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| subject = policy | |||
| author = Nishant Kauntia | |||
| title = The Edit Wars: How Misplaced Pages earned the ire of the Hindu Right | |||
| org = '']'' | |||
| url = https://caravanmagazine.in/media/wikipedia-earned-ire-hindu-right | |||
| date = 30 November 2020 | |||
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| archiveurl = | |||
| archivedate = | |||
| accessdate = 9 December 2020 | |||
| subject2 = policy | |||
| author2 = Syeda ShahBano Ijaz | |||
| title2 = How Conflicts and Population Loss Led to the Rise of English Misplaced Pages’s Credibility | |||
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| url2 = https://politicalsciencenow.com/how-conflicts-and-population-loss-led-to-the-rise-of-english-wikipedias-credibility/ | |||
| date2 = 29 May 2023 | |||
| quote2 = | |||
| archiveurl2 = | |||
| archivedate2 = | |||
| accessdate2 = 30 May 2023 | |||
| subject3 = policy | |||
| author3 = Aaron Bandler | |||
| title3 = Misplaced Pages Editors Place a Near Total Ban on Calling Gaza Health Ministry “Hamas-Run” | |||
| org3 = ] | |||
| url3 = https://jewishjournal.com/news/united-states/376157/wikipedia-editors-place-a-near-total-ban-on-calling-gaza-health-ministry-hamas-run/ | |||
| date3 = 25 October 2024 | |||
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| accessdate3 = 26 October 2024 | |||
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== Due and undue weight and articles on religion: potential guidelines for ordering for neutrality == | |||
== SlimVirgin's request == | |||
For articles on religious topics which do have a broad and NPOV material (not just the views of a single denomination), should there be some editorial guideline for ordering to the presentation of semi-controversial information to reduce undue weight or cumulative non-NPOV? | |||
Harald88, MonkeeSage, Iantresman and Bensaccount what do you think of ]. Don't worry! A break is not a problem, if it can help. Just tell me whether you feel it will be better for our progress that I take such a break.] | |||
:Yes, -Lumière, please stop cluttering up the policy talk pages. I skip over your comments because I do not find them useful. You are not engaging in useful discussion, but you do give the appearance of trying to beat everyone down by your incessant posting. We are not going to change these policies because you say so, no matter how many times you say it. Give it a break! -- '''<font color="navy">]</font><sup><font color="green">(])</font></font></sup>''' 11:31, 11 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
A break merely delays the time when discussion will begin again. And again, And again, until the issue is resolved. If people can't be bothered to participate and EXPLAIN their points of view, then don't winge when others decide things in their absence. | |||
The guidelines that come to mind are: | |||
Clearly, not participating is a tacit acknowledgement that the status quo is satisfactory. THIS IS THE STATUS QUO... post after post after post. --] 11:49, 11 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
0. Editors should NOT order the sections merely according to their length or the order they were added, unless the sections have already been arranged so that the length reflects some reasonably objective editorial metric or system: due weight or notability or chronology or genericity etc. | |||
No one is trying to CHANGE policy. People are trying to clarify it. --] 11:49, 11 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
1. If the presentation starts chronologically/historically, the article should generally continue chronologically/historically. I.e. for Christian-related topic, a series like Ancient/Patristic/Catholic-Orthodox/Protestant/Non-conformist/Liberal or whatever. E.g. ]. | |||
:People have participated, read the archives. They've all come to the same conclusion that some here aren't interested in actual discussion, but in furthering their own views and so are completely resistant to reason. Opinions already expressed here by some the project's long-term, credible contributors indicate that they fail to see a problem that needs fixing and that these proposals are not acceptable. The only problem here is that a few are unwilling to accept it. Enough editors have objected over the months to the incessant droning on about this alleged "issue" that any further ignoring of requests to take long-winded, one-sided discussion on this same topic to user talk pages can and will be moved to free up this page for other discussions. ] 20:48, 11 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
1a. Where chronological listing might give undue weight to some marginal information, it could be put at the end, or grouped into a subsection like "Other". This may help flow of reading too. | |||
::My experience is that responding to these kind of discussions doesn't make any difference. The proposers know what they want and don't listen to my opinions. It has been explained that many of the 'clarifications' will just open loop-holes. There is a good reason why we are told to ''avoid instruction creep''. I've also seen editors spend a lot of time and effort ''tidying-up'' a policy, only to see most of their work overturned when it comes time to put it into effect. These policies have been around for a while, and IMO don't need 'clarification'. Three or four editors getting together to try to change a policy like this one is just not going to fly. I am not contributing to the discussion because I think the proposed changes are not needed, but I will step in to oppose any such changes if someone actually attempts to insert them in the article. -- '''<font color="navy">]</font><sup><font color="green">(])</font></font></sup>''' 14:49, 11 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
2. If the material is best thought of as a series of parallel developments without strong interaction, then organizing by topic/stream/denomination could be appropriate. For example, the ] article has its main split into an Orthodox section then a Catholic section, with chronological considerations in the paragraphs not the sections. | |||
::::So since I suggested a clarification of the Undue weight policy, where is/are your suggestion to it? Please give ANY example, real or made up, where clarification of a policy introduces loop-holes, rather than removes them? Please indicate where "instruction creep" forms part of policy? Making changes without discussion and forming consensus is against Wiki policy. No one said that the existing policy is broken, only that it can be improved. --] 23:38, 11 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
2a. In this case, the issue of the order of denominations is also appropriate to consider: I suggest that where some idea is notably or primarily or most simply associated with some single denomination or group (e.g. Orthodoxy and "energia" or Catholicism and "essence" or perhaps "sola fide" and Protestantism) then that denomination or group should be treated first. | |||
:::Why would users be pre-opposed to any changes which try to clarify the policy, regardless of whether they succeed? My guess is that as Lumiere has aptly noted, it feels safer for those who have a "firm grasp of the policy already" to keep it vague (see above). Lumiere does not need to be suppressed, just more succinct. ] 15:58, 11 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
::::Anyone who wants my support for fixing this policy is going to have to do a much better job of convincing me that it is broken. And I don't respond well to hearing the same arguments made over and over and over and... -- '''<font color="navy">]</font><sup><font color="green">(])</font></font></sup>''' 16:51, 11 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
:::Thank you Donald for such a succinct expression of exactly my position. — ] ] 17:18, 11 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
::::Seconding this approach --] 21:07, 11 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
:::::The problem is not that the policy is broken, but that some users find it unclear. When your screen door breaks you need to fix it. Unfortunately, this is not a screen door. ] 00:29, 12 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
2b. But where the topic applies to multiple denominations where none is clearly the most notable, and then I suggest that notability should use the proxy of the numerical strength of that denomination, following ]. This would mean Catholic section first, Protestants second, Orthodox third, Church of east fourth, others at end. | |||
The very fact that this discussion has been ongoing for so long demonstrates that there is a problem. That it has been demonstrated that there is an ambiguity in the policy, demonstrates that there is a problem. That the policy is open to interpretation, demonstrates that there is a problem. {{unsigned|Iantresman}} | |||
:Not really. The only reason for these discussions is Lumière's relentless posting in these pages, despite comments by countless editors to leave it alone. You may want to refer to your RfC at ]. ] <small>] • ]</small> 00:56, 12 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
:Circular reasoning is not very convincing. — ] ] 01:07, 12 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
Would it be legitimate for an editor, e.g. me, to take an article e.g. ] and rearrange it chronologically/sizewise (to the order Catholic, Lutheran, Evangelical, Liberal, Neo-orthodx) just on these editorial considerations, without being accused of pushing a particular wheelbarrow? | |||
::Users find the policy unclear. Your solution is telling the to shut up. But this only works until another user comes and asks the same question. ] 01:29, 12 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
:::Take it to Lumiere's talk page and stop trying to continue this fruitless project here. — ] ] 01:39, 12 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
This came up because I saw (or imagined) a pattern where many articles have a large Protestant section first then a small Catholic section later: the order suggests a logical priority which is surely not appropriate or intended: for individual articles...who cares? But cumulatively an ordering in many articles favouring particular smaller groups might be create a form of bias. | |||
:(Currently, there are many articles on religious topics (Christian, presumably others) that feature only or mainly the view of one denomination or belief system. This is unavoidable, of course, given that some articles are sourced from e.g. the Catholic Encyclopedia or written by people interested or specialist in one tradition. (For example, the old article on ] had only Protestant material.) However, in the long term we hope that articles reform themselves as editors attend to WP:NPOV and undue weight etc. That is a different issue.) ] (]) 05:21, 5 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
==Disrupt discussion== | |||
== the -est, "one of the first", in xxx superlatives in articles == | |||
Per numerous requests from the community to either drop the issue or take it to his personal talk pages and his constant refusal to abide by the wishes of the community, this discussion has been moved to ] ] 21:16, 11 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
How do we feel about the liberal use of such sensationalistic superlatives in a lot of articles? I am seeing them everywhere. | |||
"the biggest, the first, was featured in best/top 4,523 list of xxx" in the township/]/region/state/country/time zone. and so on. Even if it's mentioned in reliable sources, I'm seeing this used excessively. | |||
] (]) | |||
*This is done to establish notability. ] (]) 22:37, 1 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
*Is it accurate? If so, then I don't think it's a problem, especially if it's just one or two claims per article. I'd rather read "First pizza joint in the ]" than "It's a pizza joint in the ]". It's not ] to report 'favorable' facts.{{pb}} Also, Blueboar is correct. Our notion of a ] pretty much demands that editors add some sort of information along these lines, so we can't complain too much when they do what we insist they do. ] (]) 22:38, 1 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
:I think the issue is the overly liberal use of such superlatives. I do not think that any reasonable editor would object to describing ] as the first human to journey into outer space. The quality of the sourcing is also important. If the preponderance of reliable sources describe the topic as "the first", then I have no problem including it. But sometimes these claims are sourced to low quality, lazy ] journalism. As in so many other areas of editing Misplaced Pages, a healthy dose of common sense and good editorial judgment is required. ] (]) 22:51, 1 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
::And also, "Awards and Accolades" section being considerably larger than criticism even if there's just as much critical information based on news reports. ] (]) 22:56, 1 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
:::Well, listicle formatting may give a false impression there (a list of three awards takes up more screen space than a prose sentence naming the same three awards), but the problem with unbalanced attention isn't really about the superlatives. Someone can be widely recognized as the best guitarist and a person with serious personal problems; a business can produce the finest widgets and the biggest polluter of the town's water supply. And because of the effects of ] on ], it is sometimes the case that what looks big at the moment turns out to be a temporary blip. It can be difficult to get the balance right, even when you're trying hard. ] (]) 23:38, 1 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
::::It's certainly noteworthy to say that they're the worst town polluter though, along with being the finest maker of widget Y. ] (]) 00:13, 2 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
::"was the first restaurant in township to phase out single use flatware, and has the largest solar generation among all sit-down restaurants in the county" sort of thing is what I was referring to. ] (]) 00:17, 2 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
:::Assuming that they got some attention from (e.g.) the local newspaper about this, what's wrong with that? That might be what they're actually notable for. Maybe the next paragraph (or next year's version of the article) is going to say that the owners campaigned for a local ], or that their solar array caught fire and burned down the entire historic district. If that's what the sources give attention to that restaurant for, then deciding that this is unimportant is what this policy calls "editorial bias". | |||
:::In some cases, what's important is that it happens at all. In such a case, the article might say less about "first" and "largest", and instead say something like "The owners are interested in environmental issues and have consequently stopped providing single-use flatware and installed a solar power system". But you really would have to consider everything the source says before deciding what to write. "They're eco-conscious" isn't a good explanation if the facts are that the solar power company was having a contest, and the super-competitive owner was determined to beat his arch-rival, Other Restaurant. ] (]) 00:52, 2 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
::::But in grand scheme of thing, those insignificant claims like the biggest snail ever seen (on my property) usually don't belong in an encyclopedia. It can be in editorial gray zone, but those "first in township" like claims are clearly comparable to that watermelon example. | |||
::::Although I'm not exactly known as being an inclusionist while some others are extreme inclusionist. ] (]) 04:27, 2 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
:::::If independent sources make a big deal out of _____, then it doesn't matter if _____ seems insignificant to a Misplaced Pages editor. Instead of imposing our personal biases on the sources (why did they waste space on that unimportant cruft?!), we should reflect the sources as best we can. | |||
:::::Sometimes there are ways to represent the facts in a less-enthusiastic tone. "The biggest, oldest, and best restaurant in Smallville" may become "the only restaurant in Smallville". But ultimately, if the main reason the sources are writing about the restaurant is because they have solar panels on the roof, or a record-setting ball of twine in the garden, or because ], the Misplaced Pages articles really do need to reflect that fact. | |||
:::::Sometimes it's not actually obvious why some "trivia" might be more important than it looks at first blush. For example, "24-bed hospital with the only emergency room within 25 miles of town" probably sounds like pure promotionalism to some editors – but they wouldn't think that if they knew what effect that particular combination of size and distance has on unlocking US federal funding. There could be a hidden importance behind other kinds of "unimportant" facts, too. ] (]) 07:33, 2 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
::::::I tend to agree if the attention is brought upon by the independent source in an intellectually independent way. | |||
::::::I'll use real example.. " LA Weekly listed it as one of the ten best "Online Resources for Metal Knowledge" in 2013." in ], I find questionable. It's just in a list, but it was an editor decision to bring up that it's in a list. ] (]) 14:51, 2 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
: I'm repeating what other people have said, but this is the easiest way to clear the ] hurdle, if it exists. I agree it can start to feel sensationalistic. That's why we avoid saying "X is the greatest movie of all time", and instead say "X was named the greatest film of all time by publication A, B, and C." The first is an opinion, the second is a fact (about an opinion). ] (]) 13:47, 3 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
== Comedy is subjective == | |||
]: ] 21:29, 11 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
I see comedy hasn't been discussed in the archives. I added it to the subjective section. We should be careful about overweighting articles with suggestions of offense or the like, sourced to conventional sources. Consider that those '''not''' offended are unlikely to be reported on, resulting in POV issues. Thoughts here? ] (]) 21:24, 5 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
Let us not fight them. Anyone interested is welcome to continue the discussion in my User talk page or we can move it elsewhere. We will come back when we will agree amongst us. ] 21:48, 11 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
:@] I see you reverted without explanation, would you like to discuss? ] (]) 15:11, 6 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
:I am part of the community, and I do not object to Lumière's attempt to engage in discussion on its proper page, so your statement is false. Wiki policy, that "Our policies keep changing, and their interpretation as well. Hence it is common on Misplaced Pages for policy itself to be debated on talk pages," , so I assume that moving the discussion is against Wiki policy. --] 23:44, 11 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
::Not really, I don't feel the need to justify reverting a unilateral addition to site policy. I did explain it, though: there's an "etc." on that list for a reason. <span style="border-radius:2px;padding:3px;background:#1E816F">]<span style="color:#fff"> ‥ </span>]</span> 19:11, 6 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
:::] edits are a conventional way to collaborate on the project though it may feel a little strange sometimes! Objections/reverts are best received when discussed or explained. Do you have an opinion on comedians and how sources can get ]-y? ] (]) 04:41, 7 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
::::Right. You made a bold edit, and I reverted it. We've completed ], as I've already explained my reasoning both in the edit summary and in a reply here. <span style="border-radius:2px;padding:3px;background:#1E816F">]<span style="color:#fff"> ‥ </span>]</span> 04:55, 7 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
:I have notified ]. ] (]) 17:29, 6 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
== How would you go about reporting groups of high reputation on Misplaced Pages if they violate NPOV and hold certain pages of Misplaced Pages hostage ? == | |||
:: | |||
My concern is those large groups with high reputation that bully other users editing in good faith when they have genuine issues with the larger groups edits that they want to fix ] (]) 01:53, 12 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
== Shortcuts to sections == | |||
:Generally, we should ]. That said, follow the ] policy. —] (]) 06:24, 12 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
... don't work, so personally I'd propose to omit ] entirely from the policy page. Maybe it should better be proposed for ] or so, per ], reason 2, that is: "confusing" (it creates the confusing, and incorrect, idea that the shortcut actually links to the UW section, someone not knowing that was the ''intention'' can only be more confused when reading the "NPOVUW" acronym, and when clicking arriving at the top of the NPOV page, where the "UW" is nowhere explained). And overall, i think NPOVUW to be a horrendous acronym, in the ] meaning. --] 21:32, 11 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
== Helping with difficult style/tone topics == | |||
:If they don't work, then delete them. I seem to remember them working in the past, but that was sometime ago. ] 21:38, 11 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
In the 'Improve tone' section, it would be helpful to recommend to editors to not only mark an entry or section as 'not conforming to Misplaced Pages's encyclopedic tone' but also to include __at least one example__ of what they think is wrong about the tone of the text they are criticising. Otherwise, the original writer who will then try to improve the tone could be left floundering, especially if the section being criticised is long. They could even end up making 'corrections' to parts of the text that are perfectly fine, while leaving the bits that the critic/commenter originally objected to untouched. More specific rather than blanket criticism is need to help other editors grow and learn. ] (]) 07:49, 23 January 2025 (UTC) | |||
::Well, at ] now, see ] --] 22:06, 11 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
==Sanity check== | |||
Would it be ok if I were to tag chinese ctities under ] as the goverment of Taiwan (]) claims to rule mainland china? --<small>]<sup>]|]</sup></small> 09:19, 12 April 2006 (UTC) | |||
:#Seems like a question you could easily answer for yourself... if not, maybe after reading ], and other guidance linked from there. | |||
:#If still not being able to answer that question for yourself after reading all that, maybe ask your question at ], or start an ] (but I think you may assume that the outcome of such RfC would be pretty much predictable - only encouraging you to try to find a ''sensible'' answer to your question yourself - if you'd try to find it yourself, I'm convinced the eventual answer will stick better) --] 09:49, 12 April 2006 (UTC) |
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Due and undue weight and articles on religion: potential guidelines for ordering for neutrality
For articles on religious topics which do have a broad and NPOV material (not just the views of a single denomination), should there be some editorial guideline for ordering to the presentation of semi-controversial information to reduce undue weight or cumulative non-NPOV?
The guidelines that come to mind are:
0. Editors should NOT order the sections merely according to their length or the order they were added, unless the sections have already been arranged so that the length reflects some reasonably objective editorial metric or system: due weight or notability or chronology or genericity etc.
1. If the presentation starts chronologically/historically, the article should generally continue chronologically/historically. I.e. for Christian-related topic, a series like Ancient/Patristic/Catholic-Orthodox/Protestant/Non-conformist/Liberal or whatever. E.g. Biblical_inerrancy.
1a. Where chronological listing might give undue weight to some marginal information, it could be put at the end, or grouped into a subsection like "Other". This may help flow of reading too.
2. If the material is best thought of as a series of parallel developments without strong interaction, then organizing by topic/stream/denomination could be appropriate. For example, the Essence–energies_distinction article has its main split into an Orthodox section then a Catholic section, with chronological considerations in the paragraphs not the sections.
2a. In this case, the issue of the order of denominations is also appropriate to consider: I suggest that where some idea is notably or primarily or most simply associated with some single denomination or group (e.g. Orthodoxy and "energia" or Catholicism and "essence" or perhaps "sola fide" and Protestantism) then that denomination or group should be treated first.
2b. But where the topic applies to multiple denominations where none is clearly the most notable, and then I suggest that notability should use the proxy of the numerical strength of that denomination, following List_of_Christian_denominations_by_number_of_members. This would mean Catholic section first, Protestants second, Orthodox third, Church of east fourth, others at end.
Would it be legitimate for an editor, e.g. me, to take an article e.g. Biblical_inspiration and rearrange it chronologically/sizewise (to the order Catholic, Lutheran, Evangelical, Liberal, Neo-orthodx) just on these editorial considerations, without being accused of pushing a particular wheelbarrow?
This came up because I saw (or imagined) a pattern where many articles have a large Protestant section first then a small Catholic section later: the order suggests a logical priority which is surely not appropriate or intended: for individual articles...who cares? But cumulatively an ordering in many articles favouring particular smaller groups might be create a form of bias.
- (Currently, there are many articles on religious topics (Christian, presumably others) that feature only or mainly the view of one denomination or belief system. This is unavoidable, of course, given that some articles are sourced from e.g. the Catholic Encyclopedia or written by people interested or specialist in one tradition. (For example, the old article on Priesthood of all believers had only Protestant material.) However, in the long term we hope that articles reform themselves as editors attend to WP:NPOV and undue weight etc. That is a different issue.) Rick Jelliffe (talk) 05:21, 5 November 2024 (UTC)
the -est, "one of the first", in xxx superlatives in articles
How do we feel about the liberal use of such sensationalistic superlatives in a lot of articles? I am seeing them everywhere. "the biggest, the first, was featured in best/top 4,523 list of xxx" in the township/Bay Area/region/state/country/time zone. and so on. Even if it's mentioned in reliable sources, I'm seeing this used excessively. Graywalls (talk)
- This is done to establish notability. Blueboar (talk) 22:37, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
- Is it accurate? If so, then I don't think it's a problem, especially if it's just one or two claims per article. I'd rather read "First pizza joint in the Bay Area" than "It's a pizza joint in the Bay Area". It's not sensationalism to report 'favorable' facts. Also, Blueboar is correct. Our notion of a Misplaced Pages:Credible claim of significance pretty much demands that editors add some sort of information along these lines, so we can't complain too much when they do what we insist they do. WhatamIdoing (talk) 22:38, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
- I think the issue is the overly liberal use of such superlatives. I do not think that any reasonable editor would object to describing Yuri Gagarin as the first human to journey into outer space. The quality of the sourcing is also important. If the preponderance of reliable sources describe the topic as "the first", then I have no problem including it. But sometimes these claims are sourced to low quality, lazy listicle journalism. As in so many other areas of editing Misplaced Pages, a healthy dose of common sense and good editorial judgment is required. Cullen328 (talk) 22:51, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
- And also, "Awards and Accolades" section being considerably larger than criticism even if there's just as much critical information based on news reports. Graywalls (talk) 22:56, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
- Well, listicle formatting may give a false impression there (a list of three awards takes up more screen space than a prose sentence naming the same three awards), but the problem with unbalanced attention isn't really about the superlatives. Someone can be widely recognized as the best guitarist and a person with serious personal problems; a business can produce the finest widgets and the biggest polluter of the town's water supply. And because of the effects of Outrage journalism on WP:RECENTISM, it is sometimes the case that what looks big at the moment turns out to be a temporary blip. It can be difficult to get the balance right, even when you're trying hard. WhatamIdoing (talk) 23:38, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
- It's certainly noteworthy to say that they're the worst town polluter though, along with being the finest maker of widget Y. Graywalls (talk) 00:13, 2 November 2024 (UTC)
- Well, listicle formatting may give a false impression there (a list of three awards takes up more screen space than a prose sentence naming the same three awards), but the problem with unbalanced attention isn't really about the superlatives. Someone can be widely recognized as the best guitarist and a person with serious personal problems; a business can produce the finest widgets and the biggest polluter of the town's water supply. And because of the effects of Outrage journalism on WP:RECENTISM, it is sometimes the case that what looks big at the moment turns out to be a temporary blip. It can be difficult to get the balance right, even when you're trying hard. WhatamIdoing (talk) 23:38, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
- "was the first restaurant in township to phase out single use flatware, and has the largest solar generation among all sit-down restaurants in the county" sort of thing is what I was referring to. Graywalls (talk) 00:17, 2 November 2024 (UTC)
- Assuming that they got some attention from (e.g.) the local newspaper about this, what's wrong with that? That might be what they're actually notable for. Maybe the next paragraph (or next year's version of the article) is going to say that the owners campaigned for a local plastic straw ban, or that their solar array caught fire and burned down the entire historic district. If that's what the sources give attention to that restaurant for, then deciding that this is unimportant is what this policy calls "editorial bias".
- In some cases, what's important is that it happens at all. In such a case, the article might say less about "first" and "largest", and instead say something like "The owners are interested in environmental issues and have consequently stopped providing single-use flatware and installed a solar power system". But you really would have to consider everything the source says before deciding what to write. "They're eco-conscious" isn't a good explanation if the facts are that the solar power company was having a contest, and the super-competitive owner was determined to beat his arch-rival, Other Restaurant. WhatamIdoing (talk) 00:52, 2 November 2024 (UTC)
- But in grand scheme of thing, those insignificant claims like the biggest snail ever seen (on my property) usually don't belong in an encyclopedia. It can be in editorial gray zone, but those "first in township" like claims are clearly comparable to that watermelon example.
- Although I'm not exactly known as being an inclusionist while some others are extreme inclusionist. Graywalls (talk) 04:27, 2 November 2024 (UTC)
- If independent sources make a big deal out of _____, then it doesn't matter if _____ seems insignificant to a Misplaced Pages editor. Instead of imposing our personal biases on the sources (why did they waste space on that unimportant cruft?!), we should reflect the sources as best we can.
- Sometimes there are ways to represent the facts in a less-enthusiastic tone. "The biggest, oldest, and best restaurant in Smallville" may become "the only restaurant in Smallville". But ultimately, if the main reason the sources are writing about the restaurant is because they have solar panels on the roof, or a record-setting ball of twine in the garden, or because George Washington Slept Here, the Misplaced Pages articles really do need to reflect that fact.
- Sometimes it's not actually obvious why some "trivia" might be more important than it looks at first blush. For example, "24-bed hospital with the only emergency room within 25 miles of town" probably sounds like pure promotionalism to some editors – but they wouldn't think that if they knew what effect that particular combination of size and distance has on unlocking US federal funding. There could be a hidden importance behind other kinds of "unimportant" facts, too. WhatamIdoing (talk) 07:33, 2 November 2024 (UTC)
- I tend to agree if the attention is brought upon by the independent source in an intellectually independent way.
- I'll use real example.. " LA Weekly listed it as one of the ten best "Online Resources for Metal Knowledge" in 2013." in Metal Injection, I find questionable. It's just in a list, but it was an editor decision to bring up that it's in a list. Graywalls (talk) 14:51, 2 November 2024 (UTC)
- And also, "Awards and Accolades" section being considerably larger than criticism even if there's just as much critical information based on news reports. Graywalls (talk) 22:56, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
- I'm repeating what other people have said, but this is the easiest way to clear the WP:N hurdle, if it exists. I agree it can start to feel sensationalistic. That's why we avoid saying "X is the greatest movie of all time", and instead say "X was named the greatest film of all time by publication A, B, and C." The first is an opinion, the second is a fact (about an opinion). Shooterwalker (talk) 13:47, 3 November 2024 (UTC)
Comedy is subjective
I see comedy hasn't been discussed in the archives. I added it to the subjective section. We should be careful about overweighting articles with suggestions of offense or the like, sourced to conventional sources. Consider that those not offended are unlikely to be reported on, resulting in POV issues. Thoughts here? SmolBrane (talk) 21:24, 5 November 2024 (UTC)
- @Remsense I see you reverted without explanation, would you like to discuss? SmolBrane (talk) 15:11, 6 November 2024 (UTC)
- Not really, I don't feel the need to justify reverting a unilateral addition to site policy. I did explain it, though: there's an "etc." on that list for a reason. Remsense ‥ 论 19:11, 6 November 2024 (UTC)
- WP:Bold edits are a conventional way to collaborate on the project though it may feel a little strange sometimes! Objections/reverts are best received when discussed or explained. Do you have an opinion on comedians and how sources can get WP:TABLOID-y? SmolBrane (talk) 04:41, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
- Right. You made a bold edit, and I reverted it. We've completed the classic pattern, as I've already explained my reasoning both in the edit summary and in a reply here. Remsense ‥ 论 04:55, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
- WP:Bold edits are a conventional way to collaborate on the project though it may feel a little strange sometimes! Objections/reverts are best received when discussed or explained. Do you have an opinion on comedians and how sources can get WP:TABLOID-y? SmolBrane (talk) 04:41, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
- Not really, I don't feel the need to justify reverting a unilateral addition to site policy. I did explain it, though: there's an "etc." on that list for a reason. Remsense ‥ 论 19:11, 6 November 2024 (UTC)
- I have notified Misplaced Pages talk:WikiProject Comedy. SmolBrane (talk) 17:29, 6 November 2024 (UTC)
How would you go about reporting groups of high reputation on Misplaced Pages if they violate NPOV and hold certain pages of Misplaced Pages hostage ?
My concern is those large groups with high reputation that bully other users editing in good faith when they have genuine issues with the larger groups edits that they want to fix Nicholasjosey (talk) 01:53, 12 November 2024 (UTC)
- Generally, we should assume good faith. That said, follow the Misplaced Pages:Dispute resolution policy. —Bagumba (talk) 06:24, 12 November 2024 (UTC)
Helping with difficult style/tone topics
In the 'Improve tone' section, it would be helpful to recommend to editors to not only mark an entry or section as 'not conforming to Misplaced Pages's encyclopedic tone' but also to include __at least one example__ of what they think is wrong about the tone of the text they are criticising. Otherwise, the original writer who will then try to improve the tone could be left floundering, especially if the section being criticised is long. They could even end up making 'corrections' to parts of the text that are perfectly fine, while leaving the bits that the critic/commenter originally objected to untouched. More specific rather than blanket criticism is need to help other editors grow and learn. Chalk giant (talk) 07:49, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
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