrong and POV. Colin4C ( talk) 14:04, 12 June 2008 (UTC)
Interesting discussion. You could even argue that WWII started in 1919 with the Treaty of Versailles:) The standard historiography is that WWII started in 1939 however it's certainly valid to have a section of the article that cites historians who argue that important conflicts that are considered to be part of WWII, such as the Second Sino-Japanese War actually began several years before and, of course, that there are several other conflicts that were important precursors or preludes to WWII such as the Spanish Civil War and the Italian invasion of Abyssinia and of course the Chinese invasion of Manchuria. Certainly there are a number of historians who assert that the Spanish Civil War was really the first conflict of WWII (at least by proxy in the European Theatre) and had the European democracies stopped Franco, Germany would not have been emboldened to act aggressively. Nevertheless, the standard historical consensus is that WWII began in 1939 with the German invasion of Poland and the French and British declaration of war on Germany in response. Reggie Perrin ( talk) 01:38, 13 June 2008 (UTC)
This page is an archive. Do not edit the contents of this page. Please direct any additional comments to the current main page. |
(another editor noticed the problem and fixed it himself.)
Could someone please review the statements in the Huntington article under the heading "Who Are We and immigration", especially everything after the first paragraph. In my opinion that looks like a blatant transgression of NPOV, but a second opinion would be great. I also note that the passage is referenced to some schmuck's blog, not a reliable source. Please help me out as to what to do after the assessment has been conducted. Thanks for your help. - The Fwanksta ( talk) 20:11, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
Can the following comments be reviewed by someone not at Acadia University or dealing with its newspaper? "The Editor in chief for 2007 - 2008 is Lucas Timmons. It is illustrated in his editorial of 25 October, 2007, entitled The world's smallest $8,062 violin, that Mr. Timmons is incredibly lacking in journalistic integrity, objectivity, and harbors a general lack of respect towards the largest demographic in his reader base - the students of Acadia University.[1]" It seems the author has a problem with the Editor-in-Chief, but I don't think disagreeing with an opinion piece is basis for calling journalistic integrity into question. 2 March 2008.
It might be nice if there were some clearer guideline for NPOV for admins to follow like 3RR. We do have warnings like {{subst:uw-npov1|Article}} and so on. Maybe a "3 strikes and you are out" rule? Maybe if someone asks what is NPOV repeatedly (3 times? 4??) over a short period (like a week), hoping to get a different answer and clogging up talk pages with spamming and tendentious argumentation, they could be warned and then sanctioned? Maybe introducing NPOV edits over and over would be sanctioned once warned? This would make it easier to track and easier for admins to address. The problem is, if someone says $%^&, an admin can tell that. If someone reverts 3 times and has been warned, an admin can tell that. If someone is pushing NPOV, no admin wants to be bothered. And involved admins cannot get involved or lose their adminship.-- Filll ( talk) 17:59, 28 February 2008 (UTC)
Please review Gillian_McKeith. IMO the article is too critical. Slow, gentle, edits between groups means the article has drifted away from a concise description of her and her work and controversies surrounding her (which certainly are notable) into a jumbled mish-mash of BLP-skirting attacks and hippy nutritionist POV. Most of that just requires gentle tweaks to fix. I'm concerned about the cats that get added, especially the "resume frauds and controversies" which should probably be renamed. Dan Beale-Cocks 19:30, 28 February 2008 (UTC)
I think there is some misunderstanding here. You have seen the 3RR noticeboard? People go there, present diffs that show there has been a 3RR problem and that the person who did it was warned. Sometimes others provide other diffs if they disagree. And then, an admin gets a few other admins to suggest yes, someone should act. So one of them does. And that is that.
We should do the same here. So suppose that one of the editors on homeopathy claims to me that homeopathy is not a FRINGE belief, and does not need to be represented in proportion to its prominence, and need not have any negative or critical material in the article, especially the LEAD. And we argue about this and I am told over and over that homeopathy should not be described in a critical light. And I provide links to policy. And they are rejected. And I get frustrated. So I warn the person with an NPOV warning. And they continue. So I come here. I provide diffs to show I presented policy, and warned and it was all thrown in my face. And people can see the situation from a quick glance at the diffs. And decide to act, or not. Maybe a 24 or 48 hour block to get their attention. Maybe a warning. Maybe an escalating block or longer block or whatever. And the person who is coming across the situation for the first time does not need to read 300 KB of talk page and 100 KB of article page. They can see 20 sentences in 2 or 3 diffs. And make a decision. -- Filll ( talk) 00:47, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
There are some very simple cases. And of course there are more complicated cases. Which I think it states above might require an RfC or something. But a lot that I have seen are just simple. However, it is not easy to get anyone to act on them since the powers that be and culture has looked down on NPOV I believe. But my hope is, with this noticeboard and maybe a set of reasonable procedures, we can elevate its status and make it more readily and more easily and more frequently enforced. And then stop a HUGE problem with WP culture.
For example, I have been in MANY conversations where someone says "I want to do X". I and 10 others tell this editor that they cannot do X since it violates NPOV. And they fight and argue about what NPOV is and how they should be allowed to do X. And no one can do a darn thing about it. And we spend hours and hours and sometimes weeks or months on this nonsense. When really, the first day the person who says "I want to do X" and we point out that it is against NPOV, should be blocked immediately if they do not actually understand, and continue to argue against policy. That simple. One, two, three, block. It would change a lot.-- Filll ( talk) 01:48, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
For a real example, lets consider the MH case that turned into the big long 2 month + Arbcomm proceeding and 2 RfCs etc and wasted an infinite amount of time and lead to at least two admins leaving WP, at least for a few months and maybe longer. It started as an NPOV problem, at least in part. If MH had pushed his NPOV ideas, I would have been able to tell him the policy. He continued to argue. I could have hit him with a warning. And he might have continued to argue. I could have then brought it here with maybe 3 diffs. And the whole thing could have been resolved. No week of fighting. No controversy about his block. Maybe he would have learned his lesson after a short block and be productive today. We would have saved him as a potential editor, the admin who was hauled up on charges as a test case, the arbcomm member who left in embarassment, the ugliness of two RfCs that were pointless, the endless fighting and bickering etc. All might have been resolved quickly by pounding the crap out of MH very quickly and threatening him savagely for violating WP policy. And maybe scaring him into behaving. And that would have been that. And his behavior would have been documented early before things escalated out of hand etc. So...-- Filll ( talk) 02:04, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
I am afraid Anthon01 your situation probably falls in the 80%. Your issues with NPOV are just not that difficult. However, some want to make these issues difficult. But to everyone who has half a clue, or who does not have an agenda, it is simple. And we have described what to do with the 20% several times on this page. Might be a useful exercise for you to actually find it and read it, but I am pretty sure that option is not relevant to your problems.-- Filll ( talk) 03:06, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
Deadly nightshade is used in homeopathic prepartions for acne, boils, and sunburns despite the absence of any scientific evidence for the effectiveness of such a use. 1 2
An argument against inclusion is based on an interpretation of the WP:UNDUE portion of NPOV. This interpretation warrants that a source must be presented which shows not that Deadly Nightshade is prominent to Homeopathy but rather that Homeopathy is prominent to Deadly Nightshade. I have asked for passages from NPOV which justify this rationale and have not seen an answer. Meanwhile, many references have been provided all confirming that Deadly Nightshade is in fact used in the preparation of a homeopathic remedy. This usage has been notable enough to be researched in a few dozen studies published in notable scientific journals, and written about in both homeopathic and non-homeopathic books; most relevant to this discussion is its mention in the Oxford Book of Health Food and its description in Medline. My thought is that if we are indeed looking for "prominence", the mentions in high-quality sources such as these provide such. However, the requirement that those against inclusion are asking to be met in order to satisfy WP:UNDUE is a source which explicitly quantifies just how prominent homeopathy is to Deadly nightshade. (I am unsure if this means that they believe that WEIGHT requires us to present a source which gives an estimate of how many people use such a remedy, or what percentage of a deadly nightshade crop is used for homeopathic preparations, or something else.)
The other point I would like to bring up is that the proposed sentence does not include any kind of minority viewpoint. For it is not a "viewpoint" that Deadly nightshade is used to prepare several kinds of homeopathic remedies. This is absolute fact. No opinion about it. (Just do a Google search for "deadly nightshade homeopathy" - or use its other names "belladonna" and "atropa" and marvel at all of the remedies available for purchase!) The only viewpoint in this sentence is that there is an absence of scientific evidence for the effectiveness of these remedies. This of course is not a minority viewpoint, but rather the scientific viewpoint. In my estimation, a minority viewpoint would be something to the effect of: Homeopaths maintain that such remedies are effective. However, this is not part of the proposed sentence.
So there it is. Neutrally worded from the sources and totally verified. The question which I would like answered is: Does the inclusion of this text at Deadly nightshade in any way violate WP:NPOV? If so, how? Please be specific.
Finally, I am not looking for opinions about the merits of homeopathy from other editors here. Though if it helps, please know that I don't believe in homeopathy. I am not supporting inclusion because I am a "true believer" but rather because I think this would be interesting and relevant information for a reader of this article to have; every bit as interesting and relevant as Deadly nightshade's recreational drug use, other medicinal uses, folklore and mentions in the media/pop culture. All I want to know is if the inclusion of this text violates NPOV in any way and if so, how? Thanks (and I think this board is a fantastic idea and a longtime overdue)! -- Levine2112 discuss 03:13, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
I made some comments which help in this regard here. I think that they serve to explain things as well as we need to. ScienceApologist ( talk) 03:53, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
Effectively, it is the prominence of the connected idea with reference to the subject that needs to be established in order to justify the inclusion or exclusion of an idea per the undue weight clause.
The only way to determine the prominence of a connected idea with respect to the subject is to find reliable sources that assert the prominence of the idea with respect to the subject.
A reliable source in this instance is any mainstream independent source that is about the subject in question.
Generally speaking I find the statement at the top of this section to be Original research. Personally I think it is likely to be true. So allow me to suggest that we find renowned scientist(s) to quote or paraphrase within the statement itself. And furthermore if there are other renowned scientist(s) who dispute that statement we should find a way to quote or paraphrase them. Another option would be to simply tag the article or section with an OR tag and leave it for a future Rfc. : Albion moonlight ( talk) 11:15, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
My personal preference has been to suggest that we forge some sort of compromise that the major players on both sides of this issue would sign onto, and we could point to in the future and enforce. My suggestion has been that (1) we have a centralized list of the major notable homeopathic remedies (also suggested by User: ScienceApologist, and which we now have) (2) We agree that to pick some arbitrary number of the "most notable" or most important of these homeopathic remedies which would be potentially have a short statement like that at the top of this section included in their articles (possibly the number would be about 40 or 50 or 60 or so) (3) We try to establish under the WP rules cited above such as WP:UNDUE for each individual article whether the mention of homeopathy is appropriate or not.
After our quota of 40-60 materials has been filled, any new article in which someone wanted to introduce a homeopathy discussion would have to be judged more appropriate than one of those articles already having such a mention, and passing that threshold, replace that article in the list. We could do the same for biographies of people who used homeopathy as well, so that every famous person who is rumored to have used homeopathy or who might have used homeopathy or who might have tried homeopathy does not end up with a paragraph promoting homeopathy in their Wikipedia biography. If we forge this agreement and get a substantial number on both sides interested in homeopathy to sign on, then we will have clear guidelines that all can abide by. Anyone new coming to the discussion will have evidence of a consensus they have to live with, or replace with a similar new consensus.
The advantages of this are that we do document homeopathy appropriately, but we do not go overboard and create a situation where we could potentially have thousands of homeopathy miniarticles included in chemical articles, plant articles, animal articles, mineral articles, biography articles, geography articles, political articles, and so on. For example, just because there are over 100,000 homeopathy doctors in India, should there be a section in the article India stating this? There were 315 registered professional homeopaths in the US in 1992. Should the article on the United States have a section discussing the prevalence of homeopathy in the US? Should there be a similar section in the articles of every country documenting the use of homeopathy in each country? Clearly at some point this is ridiculous and objectionable for a number of reasons. So instead, why don't we come up with some sort of compromise all can live with instead?-- Filll ( talk) 14:27, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
Thanx Levine2112, I was curious if someone was going to be curious and ask me specifics about some source info to those claims that I made about Belladonna, its early double-blind proving (in 13 cities, not 16 as I previously and accidentally cited) and its applications in the prevention and treatment of scarlet fever. For info about the proving, see Journal of Surgery, Gynecology, and Obstetrics, 1907 [4] See also Ted J. Kaptchuk, Intentional Ignorance: A History of Blind Assessment and Placebo Controls in Medicine Bulletin of the History of Medicine - Volume 72, Number 3, Fall 1998, pp. 389-433. [5] And here's a great reference to an impressive website of objective historical and research information. This site was previously listed at the article on homeopathy, but it was deleted (totally inappropriately). Chalmers I, Toth B. Thomas Graham Balfour's 1854 report of a clinical trial of belladonna given to prevent scarlet fever [6] I hope that this solid info will now be accepted as useful, for it is RS and notable. DanaUllman Talk 07:25, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
Deliberate exclusion of the fact that belladonna is used in the production of homeopathic medicines would be a obvious violation of NPOV. I would not include the mention of acne, boils and sunburn, since those are not indications for use (according to homeopathic practice). Fever, inflammation, and redness of mucous membranes are more appropriate indications (and can be sourced to Homeopathic Materia Media references). Arion 3x3 ( talk) 14:04, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
How many plants should have a mention in them on this? And how long should the mention be? Should it be a purely positive mention or a purely negative one or positive with caveats? How many plants? 100 plants? 1000 plants? 2000? 3000? more? Should minerals used in homeopathy have a similar mention? 1000? 2000? 3000? More? Should chemicals? Should animals? What about exotic homeopathic remedies like starlight and lightning storm? Should the articles on lightning and storms have subsections on homeopathic uses? Should the article on the Berlin Wall have a section on homeopathic use? Should all telescope articles have sections on homeopathic use? Should all optical articles have sections on homeopathic use? Should all articles on atoms and molecules have sections on relation to homeopathy? Should all planets and stars whose light might be used in homeopathic remedies have sections on homeopathic use? Should biographies of people that used homeopathy have a mention of homeopathy in their articles? How many? 100? 500? 5000? Should biographies of people that expressed an opinion of homeopathy have a mention of homeopathy in their articles? Again, how many biographies? What about the biographies of associates and friends and relatives of people who used homeopathy? How about people who might have used homeopathy but we do not know? How about places where the plants that are used in homeopathy grow? How about the countries that have passed laws about homeopathy? How about the people that voted on the laws about homeopathy? How about gardening articles; should they have sections on growing plants for homeopathic use? You see, without some sort of boundary, and some sort of guideline, I could envision putting a section in almost any article on Wikipedia on homeopathy. Every single article on Wikipedia could be required to have a subsection on homeopathy. What would you think of that?-- Filll ( talk) 18:53, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
Seems pretty easy to understand. Unless you are trying hard not to understand, and engage in WP:TE instead.-- Filll ( talk) 04:12, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
I think the sentence in question (at the top of this section) is POV, and its tone is not neutral. Try this:
Deadly nightshade is used in homeopathic prepartions for acne, boils, and sunburns, although the effectiveness of these preparations has not been proven. 1 2
-- Una Smith ( talk) 06:22, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
Since we agree on most of these issues, what would be wrong with helping me forge a compromise? Suppose we decide to try to make a list of the 50 most notable homeopathic remedies and then made sure their articles included a note of their homeopathic use. And we eventually have maybe 20 or 30 homeopathy articles and subarticles, and maybe another 50 homeopathic biographies. Then we decide that 50 remedies is just too few. Then we can change the compromise as needed as long as there is consensus. But the reason to do this is to try to put some order in the process, and make editors on all sides feel comfortable that their views will not be ignored. If someone in the future decides they want to create another 100 homeopathy articles or put homeopathy sections in other articles, or something else in violation of the compromise, we can use the compromise to reign them in. Also, if some pro-science editor decides we have to get rid of all homeopathy on Wikipedia, and roll back to 5 articles in total, including biographies, then we can point to the compromise and show how this position does not have support and consensus. So help me forge a compromise so people feel comfortable with the situation. It might help to relieve a lot of the tension. It might not work as well, but it is worth a try I think.-- Filll ( talk) 21:41, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for your comments here thus far. Even though that this board may not be the proper place to discuss such things, I still do appreciate all of the suggestions for changes to the text, ideas for cross-article compromise, insights into the historical context, etc. However, with regards to my original question, thus far all editors contributing here seem to support that the text does not violate WP:NPOV in anyway. Is this correct? Are there any editors who believe it does violate NPOV and if so, how specifically? -- Levine2112 discuss 06:41, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
I don't understand what is going on in the discussions that are being continued here. On one hand it seems clear to me that homeopathy should be mentioned in the deadly nightshade article: I am only marginally interested in homeopathy, but when I hear about deadly nightshade I think of tomatoes, eye drops and homeopathy. (Of course this is only "original anecdotal evidence".) For a Google search for "belladonna 6X" I get 70,000 hits. In German it would be "Belladonna D6", which gets 30,000 hits. In comparison, Paracetamol gets 3,6 million hits, i.e. only 36 times as many. I think this indicates that homeopathic use of belladonna is significant to the point where it would be strange not to mention it in the article. (It also shows that the "no molecules left" argument is a red herring here because 6X is a dilution of 1:1 million, which doesn't get at all near the Avogadro constant). On the other hand, I don't see why Levine2112 is unhappy with Filll's proposal, which looks as if it should take care of this and many similar clear cases and would also deal with real borderline cases in a relatively fair and effective way. (Although there would be some limited potential for bias if homeopathy supporters prioritised by relevance of substances to homeopathy rather than relevance of homeopathy to substances.) Is it because it's a kludge? Or is fear of a Trojan horse involved? It looks as if both sides could be more open to the other's arguments here. -- Hans Adler ( talk) 12:02, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
Suggestion prior to compromise: What might be helpful is to look at the top 100 (HOMEOPATHY'S GREATEST HITS) on google to see how many hits they get. The numbers of remedies reaching a minimal threshold for inclusion might be even less then 100. Anthon01 ( talk) 13:19, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
Let's review. The question is Does the inclusion of this text at Deadly nightshade in anyway violate WP:NPOV?
The original text:
Deadly nightshade is used in homeopathic prepartions for acne, boils, and sunburns despite the absence of any scientific evidence for the effectiveness of such a use. 1 2
The revised text:
Deadly nightshade is used in homeopathic preparations for acne, boils, and sunburns, although the effectiveness of these preparations has not been proven. 1 2
"although the effectiveness of these preparations has not been proven." is too much and not appropriate to a plant article. We are not discussing the effectiveness, simply the use. I recommend:
Deadly nightshade is used in making homeopathic preparations
If the use is presented in a medicinal use section, its effectiveness is implied. The following formulation would work, or it could be moved to an alternative medicine section:
Deadly nightshade is used in making homeopathic preparations, although the effectiveness of these preparations has not been proven.
Consider these contrasting sentences:
1. Deadly nightshade is used by con-artists to defraud deluded persons suffering from trivial ailments.
2. Deadly nightshade is used by physicians to cure boils.
3. Deadly nightshade is used by medical practioners to treat boils.
4. Deadly nightshade is used by homeopaths for boils.
Sentence 1 is probably true; that is, yes, some con artists sell harmless placebos just to make money. Sentence 2 is presumably false. Sentence 3 implies intended efficacy by licensed caregivers and is doubtful. Sentence 4 can sound like 3 if "homeopath" is taken to imply "medical practioner" and "for" is taken to mean "treat", both of which are reasonable interpretations by otherwise disinterested laymen. For that reason, the sentence used in the text should include qualifications regarding efficacy (as sourced) so as to avoid a false but reasonable interpretation by the reader. I believe our difficulty is just that ambiguity in the term homeopathy, that is, connoting, or denoting, medical treatment; versus connoting, or denoting, fruad. The difficulty with each position is the evidence for the other: quacks do indeed sell snake-oil and some homeopathic processes are flatly disproven; but physicians (real physicians) do sometimes prescribe "homeopathic" remedies. The reason is that homeopathy is not so simple as either its fans or its critics make out and "homeopathy" does not define a definite and consistent body of science. So I seek agreement on this intermediate statement:
Some prepartions labelled as "homeopathic" have no scientific basis for medical use, however, some actually do.
My pending example of this is the trade-marked (I think) "Smoke-Ease" (I found a list of ingredients). The botanical ingredients all look relevant for alleviating the discomforts of quitting nicotine. However, I am told that properly, one of the ingredients is something diluted-to-zero (the earmark homeopathic activity, which has no scientific validity known). My own assumption, to date, is that any diluted-to-zero component would have only a placebo effect (or marketing effect), and the actual medical amelioration would come solely from the botanical ingredients (which includes, for example, an expectorant, that really would help during the few days of nicotine withdrawal marked by cold-like symptoms). Can we agree definitely that yes, some homeopathy is dubious (if not outright bunk) but that no, some homepathy is effective (even if the term "homeopathy" itself can be misleading as it is widely used)? Pete St.John ( talk) 18:58, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
This is basic begging of the question. There are two issues:
These two issues are needed in tandem. You cannot just ask the question if inclusion of a particular phrase is in violation of NPOV. You must ask the entire question clearly lest you assert a consensus for a point that is of no relevance. ScienceApologist ( talk) 04:34, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
SA, your attempt to define the debate in your own terms is a weak form of rhetoric. Your assertions of fact and policy don't become more persuasive through repetition, nor through the use of Bold text or spurious section headers. Dlabtot ( talk) 17:16, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
So where do we stand. Can we add the phrase (or some amalgamation suggested above) to the article without violating WP:NPOV? -- Levine2112 discuss 01:35, 5 April 2008 (UTC)
I also think that we are clogging this page with unnecessary effluvia. I do not think the board is meant to be empty space we can jam full of homeopathic discussions. And then we are doing it one by one, instead of addressing all the plants, or all the remedies, in one comprehensive agreement. So we are having a huge discussion about one out of potentially hundreds or thousands of such remedies. This is just silly.-- Filll ( talk) 23:04, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
I would like to draw attention to a policy change discussion, concerning to expand/clarify the requirement of "what is due".
— Xiutwel ♫☺♥♪ (speech has the power to bind the absolute) 11:27, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
AeronM ( talk · contribs) has undertaken a campaign to push POV in at least two areas on Wikipedia. AeronM is editing articles relating to fluoride (see also water fluoridation and water fluoridation controversy) and "natural horsemanship" (I know nothing about the latter topic). When AeronM's editing is challenged, AeronM responds with accusations of "edit warring" or other abrasive comments. Every editor who has commented on AeronM's edits at the fluoride articles, at least, has disagreed with the edits. AeronM has been warned previously about POV-pushing. Further advice or input is requested. · jersyko talk 01:57, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
Provide us with diffs to show evidence of POV pushing. Do not expect people to research this for you. No one has time to dig through many K of edits.-- Filll ( talk) 04:20, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
Surely, accusations against an editor do not belong here; they belong on RfC. Does the article in question have POV issues? Probably. -- Una Smith ( talk) 06:27, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
Provide us with diffs to show evidence of POV pushing. Do not expect people to research this for you. No one has time to dig through many K of edits.-- Filll ( talk) 04:20, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
Third request: Provide us with diffs to show evidence of POV pushing. Do not expect people to research this for you. No one has time to dig through many K of edits. -- Una Smith ( talk) 18:16, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
Again, accusations against an editor do not belong here; they belong on RfC. This venue is for evaluating articles for NPOV or lack thereof. -- Una Smith ( talk) 18:19, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
Having looked at some of the edits to the fluoridation article, it does appear that it could do with a bit of rewriting and that some of the attempts to push the "fluoride is a terrible plot" POV are not really NPOV. As I understand NPOV, we need to have all sides presented, not just slant it one way or the other.-- Filll ( talk) 21:09, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
jersyko accuses AeronM of POV pushing. As evidence, jersyko has provided a single diff ( this). Per Wikipedia:Tendentious editing, POV pushing is repeated biased edits to a single article or group of articles. -- Una Smith ( talk) 00:30, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
It seems clear to me now that in the interest of saving myself time and effort, I've chosen the wrong forum to bring up AeronM's POV pushing. This was obviously much more appropriate for a user conduct RFC. Recognizing that, I now plan to begin one in the next month or so assuming the current editing trend persists. My apologies to all for my mistaken use of this noticeboard. · jersyko talk 01:03, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
Given this, I suggest this notice should now be closed. -- Una Smith ( talk) 15:39, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
The continuing conversation about who mentioned whom isn't helping solve any problems. I've marked this thread as resolved and will take it to user conduct RFC in due course if inappropriate behavior persists. · jersyko talk 16:47, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
Mediation/Third Party Resolution is required for the Akrotiri and Dhekelia page.
In the section Dispute with Cyprus, the so-called comments of the President of Cyprus are being made, even though the source doesn`t state `has cast fresh doubt on the continued British presence`, The phrase has been added. This is a POV being expressed here, even though the base is legitimatly and leagally British. Which further means any comments by the President are not of note, excpet to make Greek POV feel better.(even though there is no source to prove he made the exact comments).
This has reached a situation of continued Reverts by a certain use and less so by another, and this has now reached an impass, which needs resolving by a third party. Your help would be greatly appreciated, no matter what the outcome. Thanks Rockybiggs ( talk) 15:59, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
Piotrus ( talk · contribs) is in apparent collaboration with Molobo ( talk · contribs). I don't think that it is right for administrators to behave as he has done in the article Morgenthau Plan. Molobos edits are heavily contested in the Morgenthau plan, see the article talk page, and he simply selects to revert back to include all of Molobos edits. And don't even bother to explain himself at talk.-- Stor stark7 Talk 01:00, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
I would list this page under BLP/N, but it involves a company. After the short lead, the main thrust of this article was a corporate malfeasance issue. This is severely undue in its weight, and ought to be fixed. If it were a BLP issue, it wouldn't be allowed to stand. The Evil Spartan ( talk) 20:46, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
The paragraphs about the pipe organ are a tad opinionated: "Richard Hills play this incredible instrument", and "its wonderful sounds"... I think it needs a bit of a rewrite?
I admit I'm a little uncomfortable with articles on commerical concerns. This article, to me, is way too favorable, and reads like a promo piece. I pared it down a couple of months ago, to this, but after a decent interval it was reverted to its current form, which is pretty much the way I found it in January. Would someone take a look, confirm that I'm not crazy, and maybe help bring a little order there? Xymmax ( talk) 15:55, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
I loves me some Pete Miser, but I don't think the existing article has a NPOV at all:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Miser —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.1.145.232 ( talk • contribs) 18:50, 10 March 2008
Here an image of what an editor claims to be a victim* is included with no other information explaining what makes this victim notable enough to appear in an image on this article. Instead it is supposed to represent the conflict between the US and Iran somehow according to its uploader with Iran playing the part of the "dead"* child. The whole concept seems incredibly POV, including a nameless child in this article is like including images like these in our 9/11 articles: Warning extremely graphic content Photo showing part of a 9/11 victim on street below the WTC or this victim inside the Pentagon, they'd add nothing to it as people are expected to be killed in such an event and showing victims would only serve to engender an emotional bias. That's exactly what this image does on Iran Air Flight 655, showing a nameless child victim without a clear reason is obviously targeting people's feelings...which we are specifically not supposed to do.
Based on that understanding I, and at least five others,** have removed or support removing it from the article. However there is a kink, representing the situation as a lone edit warrior trying to remove an image for which good arguments for its retention are being ignored, one of the image's supporters had the page protected with it still included, essentially locking in the POV image. Since it's a policy we're talking about and not a simple edit I thought it'd be more appropriate to make the request here rather than WP:RFP#Current requests for significant edits to a protected page
(* There are whole cans of worms involving the accuracy, copyright, and other aspects of this image totally unrelated to NPOV concerns. **So you, the reader, know I'm not just making up a number: Editor 1 • Editor 2 • Editor 3 • Editor 4 • Editor 5) Anynobody 06:24, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
I hope this is an acceptable place to post my request for help. The anonymous user 66.182.15.218, User talk:66.182.15.218 has been posting many, many edits, all of which look to me like ads for the company ZAP (motor company). I have undone some edits, and the user has reverted me in one instance so far. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Fbagatelleblack ( talk) 18:45, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
Waterboarding is an article with a NPOV conflict, and the editors on this page want some help. The conflict revolves around if wikipedia can say "Waterboarding is a form of torture" or not. All the expert medical sources say that it is a form of torture, all non-american legal sources say it meets the UNCAT definition of torture, all US military sources say it violates GCIII as a form of torture. One right wing politician has said publicly waterboaring is not torture but most american politicians (obama, mccain and clinton etc) say it is. Any outside help would be useful. (Hypnosadist) 01:58, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
I posted an NPOV notice at Atheism here because I think it is a glaring NPOV violation in a featured article at that! You guys here might help to keep an eye at this article, and check its neutrality. Kleinbell ( talk) 05:22, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
The coexistence of Atheism and Criticism of atheism is a clear example of a POV fork. From Wikipedia:Content forking : Articles should not be split into multiple articles so each can advocate a different stance on the subject. More details can be found in Wikipedia:Criticism that says : Don't make articles entirely devoted to criticism of a topic that has ... its own Wikipedia article. How long have these two article existed separately? They must be fused back together or, if too long ( WP:SIZE), prominently linked to each other as per WP:SS. Emmanuelm ( talk) 14:57, 13 March 2008 (UTC) (cross-posted at Talk:Atheism)
(outdent) While we must be wary of such "Criticism of..." articles being written as to be a POV fork, the presence of such an article reflecting upon a major world religion is in and of itself not necessarily a POV fork, if only because the subject is notable (e.g., there are academic fields of study in criticisms of most world religions). This may be easier to see if we note that apologetics for (say) atheism might be deserving of an article (although under no circumstances would it be in lieu of the article on "Atheism" proper). Baccyak4H ( Yak!) 16:58, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
Example of tone
The tone shows the article is written from an atheist point of view, e.g. :There is a position claiming that atheists are quick to believe in God in times of crisis, that atheists make deathbed conversions, or that "there are no atheists in foxholes".[30] Some proponents of this view claim that the anthropological benefit of religion is that religious faith enables humans to endure hardships better (c.f. opium of the people).[citation needed] Some atheists emphasize the fact that there have been examples to the contrary, among them examples of literal "atheists in foxholes". -- Comment: claim a word to avoid is used for the theist position. Then are rejoinder from the atheists immediately.
Bibliography and body Lacks some notable sources and opinions:
Dinesh D'Souza of Hoover Institute of Standford University ( a very notable author) - his book and perspectives on atheism:
Paul Vitz - Stanford University (1962) and prof emeritus of psychology at New York University. Professor/Senior Scholar at the Institute for Psychological Sciences (IPS) in Arlington, VA.
Tomas Crean - Interview on his book; * Amazon review of atheist who liked the book
John Haught - Landegger Distinguished Professor of Theology at Georgetown University. Founder of Georgetown Center for the Study of Science and Religion
Vox Day -
Paul Johnson - famous historian
Rationale section is sheer apologetics - yes I agree with Emmanuel that the criticism of atheism is a pov fork and has to be fused back in summary form. (I was referring above to the evasiveness of the people who contradict him).
Demographics section is apologetic - only the positive correlations are included.
Morality section - one short criticism phrase and lines upon lines of response!! Kleinbell ( talk) 10:22, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
Editor Gni is apparently a single purpose account intent on inserting the POV of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America in a handful of article, including that one. This editor has been edit warring over formulations in the article, belligerently replacing well sourced phrases such as the organization being "pro-Israel" and supporting boycotts with PR phraseology lifted from the CAMERA website. While CAMERA (or any organization) may certainly wish to portray themselves a certain way, for tax purposes or for whatever reason, an encyclopedia describes an organization based on what reliable sources say. Ther article also has a section Accusations of anti-Israel bias made by CAMERA, comprised of a selective list of such accusations against NPR, major media, Steven Spielberg, etc. Gni keeps deleting balance added to this section (specifically, a response from NPR's ombudsman) with the somewhat idiosyncratic (and WP:OWN) claim that "This section isn't for comments about CAMERA."
An outside look at this edit warring would be appreciated. Boodlesthecat ( talk) 20:49, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
after not being helped in Wikipedia:Editor assistance/Requests I bring the discusion here:
Islamic Pov pushing in the Inventions in the Islamic world article, selected quotations (often from highly dubious Islamic sources) are used to claim an invention is Islamic, all I want is a small part to say that just because the invention happened in an Islamic controlled state doesn't mean the inventors were devout Muslims. This goes against the pov pushing agenda though Oxyman42 (talk) 16:09, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
Comment : the article is about "Inventions in the Islamic world" it does not mention the Quran or aspects of the Muslim faith. I only came across the article by looking at Recentchanges, if you think the article if POV then instead of adding another POV source like this (which appears to be straight out of conservapedia) - state what is wrong and where. Instead bias has been introduced (copy pasted in fact - a first person opinion) in the lead section from FrontPage Magazine. Pahari Sahib (talk) 19:21, 8 March 2008 (UTC) reply: surely a way of trying to balance a debate is to include opinions from both sides? There are about 100 quotations from dubious Islamic sites, or quotations carefully selected and taken out of context to support an argument. I added that (single) quotation after several others were deleted by pov pushers such as "many of them (the inventions) had direct implications for Fiqh related issues" this quotation was supplied by a Muslim when it suited the point he was trying to make but deleted it when I added it to the article as it did not support the pov agenda"In English we use the word “Islam” with two distinct meanings, and the distinction is often blurred and lost and gives rise to considerable confusion. In the one sense, Islam is the counterpart of Christianity; that is to say, a religion in the strict sense of the word: a system of belief and worship. In the other sense, Islam is the counterpart of Christendom; that is to say, a civilization shaped and defined by a religion, but containing many elements apart from and even hostile to that religion, yet arising within that civilization."Bernard Lewis in What Went Wrong Any edit which goes against the pov pushing agenda is deleted by someone from WP:ISLAM which is unlike a normal Wikiproject as it is a group of pov pushers intent of pushing their views rather then improving wikipediaOxyman42 (talk) 20:39, 8 March 2008 (UTC) Well I am not a member of WP:ISLAM, but you should at least try and follow WP:MOS and cite it correctly - and not overload the lead section with your POV. Pahari Sahib (talk) 20:46, 8 March 2008 (UTC) There needs to be a wikiproject just to monitor the stuff coming from WP:ISLAM, I did try and cite it correctly, but every time I try and add something here it is reverted by pov pushers from WP:ISLAM. the whole article at present amounts to one big pov push from WP:ISLAM and it is somewhat beyond one person to check 150 odd quotations to see if they are correct Oxyman42 (talk) 21:29, 8 March 2008 (UTC) If you believe there is a 'big pov push' from whatever quarter, I suggest you take it to Wikipedia:AIV. Pahari Sahib (talk) 21:49, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
For background please see
I have a question about aplying Attributing and substantiating biased statements to IDABC. IDABC is part of the European Commission, a part of the European Union. As such it is a government site that reports news on some topics. One of them is open source. I do not find their news articles biased. But another editor (WalterGR) is quoting a policy from WP:NPOV, Attributing and substantiating biased statements and is requiring material used from them not just attributed to IDABC, but to IDABC's Open Source News. Is IDBAC considered biased and should material from it be subject to the Attributing and substantiating biased statements to the point of using IDABC's Open Source News? The policy clearly is about biased sources, I dont think IDABC is biased. I believe that a simple linking to the news reference is enough or at most saying according to IDABC. Am I correct in my applying of this policy? Kilz ( talk) 12:54, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
This is a problem I'm seeing more and more on Wikipedia, and which I am correcting wherever I can, where we have poorly formed lead sentences such as:
Granted, Washington won and was nominated for those awards, but to put it in the lead sentence in such a way makes the article's lead sentence sound like something more suited for a press kit or a fluff piece than an encyclopedia. I've been correcting this issue wherever I can (moving mentions of awards to later parts of the lead section); this is typically a problem rising from anonymous editors. -- FuriousFreddy ( talk) 13:28, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
the article for Jonas Brothers has the sentence "Gina is a hotti..." and other random, unnecessary opinions edited to it today, but it is protected.
I say those sex abuse scandals should not be in the article at all. It is a news event, not a fact about th RC Church!!!
-- 71.53.11.54 ( talk) 20:49, 18 March 2008 (UTC) Connor
Plese review the article on Edenic_diet. I don't know anything about the Edenic diet, but the article seems to take a negative, mocking tone toward the subject. Quote: "It incorporates self-reflection, guilt and self-righteousness..." AutumnKent ( talk) 18:07, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
On Fiador (tack), created 4 days ago, I have been contributing content on a minor item of horse tack that is called throughout the Spanish speaking world a "fiador". A derivative form of this item, and this term for it, is used in the United States in a very narrow context. Two Wikipedia editors familiar with that context are deleting from Fiador (tack) all content not conforming with that context. Their contention seems to be that the English Wikipedia should restrict its scope to "describing the term primarily as it is used in English language-speaking countries" ( diff). I contend that Wikipedia is a worldwide encyclopedia and that it describes things, not terms. -- Una Smith ( talk) 06:45, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
The entry for Glen Heggstad is written like an advertisement for a person. It certainly suffers from one POV, but should it be flagged for anything else, too? A great example is the paragraph that begins "Glen makes friends easily and often." Tedder ( talk) 05:25, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
It seems to me that a popular but disputed political position is being adopted as the "true" position and as the first word of description rather than being attributed to those who hold it on an article. I understood the neutral point of view policy to say that is improper - can someone tell me if I misunderstood it or not? I commented on the Talk page here [15]. Thanks, -- Robertert ( talk) 09:45, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
The page for the Canadian cosmetics company Lise Watier at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lise_Watier is not impartial and does not appear to me to conform to Wikipedia's NPOV policy. I will not change it myself but wanted to bring it to the attention of those to whom it is important. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.151.151.3 ( talk) 15:25, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
Zenboy29 (
talk) has been editing the the
Durban article as well as a few other with non neutral point of view.
This user is adding the same section of text in various articles, (and it is been reverted),
2010 FIFA World Cup, and
South Africa (but another user
Zindabad 76 did the original set of edits.
[16])
I have tried, (
on his talk page), to explain to him what the problems were with the edits but he keeps re-adding his changes.
He has now started accusing me of political censorship.
[17]
I know that on the face of it, it looks like an edit conflict, but his references cannot be accessed, (either broken or you have to subscribe), or are simply unrelated to the section of text.
Can an Admin please have a look at it and help us out. Thanks
FFMG (
talk) 15:53, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
This article is not neutral at all. Just read it, it's obvious. I'm not going to do anything about it because I've got to go get a bath and cut my toenails, but you guys might want to sort it out or mark it in some way. Cheers. 80.195.89.127 ( talk) 21:24, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
User:LightSpeed3 has actively campaigned to remove as many references to Tesla Motors as possible in electric vehicle-related articles to which developments at Tesla are clearly relevant.
Example diffs:
Here is my NPOV warning to him:
I will leave his last revert on Electric car unaltered until this matter is resolved. Thanks for your help. Fbagatelleblack ( talk) 19:18, 29 March 2008 (UTC)
The article, mainly the milestone section, seems biased against the 360 and the PS3 and favoring towards the wii. For example, if you look there than you will find games of diferent consoles, which is good, except that not one wii game is criticized but every other game is, with the exception of oblivion.
Here is one case: Super mario galaxy:"currently one of the most critically acclaimed titles of the seventh generation, sold more copies in its first week, including over 500,000 in the US, than any other game for the Mario title in the history of the franchise.[122] It is second only to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as the overall best-reviewed game of all-time, as listed on Game Rankings.[123]"
that is biased. one web site saying SM Galaxy is the second best game of all time does not make it so. Plus, does it really make it a legacy if it sells more copies in it's first week than other mario games. These two things are weak reasons that only add bias to make it seem greater than it really is.
Whats really annoying is all I could do to alert people, besides this, was to post my complaint on the talk page, PandaSaver ( talk) 03:16, 30 March 2008 (UTC)PandaSaver
Several editors would like to include brief mention of the alternate theories surrounding the events of 9/11 at the Pentagon. A very short paragraph with two useful links presenting evidence including CCTV footage and numerous eyewitness accounts was put forward. This was edited slightly so that is was even more unbiased. The user Ave Caesar and others keep removing this section. A detailed discussion can be seen on the discussion page for this article. I am convinced that the banning of such a point of view held by a great many people and with evidence to support it is contrary to Wikipedia's Neutral Point of View Policy. I would appreciate it if someone could look into this. Thanks. -- MTC1980 ( talk) 05:34, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
Cox_Communications has had the Nomination for NPOV tag since December '07. It's had significant updates since then. Request an independent review. IPingUPing ( talk) 00:41, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
Someone constantly changes the name of the composer to it's Ukrainian way. I remind you that Dmitry Bortiansky lived mostly in Saint Petersburg, where he also died, and spoke mostly Russian. Not only that, but when his music was released in the Germanic-language countries, his name was spelled in the Russian way, Dmitri. I dont see any logic to the attempts to change his name into the Ukrainian formulation but pushing nationalistic agenda. I was offered a "concensus", but i didnt seem to see what concensus could come here. Shpakovich ( talk) 12:52, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
i have sources that WP:Verifiability WP:No original research. i try to make WP:Neutral point of view. but my arguments are blocked by admin.-- Qwl ( talk) 22:46, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
I would like some critical eyes to look at indigenous peoples and let me know whether any of you think that this is a case of a POV-pushing. There seems to be very little debate in the academic world about whether indigenous peoples were here before the advent of European colonization. I can't understand why there would only be two sentences dedicated to "Indigenous viewpoints" and a whole complete section on "Non-indigenous viewpoints". Also, the lack of citations throughout this section is very sketchy to me.
I would not like to think that anybody in the Wiki community is racist or biased. However, when you see articles like this, that are so one-sided, it would certainly be easy enough to draw that conclusion.
Any comments can be left on my talk page. Thanks!! Blueelectricstorm ( talk) 01:44, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
I am editing the Marble Slab Creamery article to sound as netral as possible but it keeps getting tag. Can someone please let me know what further changes to need to be made in order to get rid of the "advertisement" tag at the top of the page? Radhaus ( talk) 15:52, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
Would anybody put the 2008 Canadian Commercial Seal Hunt article on watch? The big part of the seal hunt begins in April, and it is a very controversial topic. Bib ( talk) 13:15, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
I am part of a two-man team trying to introduce the benefits of using alternatives to sandblasting like Sodablasting, as its quick to set-up and start working using a food based media.
I was annoyed to find this rather biased 'advert' for Dry Ice Blasting which apparently has no down side to its use, method or application.
I am refering to this specific page and section below:-
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_ice_blasting
"Soda Blasting Main article: Soda blasting Soda Blasting is generally an effective cleaning method. However, Soda Blasting, like all open blasting,* creates a great deal of secondary waste. Often, the time spent blasting is matched, if not doubled by the time it takes to clean up the extra waste soda blasting creates. In fact, the residue and waste left behind by soda blasting can adhere to wood and other substrates being blasted.
There is also evidence that soda blasting can have a negative effect on the PH levels of the soil it comes into contact with after blasting, thereby killing surrounding vegetation. This is not the case with CO2 blasting"
It follows that if there is not a lot of waste to clean up how can it take longer than doing the job in the first place?
I would like to see the evidence of 'soda residue' adhering to substrates that have been blasted
Also, Re 'PH' levels there are not mounds of soda piling up over vegetation after use, what powered dust there is, is simply rinsed away. The amount of soda required for "killing surrounding vegetation" would have to excessive and not have been rinsed away.
Can anyone comment on any disadvantage to dry ice blasting or is it the worlds saviour? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.154.37.24 ( talk) 14:03, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
This article has loads of POV problems. First, I suspect that Wikipedias have built-in cultural bias according to the their language. My guess is that a disproportioante number of editors of the English-language Wikipedia are American or sympathetic to its policies. In this article, French concerns about US policy and culture are sweepingly characterized as anti-Americanism. If French editors were equally represented here, would there really be a consensus that French concerns are fairly dismissed as anti-Americanism? Would pro-American commentators be as dominantly represented as they are now? Really trivial (I think) things like a decline in "favorable opinion" polls among the British are given as examples of anti-Americanism. Protest spurred by sexual assaults by US military in Japan is dismissed as anti-Americanism. Even without cultural bias, this article is full of POV just because calling something anti-American is an interpretation of the event or situation. Yet, this article's method is to give examples of what the editors have decided (i.e. interpreted) as anti-Americanism. This article gives an overwhelmingly American view of anti-Americanism.
Another problem is that the editors insist on treating it like a dictionary entry. So, there is no agreement about whether the thing the article is about is prejudice or possibly reasonable opinion, policy or culture, criticism or hostility. Everybody is just arguing their POV about what "anti-Americanism" means..... Life.temp ( talk) 11:19, 5 April 2008 (UTC)
Please will someone review this entry afresh. What exactly is contentious?
Simon Prebble (born February 13, 1942) is an English actor and narrator,
[edit] Early life Born and raised in Croydon, Surrey, he is the son of the novelist, screenwriter and Scottish historian, John Prebble and fashion artist Betty Prebble (both deceased).
[edit] Career In 1960 he attended Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London and began his acting career in one of Britain's first live television soap operas, 'Home Tonight' with David Hemmings. For the next eleven years he worked extensively on radio and television and in provincial repertory theatre including a year with Ian McKellen's Hamlet. In 1973 Prebble joined the newsroom at Capital Radio, the first legal commercial music station in Britain, where he hosted London's Day. He then embarked on a career as a presenter and voice-over announcer, including thirteen years as the promo voice of Thames Television, and from 1984 he was the announcer for the British version of the phenomenally successful game show 'The Price Is Right' with Leslie Crowther. In 1990 Prebble moved to New York where he continued doing voice-over work. As well as recording numerous radio and television commercials, he also hosted and narrated several television documentary series, notably 'Target-Mafia'. He has character-voiced various television cartoon series, such as 'Courage the Cowardly Dog'. His film voice work includes playing Ernest Shackleton in the 2000 documentary 'The Endurance' and the opening and closing voice of the elderly Casanova in Lasse Hallström's 2005 film of the same name. In 1996, he was a lead actor for a year (as the villain Martin Chedwyn) on the American daily soap opera 'As the World Turns'. In the U.S., he also began narrating audio books, and to date has recorded over 325 titles. As one of AudioFile Magazine's 'Golden Voices' and 'Best Voices of the Century', his work has gained him five 'Listen Up' awards, nineteen 'Earphone' awards, and eleven nominations for the 'Audies' (the audiobook 'Oscars'). In 2005, he was named 'Narrator of the Year' by Publishers Weekly. In 2003, at Chiswick House, London, he married Swedish graphic artist, Marie-Janine Hellstrom. In 2007, both he and his wife became US citizens. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Simon prebble ( talk • contribs) 23:09, 5 April 2008 (UTC)
-- 98.220.214.153 ( talk) 23:07, 6 April 2008 (UTC) Rather than citing Church of the Brethren documents that show that the denomination takes a given stance, most citations in the article appeal to the Bible for verification. This citation of Biblical references implies defense of the ideas assumed to exist wihtin the denomiantion as fair CChristian doctrine rather than proving that the idea or view is actually associated with the Church of the Brethren.
There was a serious NPOV issue on this article, which I have endeavoured to clear up in this edit. I'd be glad if another editor could check the rewrite and remove the NPOV tag if appropriate. Matt's talk 17:32, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
There is a developing NPOV issue on this article. In the past there have been serious edit wars and it appears to be starting again. I have attempted to re-work the article and propose a way that would reflect the beliefs of prophecy from different belief systems. My initial work was in tidying up Christian POV, though I have suggested that all areas need improving. An editor has started changing the emphasis of the article to be about the experience of prophecy, and is taking a definite POV, namely that of Judaism. As the Wikipedia articles always rates highly in Google searches and the like, this will give a very misleading perception.
In my way of thinking, prophecy is not just restricted to one religion or another, even the wacko who stands on the street corner shouting the end of the world is nigh, has the potential and possibly the right to be included as a prophet. Prophecy is very subjective and certainly has the potential to be interpreted in a number of ways.
What is the way forward in getting this article back to being a general encyclopaedic article about prophecy? Also what is the Wikipedia position about an individual editor taking unilateral decision about the direction of articles. Regards Paulrach ( talk) 15:56, 8 April 2008 (UTC)
We're looking for outside eyes to determine if the POV tag still belongs on the natalizumab article. Thank you for your help. Antelan talk 23:05, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
This is a mix of spam, and NPOV, and, very soon, 3RR. Karojaro seems determined to impose his own viewpoint, not to mention advertising for the cause he seems to favour. And threatening a reverter with blocking [23] doesn't help. This isn't my area - I just do anti-vandalism. What's the right course of action here? Philip Trueman ( talk) 20:05, 11 April 2008 (UTC)
So there's a new ID movie coming out called Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, and in the Claims that intelligent design advocates are persecuted section there is this:
Now, I haven't looked into the refs much but they're probably good. Ref 20 is from 2006 and doesn't discuss the 2008 film, it's a general ID ref. These type of refs seem common on pages related to ID, and when they're discussed on the talk pages people seem to be of the view that NPOV requires adding these opposing viewpoints. I don't disagree that WEIGHT requires the majority view that ID is bunk on the main ID page, but it seems to me that on this film's page WEIGHT would require that we document people's views on the film and not ID in general. Am I right? wrong? it's complicated? - Peregrine Fisher ( talk) 14:59, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
An editor has commented here that usage of Poles, Jews, Lithuanians, Soviets and so on is non-neutral. I have disagreed; an edit war occured (related to those and other issues) and the article is protected. Comments would be much appreciated here; I have presented there a short rationale why the suggested more specific terms are in fact erroneous.-- Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk 20:31, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
Dear all, It is my understanding that Wikipedia services are promoted, among other things, as an educational site – a place whereby one can easily access and obtain information about various issues of interest. It is also my understanding that Wikipedia supposedly prides itself in the integrity and unbiased nature of the articles contained therein. However, much evidence would testify to the contrary. The full, unbiased disclosure truth is what is essential here, and Wikipedia does not come close to providing it in several areas, in particular fields relating to the creation-evolution controversy. I was wondering if someone could please clarify why there are multiple anti-creationist articles, while any attempts at uploading pro-creation articles are deleted? Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.154.46.104 ( talk) 08:21, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
Could someone uninvolved take a look at recent edits to The Economist? Opinion pieces by arguably partisan left-wing sources ( Socialist Party (UK), George Monbiot, JK Galbraith) are being used as reliable sources. I fear there is pov-pushing at work. Thank you, Skomorokh 20:45, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
I saw interwiki link added to the backlog category today and it got me poking around that page in other languages. The Germans had a neat little chart with several grades of priorities listed. Their first priority grade had both Wikipedia:Deletion review and Category:NPOV disputes. I tried to imagine what it would be like to really give these disputes the same attention as the articles under deletion review. Then I looked to see how well they really did; the Germans have only 455 articles in this category. I was impressed. Then I thought to add up how many we have I imagined it would be a few thousand. It is 8,100 articles in the monthly subcategories alone. I didn't hit the topical subcats in case of duplication. That is a great deal more than I expected. The tags that correspond to this cat are: {{ 1911POV}}, {{ Coatrack}}, {{ NPOV language}}, {{ Totally-disputed-section}}, {{ Obit}}, {{ POV}}, {{ POV-check}}, {{ POV-intro}}, {{ POV-map}}, {{ POV-section}}, {{ POV-statement}} and {{ POV-title}}. I spend a lot of time with backlogs so I am pretty numb to these big accumulations. How do the people on this board feel about there being over 8,000 articles tagged with various bias issues? Is this category as big a deal as the Germans think it is or is it just another backlog?-- BirgitteSB 00:19, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
The Orphan Works page is not only bad, its seems very biased towards the protection of the orphan works law, which is now under review. —Preceding unsigned comment added by RickO5 ( talk • contribs) 05:40, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
I provide official information the only one there is about this article here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Tenshinhan#Third_Eye however they insist to keep fan made references in the article here ^ "Biographies Tien" (2001). Retrieved on 2008-03-14. “People often wondered if this three-eyed warrior was even human like Krillin or Yamcha. He is.”-- Saxnot ( talk) 11:07, 16 April 2008 (UTC)Saxnot
I have tried to change this 3 or 4 times and it keeps getting deleted. Who ever is doing it, is accusing me of not being neutral. I am just referencing other articles where she puts her words in context her self.
The current Wiki article is one sided and takes comments out of context and uses a liberal political pendants vitriolic rant against her and Clinton to end it. WHAT IS FAIR ABOUT THAT?
OBAMA's race speech compared Ferraro to Rev Wright and says she has deep seeded deep-seated racial bias. Clearly Rev Wright and Ferraro are not on the same level regarding comments. Ferraro responded to that. That should be in there.
My complaint is it is one sided, not fair and takes a few comments out of context. Some balance should be given to her own defense or at least put in context.
Clearly reference to Keith Olbermann of MSNBC "Special Comment" and his vitriolic point of veiw about her comments is bias. Who cares what Olbermann says. His "special comments" are personal rants. They are so bias and a rant, they are not acceptable. IF they are OK, than some quote defending her comments are in order, like Bob Johnson?
Olbermann is voted in the top 100 most influential liberals by a international group. He also has only used his "Special Comments" in the past to only bash the Bush administration. Fine, but his taking a full 5 minutes to make a PERSONAL editorial against a DEM (who is normally favorable towards) is NOT appropriate to keep. His treatment of Obama on his "Count Down" show is near fawning and kid gloves. Obama's Bitter comment and Rev Wright issue where in a very supportive, how can we fix this" tone. NO COMMENT MADE BY OLBERMANN regarding Clinton's campaign is fair or appropriate.
ITS Olbermann's OPINION! I DID NOT PUT THIS IN THE Wiki ARTICLE, but just explaining that Olbermanns quotes are NOT appropriate.
How about Randi Rhodes of Air America, fired for attacking Ferraro and Hillary clinton with a profanity tirade. I think the NON neutral aspect of media attacking Clinton and not Obama is relevant. If it is not relevant, than Olbermann's comments should be removed.
I added some references to Ferraro's comments, where she defends herself. They are her own words. Clearly the author of this section is an Obama supporter. I would just like to give reference to ALL her words, not where she says she is being attacked for being white. That is one off handed comment in a long dialog.
Also ref are not working. I keep deleting and putting citation needed.
The quotes and comments basically take two of the worst comments out of context and end it with a commentary by OLBERMANN. If there is going to be a PERSONAL COMMENT attacking her, than there should be quotes defending her, ie, Bob Johnson.
Fine she said Obama is lucky to be black (in the context of the 2008 race). Fine she said I feel like I am being attacked for being white. Right she said it. But how about her claims of Obama using the race card? They have called it about 4 or 5 times, when any one makes mention of getting black votes or that his status as a black man helps him. Is that not true or not relevant?
WHY ARE HER WORDS Controversial? Because Obama and his supporters say so?
I am new at this but how do stop this person from deleting my additions? -OR- there Olbermann's' comments should be removed because they are NOT neutral. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gmcjetpilot ( talk • contribs) 17:13, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
Olbermann comments where made on his MSNBC cable show "Count Down" during a segment called "Special Comments", which usually was reserved for criticism of the Bush Administration. [25]. Polls indicated pro media bias against Clinton and more favorable reporting towards Obama. [26] The topic of bias was also the subject of a skit on Saturday Night Live, mocking journalist fawning over Senator Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. and ignoring Hillary Rodham Clinton during a Faux CNN debate. [27] The SNL skit had such an impact, it was discussed by the Clinton campaign and was a topic on political pundit TV, cable and radio shows, as well as the internet.
Note that nothing in these four sentences mentions Ferraro, who is supposed to be the subject of the article. Rather, it has more to do with media bias in favor of Obama and a Saturday Night Live skit that satirized that. Thus, it's understandable that this section would get taken out of the Geraldine Ferraro article. Furthermore, giving Obama's name as Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. tends to be associated with a desire to portray Obama negatively by emphasizing his Arabic-sounding middle name. His name is sufficiently uncommon that he isn't going to be confused with anybody else named Barack Obama in this context. -- Metropolitan90 (talk) 02:55, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
The "Promotion of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution" Overview section is biased towards an evolutionary perspective.
Title
1. The title "as an alternative to evolution" assumes that evolution is the standard to which all other beliefs are labeled "alternatives".
Overview Section
2. The last sentence of paragraph two is speculative and unnecessary: "Intelligent design ... has been scientifically unproductive and has not produced any research to suppress, having failed to find any way of testing its claims."
3. The third paragraph implicitly defines "science" in only one way(the scientific method), without regard to other possible meanings of the word. In addition, religious beliefs are implicitly presented as contrary to "science" without any evidence, for supposedly "they cannot be tested by experiment, do not generate any predictions, and propose no new hypotheses of their own".
4. The third paragraph assumes that all scientists are evolutionists: "The scientific theory of evolution is opposed for religious reasons by proponents of intelligent design and other forms of creationism, but is overwhelmingly accepted by scientists."
5. The third paragraph has a critical review instead of a balanced presentation of the facts: "According to one estimate, "99.9 percent of scientists accept evolution."[32] The film portrays this as an end to debate ... In fact, there is vigorous debate on many aspects of evolution, and the scientific status quo is frequently successfully challenged by ideas supported by sound research and evidence."
In short, the Overview section is hardly "neutral". —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jweston2 ( talk • contribs)
On several occasions I've attempted to work on the Criticisms of capitalism page. Understanding that it's a contentious issue, but with some knowledge to (hopefully) share, I arrived at the page and found it in complete shambles. The original article was incoherent, point-counterpoint-point-counterpoint arguments with shotgun facts/opinions thrown around. I approached the page with good faith and mentioned on the talk page that I was planning to work on the article. Looking at the talk page it looked like a dipsute in early-2007 either scared away or disheartened a number of editors and now there was one editor left ( User:Ultramarine). In any case, I set about to (essentially) rewrite the article, taking special care to cite all of my entries (by the end I had added over 25 references). In order to keep the article non-contentious, my idea was to give historical background, focusing on critics who have been the most influential and working towards the modern day. I didn't have some anti-corporate agenda, or plan to play up some big capitalist conspiracy, I just wanted to provide a coherent description of the subject matter with attention to history and current thought (something an encyclopedia does, right?). So I didn't think it would be a problem... UNTIL I made my first edit. Within the hour, 10 edits were made in quick succession. [28] This continued for a couple of days as I continued editing. Ultramarine's philosophy was to delete/revert first and ask questions later -- not very inviting for someone relatively new to the Wikipedia project. It certainly wore my patience very thin. I took a break from the article for a couple of weeks. When I returned, Ultramarine was still at it, and I had had enough. Ultramarine moved a paragraph to the talk page under the heading "Errors" and continually used insulting taglines such as "npov" [29] and "corrected" [30], as if my edits are neither neutral nor correct. Ultramarine's edits ONLY come as a reaction to mine, insisting that this is necessary to uphold WP:CFORK. In my opinion, his/her editing style is very condescending. Ultramarine makes little attempt to integrate edits into others, but just hammer some sentence in the center of a paragraph, often worded in such a manner that it downplays the rest of the paragraph or implies that any other argument is stupid ( this is a prime example, notice use of "Regardless...")
I would like some outside comment, not only on editor conduct but also on the interpretation of
WP:CFORK. Does it necessitate every sentence being followed by a rebuttal? It seems like that would make it unreadable, in my opinion. I also don't believe the spirit of that rule is to make every contentious article an incomprehensible ideological battleground. Rebuttals should not be omitted, I think, but it seems like someone going to a "criticisms of capitalism" page is primarily looking for that type of information, not a jumbled mess of point-counterpoints. There's certainly a way to do this that doesn't make it into a huge mess, or make an editor not want to touch any article with any hint of controversy. I should also note that I'm taking a break from the page, but any comments/suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.
Inserted later: I'm done editing that page for now. I didn't start editing on Wikipedia to engage in some ideological battle or to be made into an idiot. Uwmad ( talk) 07:15, 20 April 2008 (UTC)
Could anybody check Special:Contributions/Ewenss for contributions to Jeremiah Wright sermon controversy and Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago? The user insists on making incredibly-POV edits to these articles, and reverts others when trying to correct him. Thanks, Grsz 11 18:56, 20 April 2008 (UTC)
I'm wondering if editors can weigh in on a recent discussion over whether the overview of this article should state in a header that the film portrays science as atheistic. [35] My feeling is that it clearly can't, as the film doesn't say this and no sources say this about the film. What the sources do say is that the film views the "scientific establishment" as atheistic, and believes that they are imposing atheism onto science. From one critical review: "Expelled’s main theme is that intelligent design is under systematic attack by “Big Science” – the scientific establishment – which refuses to recognize its scientific validity because of a previous commitment to atheism and materialism." [36] As we quote writer/narrator Ben Stein: "There are people out there who want to keep science in a little box where it can't possibly touch a higher power, and it can’t possibly touch God."
I'll let others present the arguments in favor of the current version if they like. In my view this is a very clear case: we may believe their argument is anti-science, and we may be right, but that isn't something we can ourselves incorporate into their argument. Accordingly, it should say either "Portrayal of evolution as atheistic" or "Portrayal of the scientific establishment as atheistic," something equivalent, or remove the header altogether. Any thoughts on this welcome, see the latest discussion here. Mackan79 ( talk) 14:58, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
I hold very deep WP:NPOV concerns over the article covering MTV here. An editor recently created a new pov fork page " Criticism of MTV" that lists every "criticism" of the article thats been previously listed in the main MTV article for a long time. As suggested on talk page, an editor argued that it "follows" NPOV because it creates more "balance" here by making one article about MTV (positively) and another article about "criticism" (negative).
However, I sharply disagree with this decision because I feel that it violates NPOV! Additionally, I've tried using WP:CRITICISM and WP:POVFORK to convince editor to integrate, but the editor disagreed. Thus, i am asking for additional help with this issue, since me and the other editor are the only ones involved here. Thank you very much! (By the way, both MTV/Criticism articles are tagged {{NPOV}} due to the aformentioned issues)-- Andrewlp1991 ( talk) 05:36, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
This article describe this esoteric product from the point of view of the sellers. In fact this salt is not from the Himalaya Mountains, it does not contain 84 Elements and it has no therapeutic properties. This are all assertion in a fraudulent intent. In Germany (sorry my English is bad) there are official informations of ministries to warn of this cheat. Compare the article in the German Wikipedia [38]. 85.181.60.123 ( talk) 06:19, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
The whole section is nothing but an elongated hit job. It is entirely not NPOV and should either be severely amended or removed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sluhser589 ( talk • contribs) 06:31, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
Please see this diff [39]. I'm told my edit is POV (and OR, but that's a different board). Now that it is removed, is the article NPOV but with my 'alleged' it became POV? Thanks. -- Doug Weller ( talk) 16:48, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
I would appreciate some more expertise in a debate between myself as a fairly inexperienced occasional editor, and an administrator, on the relevance of a whether a brief mention of the Church of Scientology as a notable client is appropriate on the Latham & Watkins page. The debate is ongoing at Talk:Latham_&_Watkins#notable_clients_and_transactions but it is worth knowing that it took several attempts by me to engage this administrator in debate, rather than just avoidance via deletion of my comments on the article's talk page and his own talk page.
In brief, I do not believe the administrator is practising NPOV as per the written policy, and that he is further trying to stretch WP:V to breaking point to further his POV.
Note that the debate is not whether the facts are or are not phrased in a NPOV way, nor whether they can be, nor whether the facts as described are true, but whether including (appropriatly briefly) these facts in any way would inherently unbalance the article. My contention is that a significant number of people coming to the page would be interested in this information about the company - certainly as many as would be interested in much of the current information, and that therfore these facts rightly deserve a couple of sentences in the article. Jaymax ( talk) 14:38, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
On the Hans Reiser article, an anon IP editor changed the article from known for "Murder of Nina Reiser" to "Convicted for the murder of Nina Reiser" here [40], with the edit summary wtf? *murdered* ? are you sure? do you have a body? where's the murder weapon? the court convicted, but unless there's definite proof, he is convicted for, but not proven a murderer. due process, kthx. I reverted the change and explained that the court case was the due process and proof. The change has since been reverted again by the IP, and then by another editor with the summary I'm sorry, but hes just convicted.
I don't want to edit war on a topic that's already gotten a bit heated at times, so I came here. The subject of the article has been found guilty of the crime, but the other editors want it specified he was only known for being "convicted of the murder of Nina Reiser," and not the "murder of Nina Reiser." Making that change seems pretty POV to me, indicating that even though he was convicted he's still not officially a murderer. However, I'll certainly defer to more experienced eyes. Thanks! Redrocket ( talk) 18:59, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
Might I ask that the Reviews section of The Dawkins Delusion? be checked? I have a feeling that there isn't a good balance in the reviewers in terms of their stance and if they themselves are credible. Since I prefer not to rely on my opinion, I wish to know if this is a matter of editing or just personal bias on my part. Thanks for looking into this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Miles007 ( talk • contribs) 16:17, 6 May 2008 (UTC)
It should be well known how statistics can be used to mislead. The saying goes, "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics." I have found the perfect example of this on Wikipedia under the article on Three Strikes Laws.
The graph shows the crime rates before and after the three strikes laws were implemented. The problem with it is it's single perspective of comparison (before and after). There has been no attempt to explore other possible causes for the drop in crime rates such as the number of young males, nor comparisons with other states crime rates that did not implement a three strikes law (ex. New York). It simply doesn't measure up to any sort of scientific scrutiny, and any graph or statistical analysis that is even considered for use on Wikipedia ought to be scrutinized in this sense.
You wouldn't have an article on the theory of evolution if it didn't live up to objective support. In fact, if that were the case, it wouldn't be considered a theory by anyone.-- 132.198.252.6 ( talk) 04:54, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
Well, yes, that is useful on the general topic. This graph, in particular, is not a correlation graph, so it can't imply a relation, nevermind causation.-- 132.198.92.22 ( talk) 09:40, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
You're right, it's a rather odd graph. I wouldn't be able to tell whether the way it presents the data is misleading unless I had the actual data and could draw the appropriate graph of actual crime statistics against years and see how they compare, but the fact that it's so strangely drawn (the numbers on the ordinate reflect ratios rather than crimes, which isn't, lets say, a ... straightforward way to present time series of crime data), along with the statement that it was taken from an advocacy website: "The overall purpose of this figure is to provide data to help evaluate the claim of http://www.threestrikes.org/TenYearReport04.pdf that the three strikes law caused a massive decrease in crime as described in the Three strikes law article." does raise a statistician's eyebrow. If the purpose of showing the graph is to give the idea that the three strikes law "caused" a drop in crime, then the the graph is misleading in and of itself, since correlation wouldn't imply causation even if the trend in the graph accurately reflected the trend in the data and even if the drop in crime actually started after the change in the law, which it didn't, even according to this graph. (Rape, larceny, burglary had been dropping steadily since around 1980, and though aggravated assault and robbery had peaked early in the 90s, they had started dropping before the law was passed. Only murder and car theft appear to have started dropping concurrent with or following the passage of the law). The text of the article does point out that the same drop in crime occurred all over the US during the same years, in states without three strikes laws as well as in states with three strikes laws, which rather negates the strong claim made in the website and apparently intended to be suggested by the graph that the three strikes law CAUSED the drop in crime.
Surely an advocacy website isn't considered a reliable independent source... if it is, it's no wonder Wikipedia contains so much misinformation. If not, then I'd approach improving the NPOV of the article by addressing the RS problem with the graph. Good luck Woonpton ( talk) 16:08, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
Would appreciate further opinions on whether the recently created Dorje Shugden controversy is a POV-fork. I said on the talk page that that was my opinion but an editor has created the new article anyway, probably not understanding what I was saying. In my view there is not enough reliably-sourced material for two articles, but I would appreciate some other views. I found the page from a note posted on the fringe theories noticeboard. Itsmejudith ( talk) 09:19, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
Wikipedia:Dispute resolution mentions the noticeboards, but not this one specifically. While this seems at first glance to be an oversight, it strikes me that this noticeboard is already extremely busy, and making it part of the formal dispute resolution policy may cause it to become unmanageable. What do people think? 69.140.152.55 ( talk) 08:30, 12 May 2008 (UTC)
There was a Request for Comment (RfC) done on the "Race and intelligence" article in March on the question of whether the article was sufficiently neutral; the consensus was that the article was not neutral as shown here:
[41]. Some changes to the article have been made since the RfC. I would now like to ask for comments on the question: Does the article now meet
WP:NPOV and if not, what specifically should be done to the article for it to meet WP:NPOV? The RfC comments were not always clear on specific actions that should be taken. I am primarily interested in comments from those not involved in editing the article; however, if you are an editor of the article, please identify yourself as such. --
Jagz (
talk) 18:40, 5 May 2008 (UTC)
Jagz is just a low-order troll, we would all do best just to ignore him. WP:DNFTT Slrubenstein | Talk 09:55, 12 May 2008 (UTC)
There is a proposal to move the PRC article to the China. I wanted to know if equating PRC with "China" is a violation of NPOV because it implies the PRC to be the legitimate China. T-1000 ( talk) 16:34, 14 May 2008 (UTC)
The discussion is here: Talk:China/DiscussRM SchmuckyTheCat ( talk)
There is a claim going on at WP:fringe which people might want to look in on. Essentially, as I explain in my last post there, people are using the REDFLAG section, and also the FAQ on Pseudoscience to say that when you are dealing with articles which are about exceptional claims, the mainstream scientific view is the viewpoint of Wikipedia, and always carries the greatest WEIGHT in articles. Where the scientific POV cannot be determined through non-partisan sources, it may be derived from logical inference from standard textbooks on the general subject of the article (this is usually thought to be Original Research).
I think this is a good enough view, and if taken literally it is what the FAQ at NPOV says [43]- and the FAQ holds the status of policy. However, if this is what is intended, then the rest of WP policy needs to make it clearer. There are a lot of people who think that the scientific POV is usually notable, but not necessarily dominant in terms of WEIGHT and the POV the article is written from. The FAQ seems to contradict this view, by equating "mainstream" with "mainstream science," saying Pseudoscience is a social phenomenon and therefore significant, but it should not obfuscate the description of the main views, and any mention should be proportionate and represent the majority (scientific) view as the majority view and the minority (sometimes pseudoscientific) view as the minority view. This means that non-scientific views are always held in WP to be the minority per WEIGHT. If it were clear that articles on fringe subjects are written from the POV of mainstream science, then things would be much easier. But the FAQ is probably the only place we say that.
See also discussion here.
And please someone archive this page- hard to load. —— Martinphi ☎ Ψ Φ—— 21:47, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
I'm concerned with the Taser article and particularly tthat the Taser controversy article has been used to remove information from the Taser article that is important, but critical of the device. My understanding is that generally "criticism" sections within articles are discouraged as are creating spin-off "criticism" articles and that NPOV encourages the integration of information that might be seen as critical into the main article. For instance, over the past few months a section on Taser deaths has been moved from the first article to the second and information on safety and scientific studies conducted on the Taser that have challenged the claims made by the manufacturer. Can editors look at the two articles and consider whether they should be integrated and also, if the Taser article is too long, if a different criteria for splitting the article can be found - one other than controversial vs non-controversial? Reggie Perrin ( talk) 21:02, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
The "Advantages" part seems to be somewhat bias and not true, e.g. Exception Handling being an advantage over other languages. How come there's no "Disadvantages" chapter? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.252.76.76 ( talk) 02:18, 25 May 2008 (UTC)
There is a dispute over using the category "anti-Islam sentiment" in Jihad Watch. See Talk:Jihad Watch#Category Anti-Islam sentiment, Talk:Jihad Watch#Reminder and Sources and Talk:Jihad Watch#A few questions. There is an RfC filed ( Talk:Jihad Watch#Category discussion), but input in the discussion from some NPOV savvy people would be very helpful. Vassyana ( talk) 07:49, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
Can someone please have a look at this article. The article is vague in places, and a lot of what is written is clearly based on rumours and myths with little or no factual basis/support. The "Journey to Dehli" section is particularly poor, with no citations, and based on hearsay. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Redwings99 ( talk • contribs) 10:15, 29 May 2008 (UTC)
We are having a dispute over the question if there is place for a section on child abuse in the homeschooling article. Two entries related to this have been added at the homeschooling talk page 1 2. As we are more or less stuck on being of opinion that the other party is not neutral, I thought it was wise to ask for a third opinion. Species8473 ( talk) 19:42, 3 June 2008 (UTC)
I especially liked the comment by the Arizona authorities that changing the education setting does not change the propensity or otherwise for violence and abuse of children. I think in fact it is reasonable on the basis of the current evidence that Species8473 whilst presenting a very limited amount of evidence is also not presenting by any means a balanced or neutral view of the situation. Were that the case then we would need to insert similar, and perhaps far lengthier, discussions of child-abuse in articles relating to the Catholic Church, Day care, Schools and school systems, Seventh Day Adventist groups, Scouts, Girl Guides, sporting groups, well, anywhere children come into contact with adults. -- Johnday ( talk) 13:10, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
Well, in fact I invited myself. Perhaps I should ask what makes you an expert on the field? And who is Kim Fields? And more to the point, what has she got to do with the argument. What is even more galling about your infantile display is that the citations you give for Roman Catholic sex abuse cases and Scouting sex abuse cases do little more than re-enforce my point. Those are separate articles which deal with issues in a way which doesn't cloud the issue. The main article on the Church: Roman Catholic Church doesn't include a specific sub-heading on abuse, sexual or otherwise by male or female religious or by clergy. That is confined to the separate article which you cited. If you wish to create a separate article on child abuse by home schoolers then please do so. Johnday ( talk) 21:58, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
Based upon the POV of particular content, User:Memills and several anon accounts have been removing criticism from evolutionary psychology, segregating it into a very small subsection, and forking it out into evolutionary psychology controversy, a violation of NPOV. [44], [45], [46], [47], [48], [49], [50], [51], [52] A criticism and merge tag have also been added, [53], [54] suggesting that the information be merged into related sections per the NPOV policy. (See also: Wikipedia:Words_to_avoid#Article_structure) These tags have also been removed by Memills. [55], [56] Reliable sources documenting criticism and controversy (for example, [57], [58]) are abundant and should be accurately represented in not only the lead section, but the entire article as necessary. Viriditas ( talk) 08:53, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
I've just opened a policy RfC over at Talk:Arrow_Air_Flight_1285#Image about whether a Wikipedian's "artist's impression" of an event constitutes NPOV if there are other interpretations of the event. I opted for a general policy RfC over bringing it up here since there are other policy questions that have been raised as well. Input welcome! -- Rlandmann ( talk) 04:20, 7 June 2008 (UTC)
We got alerted in Wikipedia:OTRS that The Rules is not really written in an encyclopedic NPOV way and indeed, the article strikes me as making a lot of claims on the book's "message" without backing them up with any sources at all. Would be great if someone could look for some reviews etc. and try to attribute the claims there to a few sources. Thanks! -- Mbimmler ( talk) 20:35, 6 June 2008 (UTC)
It is a difficult subject but I believe violations of WP:NPOV, and WP:V have been introduced by recent edits as discussed on the talk page, here and here. I am not going to edit war over it and would appreciate some neutral eyes at the article. Some examples; stay-at-home mother is not an appropriate description of Leitao's electron microscopist and immunohistochemist experience in relation to the topic of the article. "Lab technician" is POV and not supported by sources which state biologist among other terms. "Son's toy microscope", and "he did say that several features of the case" is WP:OR. The use of special formatting to call attention to quoted POV material is not NPOV, and using disclaimers and WP:WTA such as claim, to diminish views held by Morgellons proponents does not fairly represent their viewpoints. Adding material that has nothing to do with Morgellons to add weight to the Role of the internet is also not NPOV. Thanks. Ward20 ( talk) 02:16, 8 June 2008 (UTC)
This article pretends to a certain neutrality, but then twice cites one journalist's (Kennicot's) negative critique of Mansfield, and offers another criticism from Greenwald in Salon with no other assessment. These sources accuse Mansfield of holding a "dangerous" point of view (based, in part, apparently, on Mansfield's failure to discuss the current war in Iraq) and of holding "a Machiavellian view of the role of the Executive branch" and "advocating pure lawlessness and tyranny." These are extremely strong charges, presented under the guise of authority, but with virtually no discussion, support or balance.
Then there is this: "He is perhaps most notable for his generally conservative stance on political issues in his writings, often in the minority compared to the outlook of his own as well as other top political science departments..."
Conservatives may well represent a minority of the political science profession (support?), but then this is true for any conservative in any poli sci dept. It also implies that Mansfield in particular has been judged and found wanting by the "top political science departments." These departments are not named, the criteria by which they have been determined to be the top departments are unknown, nor are the particular minority opinions of Mansfield cited, nor are the grounds for those departmental disagreements specified. This statement also suggests that Mansfield is not merely a conservative, but that this is his most notable aspect (not, say, his scholarship).
In all, the article needs re-writing. I didn't want to simply remove whole paragraphs, but I think the article ought to be flagged.
Someone suggested posting here. Could someone help on Talk:Philosophy with explaining WP:NPOV. I'm not asking for any help on the technical details of the subject, just another helping hand to explain what the policy is. The problem is that some of the sources conflict (not very much). I explained WP:NPOV and what is required in such cases (we present alternatives and so forth - I have put a quotations from policy on the talk page). But I am rather getting at end of tether. Thanks in advance! Peter Damian ( talk) 17:54, 13 June 2008 (UTC)
American Family Association: OK, this is a drive-by reporting of an article that has been involved in heavy edit warring. And it is no wonder: the entire article reads like a tract against the organization - half the article is a criticisms section, and the other half still reads like an indicment. Additionally, it is chalk full of sources like this one which have an agenda against the organization. It also includes heavy handed statements like "In response to Hurricane Katrina, the AFA Journal published a controversial article which praised the hurricane's destruction", which, while present in the source, are poorly worded (at best) and not backed up by statements on the opposite side. The Evil Spartan ( talk) 06:29, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
Is there an "opposite side"? Either the organization praised Hurricane Katrina or it did not. One of these propositions is the truth, and can be verified by citing the organization's own literature. There is no "opposite side" from the verifiable truth. -- FOo ( talk) 09:41, 19 June 2008 (UTC)
Hello.
A series of discussions has begun on Talk:World War II about whether authors / historians who claim a differing start date for World War II then 1939 represent, at least, a significant minority or not. A list of many of the non-1939 sources are shown below, any feedback would be appreciated. Oberiko ( talk) 10:54, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
Source | Author | Quote |
---|---|---|
Imperial Japan's World War Two, 1931-1945 | Werner Gruhl | The case that Japan's 1931, (or 1937 at the latest) major resumption of imperial expansion was the true beginning of World War II can be made based on several factors. These invasions constituted the first major violations of the Washington Conference Treaties and the Kellog-Briand Pact. While Japan was condemned as an aggressor by the League of Nations and the United States, the West's reaction was restrained, due to post-World War I pacifism and the worldwide depression. The lack of a more forceful reaction likely contributed to Italy's decision to invade Abyssinia in 1935 and Germany's decision to attack Poland in 1939, thus expanding World War II from Asia to Europe and Africa. It is thus argued that 1939 was not the true beginning of World War II |
Roscoe Pound and Karl Llewellyn: Searching for an American Jurisprudence | N. E. H. Hull | ...World War II would not begin in Europe, like the first, but in Africa and Asia, with Italy's invasion of Ethiopia and Japan's invesiture of China... |
The Rise of Modern Japan | Linda K. Menton, Noren W. Lush, Eileen H. Tamura, Chance I. Gusukuma | The global conflict we call World War II was in fact 'many wars, occurring at different levels and in widely separated places'... For Americans, World War II began in 1941 with the explosive Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. But for the Japanese, the war began much earlier-in 1937. |
A Companion to the Vietnam War | Marilyn Blatt Young, Robert Buzzanco | Japan invaded China in 1937, effectively beginning World War II in Asia. |
American History the Easy Way | William O. Kellogg | What became World War II began in Asia in 1937 when Japan invaded China. Actions taken by Germany and Italy during the 1930s led to war in Europe in 1939. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the United States declared war on Germany and Japan linking the Asian and European wars in what is known as World War II. |
Asia in Western and World History: A Guide for Teaching | Ainslie T. Embree, Carol Gluck | Aggression in Manchuria, 1931, followed by establishment of puppet state and Japan's withdrawal from the League of Nations, signals the beginning of the 'fifteen-year war.' The end of multi-lateral diplomacy as Japan decided to 'go it alone' as territorial imperialist in Asia; instigation of all-out war against China in 1937, with atrocities such as the Rape of Nanking and without victory-1937 as the beginning of World War II in Asia. |
The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II | Iris Chang | Americans think of World War II as beginning on December 7, 1941... Europeans date it from September 1, 1939, and the blitzkrieg assault on Poland... Africans see an even earlier beginning, the invasion of Abyssinia by Mussolini in 1935. Yet Asians must trace the war's beginnings all the way back to Japan's first steps toward the military domination of East Asia — the occupation of Manchuria in 1931. |
A World at Total War: Global Conflict and the Politics of Destruction, 1937-1945 | Roger Chickering, Stig Förster, Bernd Greiner | In 1937, when World War II started in the Pacific theater, both Japanese mobilization at home and warfare abroad headed in this direction. |
Critical Perspectives on World War II | James W. Fiscus | World War II started in Europe in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. But World War II had been raging in Asia since 1937 when Japan invaded China. |
War and Empire in the Twentieth Century | Imanuel Geiss, University of Aberdeen | The second Sino-Japanese war started in 1937, and it was really the beginning of World War II, because in the Far East it later merged with the Second World |
Causes and Consequences of the Second World War | Stewart Ross | In contrast, the Second World War was much more complicated. Starting in the Far East in 1937, different conflicts started in different regions at different times. These gradually became absorbed into the global struggle. |
The Library of Congress World War II Companion | Margaret E. Wagner, David M. Kennedy, Linda Barrett Osborne, Susan Reyburn | Some historians date the beginning of World War II to the Japanese incursion in Manchuria in 1931; others cite the full-scale Japanese invasion of the Chinese heartland in 1937 as the war's moment of origin. But Japan's military adventurism had as yet only regional implications. Arguably, Japan might have been appeased, and its provocations confined to one corner of Asia, by some recognition of its stake in China -- noxious as that might have been to recognized norms of international behavior, not to mention to the Chinese.But world war came only when Europe, too, plunged into the maelstrom with Germany's invasion of Poland in September 1939. (emphasis mine) |
The Dragon's War: Allied Operations and the Fate of China, 1937-1947 | Maochun Yu | On 7 July 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident ingnited a full-scale war between China and Japan, which, in the opinion of many, marked the real beginning of World War II in Asia |
The Origins of the Second World War | A. J. P. Taylor | Most wars begin raggedly. In the minds of Englishmen 4 August 1914 is unshakably fixed as the date when the first World war began; yet by then France and Germany had been at war for twenty-four hours, Russia and Germany for three days, Serbia and Austria-Hungary for almost a week. The second World war is vaguer still in its opening; the Russians date it from 22 June 1941, the Chinese from November 1937, the Abyssinians [or Ethiopians, as we now would say], I suppose, from October 1935, and the Americans from 7 December 1941. The American date is the most sensible. The war truly became world-wide — much more so than the first World war — only after Pearl Harbor. |
The Changing World of Soviet Russia | David J. Dallin | According to Stalin, the first skirmishes of this second World War began in 1937-38. |
Embracing defeat: Japan in the wake of World War II | John W. Dower | For Americans, World War II began in December 1941 and ended three years and eight months later. Japan's war, in contrast, began with the conquest of Manchuria in 1931 and expanded to all-out war against China in 1937 |
China: Its History and Culture | William Scott Morton | The date of the outbreak of World War II varies ... Americans usually reckon it from December 7, 1941, the date of the attack on Pearl Harbor. But for Europeans the war began in 1939, and for the Chinese in 1937. |
Research Guide to American Historical Biography | Robert Muccigrosso, Suzanne Niemeyer, Walton Beacham | In foreign policy he led the nation through the dangerous years of turmoil as the Second World War began in Asia in 1937 and in Europe in 1939 |
The United States in the world arena: an essay in recent history | Walt Whitman Rostow | ...On this view, the Second World War began with the Japanese seizure of Manchuria in 1931... |
Contemporary China: a reference digest | Trans-Pacific News Service | The second World War started in 1931 when Japan violated the sovereignty and the administrative and territorial integrity of China... |
The Columbia Guide to Asian American History | Gary Y. Okihiro | World War II began for most Americans when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands. But for many Chinese Americans the war started a decade earlier, when Japan's armies marched into northwestern China in 1931 and into Shanghai the following year. |
The long way to freedom | James Thomson Shotwell | ... a condition which grew worse instead of better until in September 1931 - the very time Japan started World War II in Manchuria... |
Gateway to Asia: Sinkiang, Frontier of the Chinese Far West | Martin Richard Norins, Institute of Pacific Relations | Not until 1931, when Japan began World War II by her invasion of Manchuria, was this remote Sinkiang hinterland at last roughly awakened. |
Writers & Company | Eleanor Wachtel | The Chinese call it World War II; they consider that World War II started in China and that the Chinese helped end the war. |
The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge | The New York Times | Japan occupied Manchuria as a protectorate in 1931-1932 and invaded China in 1937—the start of World War II in Asia. ... With Hitler's invasion of Poland in September, World War II began in Europe. (The Asian phase of World War II had begun two years earlier.) |
The War With Japan: The Period of Balance, May 1942-October 1943 | H. P. Willmott | Europeans date World War II from 1939 to 1945 and, with North Americans, date the Japanese part of the conflict from December 1941 to August 1945. The Japanese official histories date it from September 1931 and the start of the campaign in Manchuria; and, if such a date for the outbreak of the war would not command much sympathy in Western histories, there might well be more then a passing sympathy with any account that sought to establish July 1937, and the beginning of the China war, as the real start of the Second World War. |
The Last European War, September 1939/December 1941 | John Lukacs | THE LAST EUROPEAN WAR began in September 1939. It became the Second World War in December 1941. |
The Second World War: An Illustrated History | AJP Taylor | If a formal declaration of war marks the starting point, the Second World War began in April 1932 when Mao Tse- tung and Chou Teh declared war against Japan |
Japanese Army in World War II: Conquest of the Pacific 1941-42 | Gordon L. Rottman, Duncan Anderson | Japan (Nippon) viewed World War II, which it called the Greater East Asia War (Dai Toa Senso Senkum) as a series of interrelated wars. It had occupied parts of North China in 1931, and the war in China (Shina Jihen) began in earnest in 1937, in which Japan continued its creeping expansion. Conflict with the Soviet Union had occurred on the Siberian border in 1938-1939 in Manchuria, Manchuko, where a puppet state had been established by Japan in 1932. ... |
Flags of Our Fathers | James Bradley, Ron Powers | America went to war in 1941. The Europeans had been fighting since 1939. But for millions of Asians, World War II had begun a decade before, in 1931. |
War in Our Time: A Comprehensive and Analytical History in Pictures and Text | Harry Brinton Henderson, Herman Charles Morris | World War II Began in Manchuria, 1931 |
Paths to Peace | Victor H. Wallace | It has often been said, and with much truth, that World War II began in 1931, when Japan found the League powers unwilling to resist its aggression in Manchuria. |
A History of the Modern World | Robert Roswell Palmer, Joel G. Colton | In a sense the Second World War began as early as 1931 with the Japanese seizure of Manchuria. |
A War to be Won: Fighting the Second World War | Williamson Murray, Allan Reed Millett | Just when World War II began is a matter of interpretation. Western Europeans and Americans tend to ignore the Japanese incursion into China and to mark the war's beginning with the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. For Austrians, Czechs, and Slovaks, the war also commenced two years earlier, when the Third Reich used military force to swallow up sovereign nations in Central Europe... |
Japanese Economic History, 1930-1960 | Janet Hunter, Freda Utley, George Cyril Allen | ... If 1937 (when Japan's Second World War began) is taken as the base, ... |
Foreign policies of the United States | Hollis W. Barber | It is by no means out of the realm of reason to state that World War II began in Manchuria in 1931. |
Main Currents in American History | William Glover Fletcher, United States Army | Then the average American slowly began to understand that the second World War broke out in Asia in 1931 and that the Chinese, who refused to bow to the conqueror, had been fighting, for a decade, not only their own battles but those of the Republic of the West. |
Encyclopedia of World War II: A Political, Social, and Military History | Spencer Tucker, Priscilla Mary Roberts | ...Japanese official histories of World War II begin in September 1931 with the start of the Manchurian Campaign. |
When Men Lost Faith in Reason: Reflections on War and Society in the Twentieth Century | H. P. Willmott | We consider the Second World War in very narrow terms and with precise dates: 1939 and 1945. But Japanese official histories date the Second World War from September 1931 and the conquest of Manchuria. Even if one is inclined to regard July 1937 as a more reasonable starting line, one would not deny that the China Incident was nurtured in Manchuria: ... |
The American Military Tradition: From Colonial Times to the Present | John Martin Carroll, Colin F. Baxter | For Europeans the Second World War is given very precise dates: it began in September 1939... For the United States, this conflict also has very precise dates, but the dates are different from those of Europeans. It began in December 1941... When this war began for Japan, and for China, is quite another matter. |
The History of World War II - A Wall Chart | John Keegan | World War II has a simple story. It is that of the defeat of Nazi Germany and its allies by their enemies, eventually to be called the United Nations. The unfolding of the war, however, is by no means simple. It comprised several wars, at least one of which was already in progress when Adolf Hitler invaded Poland on September 1,1939, the date usually chosen to mark the war's beginning in the history books. That war was the one between China and Japan, which had opened in 1937 when Japan captured China's coastal cities; as early as 1931, however, Japan had violated Chinese sovereignty by seizing the northern territory of Manchuria.
Another of the wars comprising World War II stemmed from Italian aggression in Africa. In 1936 Mussolini annexed Ethiopia and then, after the outbreak of general war in Europe, invaded the British colonial territories on Ethiopia's borders. The first of Britain's victories of the Second World War were the defeat of those invasions, the liberation of Ethiopia and the rout of the Italian army in Libya. |
British Strategy and Politics During the Phony War: Before the Balloon Went Up | Martin Kantor, Nick Smart | The German invasion of Poland began on 1 September 1939, and the British government did, along with the French, declare war on Germany two days later. But these events did not makr the start of the Second World War. That conflict began more than two years later in December 1941 when, four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and with Mussolini in tow, Hitler declared war on the United States of America. |
In the text of the article a 1937 startpoint is taken as normative and Sept 1939 is not even marked by the smallest sub-heading. This is seriously misleading to the reader. All my attempts in the article to mark out Sept 1939 as significant have been deleted by Oberiko - who has then put warning notices on my page for my temerity in stating the obvious. Hitler's invasion of Poland is buried in the middle of a section, with no indication that this was important as the beginning of Hitler's war and his scheme of world dominatrion.
The text in the article runs as follows:
[THIS IS WHERE I ATTEMPTED TO PUT A SUB-HEADING ADVERTING TO SIGNIFICANCE OF SEPT 1939]
In a previous edit I attempted to put a sub-heading at September 1939 - the point where ALL global histories of World War Two start but was abused by Oberiko on my Talk Page and told I was being disruptive for pointing out the overwhelming conscensus. Oberiko is the owner of the article and has forced his fringe view on everybody, putting the fringe view as normative and relentlessly deleting anything which suggests that September 1939 was at all important. Colin4C ( talk) 10:00, 12 June 2008 (UTC)
Putting forward 1937 as either a common concensus or a concensus of historians is just plain wrong. According to the wikipedia the 1937 war was the Second Sino-Japanese War. Except that it wasn't even called a war but an "incident". This "incident" does not, by common and historical consensus mark the beginning of World War Two. To describe it as the concensus view is wrong and POV. Colin4C ( talk) 14:04, 12 June 2008 (UTC)
Interesting discussion. You could even argue that WWII started in 1919 with the Treaty of Versailles:) The standard historiography is that WWII started in 1939 however it's certainly valid to have a section of the article that cites historians who argue that important conflicts that are considered to be part of WWII, such as the Second Sino-Japanese War actually began several years before and, of course, that there are several other conflicts that were important precursors or preludes to WWII such as the Spanish Civil War and the Italian invasion of Abyssinia and of course the Chinese invasion of Manchuria. Certainly there are a number of historians who assert that the Spanish Civil War was really the first conflict of WWII (at least by proxy in the European Theatre) and had the European democracies stopped Franco, Germany would not have been emboldened to act aggressively. Nevertheless, the standard historical consensus is that WWII began in 1939 with the German invasion of Poland and the French and British declaration of war on Germany in response. Reggie Perrin ( talk) 01:38, 13 June 2008 (UTC)