Talk:Wikipedia

This is not the page to ask for help with using Wikipedia.

Wikipedia is Semiprotected.

{{editsemiprotected}} Indulge in Almonds (talk) 22:36, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Martin 00:21, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

Taking sides

• Wikipedia does not take a side.

This is not true. In several major public controversies, Wikipedia sides with "science", i.e. the viewpoint of the scientific mainstream. I don't know why this is seen as consistent with NPOV, as it seems to me to be endorsing the mainstream POV.

How large a majority must there be in a scientific dispute before Wikipedians may declare that there is a scientific consensus? Or how large must a a minority be before it is allowed to be covered in full? --Uncle Ed (talk) 23:17, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure what controversies you're referring to. Anyway, since science is a combination of a method and an existing base of knowledge rather than a POV, using that knowledge is standard practice for encyclopedias; I don't see how that conflicts with NPOV, particularly since a scientific consensus doesn't necessarily match the most widely held views outside the scientific community. A scientific consensus may be declared in an article when it is considered such by independent, reliable sources (particularly ones that are specific to the field), so that issue would fall under verifiability instead of NPOV. Pyrospirit (talk · contribs) 00:56, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

Science, when practiced well (i.e., honestly), has a good method for discovering truth. But what about when there are disputes over whether a particular bit of scientific work has been done honestly? What if other scientists report being unable to reproduce the results?

In other words, how are we contributors supposed to assess the independence and reliability of scientific sources? I refer in particular to the problems with the Anthropegenic Global Warming theory, held by the (journalistic) mainstream to be responsible for most of the past century's global warming. How are we as contributors to explain to readers whether essential things properly and not taking a side. Besides, the statement "Wikipedia does not take a side" is used in this article in the context of describing policy, not as a statement of what necessarily occurs in every case, so this discussion doesn't really have an impact on what the article on Wikipedia should say. Pyrospirit (talk · contribs) 21:50, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

Ed's trying to drum up support to force content changes at various articles related to denialism he's has a history with, global warming, AIDS, science and ID. The history of this is covered in his RFAR. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.237.4.140 (talk) 23:42, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

This is slightly off-topic, but it is true that Wikipedia has often been accused of actually taking a side, no matter what its policies say. Conservapedia, for example, was founded because of perceived liberal bias in Wikipedia. Describing policies is a must, of course, but discussing the reality--or, more precisely, the reality that reliable sources depict, is also important, I think, and currently the article doesn't do this poorly. (It does discuss bias, but really not in depth: it has to include discussion on liberal bias, systemic bias and above-mentioned scientific bias.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by TakuyaMurata (talk • contribs) 00:04, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Little defence for wikipedia: The accusation , quoting consevapedia:

link conservapedia accusation of wikipedia for liberal bias

Wikipedia show a "systematic bias in that tiny proportion of articles which treat controversial issues. It ignores its own NPOV policy when it allows contributors to "delete well-referenced information" merely because it comes from a scientist who holds a minority view. It would only be a violation, if the article used the information to give a false impression of the proportion of scientists adhering to that view, but liberalst use "undue weight" like a sledge hammer. They are either unaware or unconcerned about their bias."

It been know that wikipedia work to be a good encyclopedia with a strong neutrality. And so, some mechanism are actually use to reduce the lack of neutrality of some article. yes and some days ok. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.154.197.220 (talk) 11:09, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

The Neutral point of view is ask to be use in any topic, include controversial one. The point of view from scientist who holds a minority view should not be give an important place in the scientific topic. However, the minority point of view accusation seem to point to some pseudo-scientific, like creationism, with are view also in this encyclopedias.

However, the neutral point of view is limited to unbiased information and several review, include the Nova Southeastern University, Nottingham University and the Gould Library at Carleton College in Minnesota found a really few factual error in different set of articles and even comparing wikipedia to Britanica.

And so, conservapedia is accuse of a strong, conservative systematical bias by different web site: http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Conservapedia:Bias_in_Conservapedia_(May_2007) http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2007/03/conservapedia-hopes-to-fix-wikipedias-liberal-bias.ars http://kriswager.blogspot.com/2007/07/tired-of-conservapedias-liberal-bias.html http://hnn.us/articles/37366.html http://apcmag.com/wikipedia_vs_conservapedia.htm

Even worst, even uncyclopedia make a strong fun about the bias in conservapedia: http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Examples_of_Bias_in_Conservapedia

Wikipedia might have some bias, it is not perfect and never will be. But the community work to give better article, and it's seem to do a good job be some study. Conservapedia, on the other hand, don't receive this advertisement of quality and should work hard if they want to have the same quality of wikipedia. It is also know that any wiki should not use as the only source for research. Triple and quadruple "check" is always a good idea for any research, even in primary school.

This defence was not neutral, and was not intended to be.

Therrydicule —Preceding unsigned comment added by Therydicule (talk • contribs) 22:36, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

error in link

The link in the note 86 is wrong. The (new) correct one is: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126883.900

--Biasco.ch (talk) 02:03, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

The link you provided and the existing link go to the same page and both work fine, as far as I can tell. Pyrospirit (talk · contribs) 21:56, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

You are right, now it works. Maybe it was just a problem on their server. Thank you for checking. --Biasco.ch (talk) 22:44, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

Hidden Vandalism

Srs109 vandalized a word here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Biasco.ch (talk • contribs) 02:34, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

It appears to have been reverted. Pyrospirit (talk · contribs) 21:54, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia and schools

Unsure of if other users have encountered this - at my school, Pedare Christian College, we've been explicitly warned against using Wikipedia as a research resource because of the 'anyone can edit it' thing. In fact, if we use Wikipedia, we need to have a total of 4 sources, rather than the usual 3. Has anyone else encountered similar dislike of Wikipedia in school, universities, etc.? And yes, a lot of us have tried to point out that admins exist for a reason. It's not working. -150.101.251.68 (talk) 03:50, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

You may have caught my mini-rant embedded within edit summaries a couple of hours ago. I assume no one did, of course. Anyway, yes, I've had this problem a lot, and I've even had teachers be so bold as to say "I can put myself on Wikipedia if I want to". Heh, I just keep quiet and wait for things like that. I'll say this again, Wikipedia is like free speech. Elm-39 - T/C 17:38, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

Justin Bunch

Justin Bunc in kentucky during the lave 1900h was born —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.53.65.119 (talk) 01:09, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Our School's history co-ordinator encourages us to use Wikipedia (or Wilkipedia as she knows it), but encourages us to check the history, for consistencies, and to take some sources from it (not signed in: ATMarsden) 19:44, 11 February 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.150.37.246 (talk)

Wikipedia and Technical Articles

Wikipedia is the number one technical reference I use. Most of the people I know (grad students or recent PhDs) in Mathematics, Statistics and Engineering say the same thing. Should something about this be included in the main article given that Wikipedia is so amazingly useful in this respect? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.97.49.105 (talk) 08:20, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

No hole in the universe

And here I thought searching for Wikipedia, within Wikipedia would tear a hole in the fabric of space-time.