Wikipedia talk:What Wikipedia is not/Archive 38
This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Archive 35 | Archive 36 | Archive 37 | Archive 38 | Archive 39 | Archive 40 | → | Archive 45 |
Implementation of WMF resolution requires new software features
The rather poorly quoted (in the current policy) foundation statement says:
“ | The Wikimedia Foundation Board affirms that:
[two Commons-related bullets omitted]
|
” |
8.0-8.5 | Arabic |
7.5-8.0 | Persian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean |
7.0-7.5 | Vietnamese, Hebrew |
6.5-7.0 | Hungarian, Portuguese, Turkish |
6.0-6.5 | Spanish, Russian |
5.5-6.0 | English, French, Polish, Italian |
5.0-5.5 | Dutch, Norwegian, Finnish, Bulgarian |
4.5-5.0 | Czech, Romanian |
4.0-4.5 | German |
3.5-4.0 | (none) |
3.0-3.5 | Swedish, Danish, Estonian |
I'm afraid that WMF has to put their money where their mouth is. It's unreasonable to expect Wikipedia editors to determine how "content on Wikimedia projects should be presented to readers in such a way as to respect their expectations of what any page or feature might contain" because those expectations vary widely, as it is actually acknowledged in the first WMF resolution bullet. So, the only reasonable way to implement user choice on something like the images of Muhammad without offending at least some group of readers is to have a "Muslim user" or perhaps more accurately "Sunni user" or just "hide Muhammad images" checkbox in the putative "personal image hiding feature". The ball is really in WMF's court on this. Until they implement their "personal image hiding feature", their resolution is unimplementable. ASCIIn2Bme (talk) 20:05, 4 November 2011 (UTC)
- I thought such features already existed? I thought some of that was the basis for the instructions on the Muhammad FAQ page? No, I am not being sarcastic - I have no intentions of disabling any images on Wikipedia for myself, so I haven't tried those features. Does anyone know if they work? And do they adequately address this? ROBERTMFROMLI | TK/CN 20:09, 4 November 2011 (UTC)
- In Talk:Muhammad/FAQ Q3 there's a solution for logged-in but not logged-out users, so more software is needed for the latter part. ASCIIn2Bme (talk) 20:12, 4 November 2011 (UTC)
- Wow, that's a BIG gap in coverage then. I wonder what it would take to make a cookie based version for anon users? It wouldn't even affect other users who eventually got a leased IP, or even users on say a library machine if written properly (cookie expires on browser restart or something). Thanks for pointing out the hole in its capabilities. Best, ROBERTMFROMLI | TK/CN 20:38, 4 November 2011 (UTC)
- The foundation is working on a image filter, over which a great deal of discussion has occurred on meta. It is not without controversy itself, especially on the de.wiki. Resolute 20:45, 4 November 2011 (UTC)
- Everyone should look at the map on the talk page there: m:Talk:Image filter referendum/Results/en (now copied here). Pretty much what I expected with respect to the Arabic-speaking editors vs English-speaking ones. And given what you've told me about German speakers' resistance, their score (lower than that of English speakers) is not surprising either. [Correction: I was informed on meta that this map is language-based, not country based ASCIIn2Bme (talk) 11:37, 5 November 2011 (UTC)]
- The foundation is working on a image filter, over which a great deal of discussion has occurred on meta. It is not without controversy itself, especially on the de.wiki. Resolute 20:45, 4 November 2011 (UTC)
- Wow, that's a BIG gap in coverage then. I wonder what it would take to make a cookie based version for anon users? It wouldn't even affect other users who eventually got a leased IP, or even users on say a library machine if written properly (cookie expires on browser restart or something). Thanks for pointing out the hole in its capabilities. Best, ROBERTMFROMLI | TK/CN 20:38, 4 November 2011 (UTC)
- In Talk:Muhammad/FAQ Q3 there's a solution for logged-in but not logged-out users, so more software is needed for the latter part. ASCIIn2Bme (talk) 20:12, 4 November 2011 (UTC)
I see that our esteemed arbitrators are flaming each other there m:Talk:Image filter referendum/en#Results now released, so I suppose this feature is controversial too, LOL. ASCIIn2Bme (talk) 21:03, 4 November 2011 (UTC)
- Getting the technical ability in place is just the first 1%. The next step will be creation of a classification system with the hundreds of different parameters for each image (e.g. women without head veils, women being allowed to drive cars, anything homosexuality related, etc.) to classify it per the hundreds of different definitions of decency. Then comes getting somebody to classify each image according to each of those hundreds of parameters. North8000 (talk) 21:37, 4 November 2011 (UTC)
- What's the word for "no" in German? 86%? LOL. m:Talk:Image filter referendum/Next steps/en#Final Results of the WP:DE Election. I suspect the consensus on en.wiki will be harder to discern. ASCIIn2Bme (talk) 21:22, 4 November 2011 (UTC)
- The idea of creating a category system for the personal image filter appears to have been abandoned. [1] There is a brainstorming page on Meta dedicated to finding a workable solution: [2]. --JN466 07:32, 6 November 2011 (UTC)
- So, the bruhaha in en.wiki is just the follow-up to that putative WMF abandonment of their reader-centered filter plan? If the WMF can't figure out how to prevent some Muslims from seeing images that piss these guys off, then we just remove them, even if those images are acceptable to everyone else? That's actually contrary to the WMF statement, which only supports hiding such contents from those who don't wanna see it, not deleting it altogether. ASCIIn2Bme (talk) 20:40, 6 November 2011 (UTC)
Undiscussed change to WP:NOTCENSOR?
I just realized that this change was made to
- Per the Foundation, controversial material should follow the principle of 'least astonishment': one that respects the conventional expectations of readers for a given topic.
My own qualms with this are:
- Just because the WMF states "We support the principle of least astonishment" along with other things they support does not mean it should be worked into an existing policy without some form of discussion. Why was this added and not any other part? Furthermore the statement "We urge the Commons community to... and applying the principle of least astonishment in categorization and placement" does not readily seem to apply to adding images to articles on Wikipedia.
- I don't believe a community consensus could be formed on just what "conventional expectations of readers" are. It is a better guideline to focus on placing the most illustrative, descriptive, informative, etc, images than it is to try and decide what the reader will expect and react to that. In practice this could be used to justify replacing accurate, medically relevant wounds/diseases with less graphic images that are less representative. As an example: in our classes in the US we were often times shown disturbing images of car crashes and the effects of drugs and tobacco, such a policy could be implemented by a tobacco employee or an editor for the legalization of drugs to censor out the more disturbing(but relevant) images of negative effects. The examples for the potential of abuse are numerous, editor X saying "I think we should show less graphic images on the (abortion/holocaust/animal testing/etc) article per least astonishment"
I moving to remove this then as it seems like it could be a hassle in the future, leading to arguments centered around subjective judgements of what readers expect instead of whether the image objectively/realistically illustrates the topic.AerobicFox (talk) 23:21, 7 November 2011 (UTC)
- I mentioned above in one of the huge threads that I couldn't find a discussion for it either. While we must respect foundation policy, I don't think the board statement is nearly specific enough to be an actionable requirement for us to add it. I agree completely with point two, we are never going to be able to agree on anything approaching an objective standard regarding its application. It should be removed. Monty845 23:28, 7 November 2011 (UTC)
- I'm pretty sure the Foundation resolution is guidance, and it's up to us whether we pay any attention. That's what's sparked this discussion. It's been mentioned on two article talk pages recently. Muhammad and Pregnancy. According to Jimbo, the advice applies across projects, but was prompted by problems at Commons. I confess I'm struggling with the applicability of the "principle of least astonishment" and see potential problems with the "community expectation" language. But I'd like to hear many more views on that before deciding anything there.
- The part I understand, and believe could be better emphasised here, is the advice to pay particular attention to determining whether controversial content has a realistic educational use. I'm inclined to agree with Jimbo that we usually do a pretty good job in that, but I think it deserves emphasising. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 00:58, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- Hans Adler, in an earlier discussion, gave the example of an editor who insisted on including a photograph of a woman in the process of defecating, seen from below, in the article defecation, citing NOTCENSORED. Reputable educational sources wouldn't include such an image, so if we do, it violates the principle of least astonishment. --JN466 02:48, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- That is one application of the principle. But, we do have a wider brief than EB or a scholarly text. "Just like EB" is too constrained, in my opinion, but "We don't care about astonishing out readers" is too loose. But thanks, I'm beginning to get the picture, I think. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 04:47, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- Hans Adler, in an earlier discussion, gave the example of an editor who insisted on including a photograph of a woman in the process of defecating, seen from below, in the article defecation, citing NOTCENSORED. Reputable educational sources wouldn't include such an image, so if we do, it violates the principle of least astonishment. --JN466 02:48, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- The part I understand, and believe could be better emphasised here, is the advice to pay particular attention to determining whether controversial content has a realistic educational use. I'm inclined to agree with Jimbo that we usually do a pretty good job in that, but I think it deserves emphasising. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 00:58, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
Off-topic
|
---|
|
It's clear from the section above this one that the WMF has trouble implementing its side of the resolution (the personal image filter), and its Executive Director appears to have postponed plans for that indefinitely. It makes no sense to introduce elements of that resolution which can't be solved at Wikipedia editors' level into a Wikipedia policy, e.g. the parts about reader choice/expectations. The so-called "principle of least astonishment" appears to be just a nebulous way to express that issue as well, if you read the original WMF statement, so I support removing that part as well, as it's not something Wikipedia editors can implement. ASCIIn2Bme (talk) 01:33, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- I don't really see any problem with that addition. It's what the Foundation board said. Generally, just like our text reflects the standards of our sources, so should our approach to illustration. Otherwise we are engaging in a form of OR. --JN466 02:44, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- The WMF text refers to the reader's choice, not the sources' choice; see section below for what the WMF might actually mean by "least astonishment". ASCIIn2Bme (talk) 03:50, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- I thought readers' expectations are formed by the publishing standards they are familiar with. We are not trying to be "different" from our sources; our entire edifice of sourcing guidelines exists to ensure we aren't, and the very definition of NPOV is that we should accurately reflect the views expressed in reliable sources, in proportion to their prominence. If we do that, readers familiar with our sources will not be "astonished". --JN466 03:55, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- Trying to ascertain what will astonish the reader will always be OR. You seem to be saying that we should conform Wikipedia to style of more traditional sources to not astonish the reader, but many readers today are more familiar with Wikipedia than with traditional sources, and Wikipedia is different for a variety of reasons: we aren't restrained by the costs of printing color images, we have unlimited space for going in depth on articles and for creating new articles, etc. NPOV means that we represent sources in a neutral fashion, it has nothing to with emulating their method for representing the material(which would be a copyright violation).AerobicFox (talk) 04:12, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- No, not the style of "more traditional" sources, but reputable sources, the kind we allow as sources for our text. Clearly there are differences: we are a website, and most of our sources are not; we can't use the exact same media as our sources if they're copyrighted, etc. But in general our editorial judgment reflects the judgment of our sources. --JN466 04:33, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- Trying to ascertain what will astonish the reader will always be OR. You seem to be saying that we should conform Wikipedia to style of more traditional sources to not astonish the reader, but many readers today are more familiar with Wikipedia than with traditional sources, and Wikipedia is different for a variety of reasons: we aren't restrained by the costs of printing color images, we have unlimited space for going in depth on articles and for creating new articles, etc. NPOV means that we represent sources in a neutral fashion, it has nothing to with emulating their method for representing the material(which would be a copyright violation).AerobicFox (talk) 04:12, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- I thought readers' expectations are formed by the publishing standards they are familiar with. We are not trying to be "different" from our sources; our entire edifice of sourcing guidelines exists to ensure we aren't, and the very definition of NPOV is that we should accurately reflect the views expressed in reliable sources, in proportion to their prominence. If we do that, readers familiar with our sources will not be "astonished". --JN466 03:55, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- The WMF text refers to the reader's choice, not the sources' choice; see section below for what the WMF might actually mean by "least astonishment". ASCIIn2Bme (talk) 03:50, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
My stance is that, where there is a choice of equally educational images (and there usually is) and one is more obviously shocking than another, we should go for the less shocking one, and determining that will be a matter of judgment and consensus.
Many editors here are reasonably concerned that careless wording of this "least astonishment" principle may be used to remove educationally important content because it's shocking or upsetting to some, without replacing it with equally or more educationally valuable content. Sloppy wording here might lead to the educational value of an article suffering on the alter of sensibility. Any change along the lines of the Foundation resolution would need to be very precise about the supremacy of real educational value over the principle of least astonishment. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 04:47, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- I'm in broad agreement with you, though there may be exceptions. Basically I would always like us to look for precedent in the best sources to legitimise the use of an image. There are some horrific images (of the holocaust for example) that the highest-quality sources have seen fit to include, because they are needed to make the reader understand what happened. In such a case, a less shocking image may indeed be less educational. But the principle is that we should look to high-quality sources for guidance as to due weight for a shocking image, just as we do for text. --JN466 04:55, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- I do like that position, and will consider it in future image choices, but I'm not sure it's home is here, perhaps in a badly needed expansion of WP:NOTCENSORED, if the Foundation resolution has anything to inform this policy on, I'm leaning towards something more like emphasising "Where the same educational effect can be achieved without dismaying the reader, choose not to dismay the reader." But I repeat myself. (See the thread below this one.) --Anthonyhcole (talk) 05:26, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- I do like that position, and will consider it in future image choices, but I'm not sure it's home is here, perhaps in a badly needed expansion of
- Actually, I think I'm on the wrong page here. The more I think about this, the more I think Wikipedia:Image use policy#Content is where this belongs. Sheesh. How's this not going to look like forum shopping? --Anthonyhcole (talk) 07:25, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- The problem with emphasizing that though, IMO, is that it deemphasizes this:
- "Discussion of potentially objectionable content should not focus on its offensiveness but on whether it is appropriate to include in a given article."
- I believe that emphasis should be given to the relevance and usefulness of the image to the article, and that by emphasizing choosing the least shocking image you are drawing attention away from the relevance of the image and emphasizing its potential to offend. The proposal's wording may also unintentionally lead to editors falsely WP:Instruction creep and it may lead to arguments becoming centered around "Does the slight gain in realism outweigh the potential to offend" instead of "Is this image a superior image".AerobicFox (talk) 23:56, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- I cannot in good faith or with any honesty say I've got strong disagreements with most of what's posted above. I don't. There I think is only one point I have a... disagreement (not quite the correct word) - and that's the "of equal educational value" part. The image also needs to portray the same educational content - which the image substitutions proposed cannot. Both provide equal educational value - but not on the exact same topic. It's like comparing math to science. Best, ROBERTMFROMLI | TK/CN 06:03, 9 November 2011 (UTC)
- The problem with emphasizing that though, IMO, is that it deemphasizes this:
- Actually, I think I'm on the wrong page here. The more I think about this, the more I think Wikipedia:Image use policy#Content is where this belongs. Sheesh. How's this not going to look like forum shopping? --Anthonyhcole (talk) 07:25, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
What "least astonishment" might mean
The WMF board simply copied that expression from the 2010 Harris report (search threads above for background on that), so here is what the report says:
“ | What we are recommending is that there be an option prominently visible on all WMF pages (like the Search Settings options on Google), available to registered and non-registered users alike, that, when selected, will place all images in Commons Categories defined as sexual (penises, vulvas, masturbation, etc.) or violent (images of massacres, lynchings, etc.) into either collapsible or other forms of shuttered viewing, wherever these images might appear on WMF sites. The rationales for this are several. Images of sexuality and violence are necessary components of Wikimedia projects for them to fulfill their mandates to be open, free and educational. However, these images – of genital areas and sexual practices on the one hand, or mass graves and mutilated corpses on the other – will inevitably still have the power to disturb some viewers, especially if they are children, or if they are happened upon unintentionally. The point of the “button” we’re proposing is to help alleviate that surprise and dismay, by making the images unavailable for viewing without a second command. Often, within the Wikimedia world, this is referred to as the principle of least astonishment, or least surprise. In our view, it needs to be strengthened.
On the other hand, we believe that this command should only delay the presentation of these images, not prevent the presentation of these images. Consistent with principle 7 we enumerated in our first part, we believe access to information on WMF sites should be compromised only as little as need be to satisfy our responsibilities to respect and serve all our audiences. In our view, a shuttered, rather than a deleted image, satisfies those responsibilities. We selected the Category approach to this shuttering because we thought it would be the simplest to administer. |
” |
-- ASCIIn2Bme (talk) 01:59, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- Interesting. This issue arose from editors (well, one editor, really) pushing "least astonishment" as a reason to hide nipples at Pregnancy. Nipples are not "penises, vulvas, masturbation, etc." HiLo48 (talk) 02:15, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- Thanks. I had read the Harris report, and the board working group report, but still struggle finding principle of least astonishment's relevance here. Sometimes I'm slow on the uptake. I'll think about it for a while. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 02:27, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- Yeah, it seems that they use a pretty original definition for "least astonishment"; I'm not seeing it in the article on Wikipedia:Principle of least astonishment. Don't wanna say "I told you so", but that's what happens when experts on music and TV series write recommendations for website interfaces. ASCIIn2Bme (talk) 03:57, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- Perhaps the relationship to the (real) principle is just "application of sensible defaults". However, there are no sensible defaults for some controversial stuff. E.g. images of spiders cause problems for some but not all readers, and so do images of Muhammad. The Wikipedia essay (linked above) speaks of satisfying "the average reader", which if it existed, the WMF would not need to worry about personal image filters. ASCIIn2Bme (talk) 04:03, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- I always begin from the position there's something I'm not getting in these situations, because history has nearly always proven that to be the case. I'm thinking, "don't gratuitously shock or offend readers." With emphasis on "gratuitously." Meaning (to repeat what I just said to Jayen above) "If you can achieve the same or better educational effect without dismaying readers, choose not to dismay them." We could also encompass the Goatse decision with something like "This is an encyclopedia and grossly offensive content whose sole purpose is to shock or offend has no place here" (if that's a reasonable description of the Goatse principle).
- Wrt spiders, we do consider their effect on readers at Arachnophobia. [3] (Click "Newer revision"). --Anthonyhcole (talk) 05:45, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- I can understand that though since a spider isn't really needed to illustrate a fear of spiders, and since people going to that article may have arachnophobia(although if it came down to it and an image was needed I would fall on the side of including it). On an article on spiders though we would definitely include images of spiders since they would be necessary to illustrate the article, and arachnophobes would just have to accept that they may see spiders if they go to a spider article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by AerobicFox (talk • contribs) 06:19, 8 November 2011
- We are in harmony on this point. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 06:29, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
- I can understand that though since a spider isn't really needed to illustrate a fear of spiders, and since people going to that article may have arachnophobia(although if it came down to it and an image was needed I would fall on the side of including it). On an article on spiders though we would definitely include images of spiders since they would be necessary to illustrate the article, and arachnophobes would just have to accept that they may see spiders if they go to a spider article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by AerobicFox (talk • contribs) 06:19, 8 November 2011
- Yeah, it seems that they use a pretty original definition for "least astonishment"; I'm not seeing it in the article on
I've discovered that "the committee" (I think it was the Image referendum one) on meta wrote in a FAQ on what they mean by "least astonishment" in this context m:Image filter referendum/FAQ/en#What is the principle of least astonishment? As expected it was borrowed from the Harris report as well. Let me quote it here:
“ | The principle of least astonishment means that users should never be surprised by content they were not expecting to encounter on Wikimedia sites. If you click on an article about cycling, you do not expect to see images of nude cyclists. If you click on an article about locks, you do not expect to see graphic images of - for example - sexual bondage. The image hiding feature allows you to make decisions for yourself that will reduce these possibilities. | ” |
I think that much is conveyed in our (recently modified) guideline on offensive material. ASCIIn2Bme (talk) 14:19, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
[4] shows how one particular editor is interpreting the term - it is "too astonishing" to summarize death tolls found in the body of an article in the lede <g>.
- Per WP:ASTONISHthe lead should not start with attempts to astonish the reader (such as the given total victim numbers.
I had not known that essay before - but it surely uses a far different meaning of "least astonishment" than the WMF presumably intends, and extremely far from the technical use of the term. Cheers. Collect (talk) 16:01, 11 November 2011 (UTC)
- I agree, that's far too much. Something that is "astounding" should be something that should not normally be part of the coverage of a topic in an education manner and through presentation. The number of victims of a mass murder is a necessary fact about that crime, though one may be surprised by how large the number turns out to be, that's not the "astounding" information that we're concerned with. It's more considering "astounding" as "is this really connected to this article" and "is this the least dramatic way to show an illustration on this topic?" --MASEM (t) 16:09, 11 November 2011 (UTC)
- The number of victims of a mass murder is a necessary fact - of course it is necessary if it is a fact indeed, that is if we know that for sure and it is not surrounded by controversy and manipulation. But in the case with Mass killings under Communist regimeswe do not know actually and precisely how much people were killed by Communist regimes, because there were too many different Communist regimes and too many different events argued to be 'mass killings'. We have just estimates by some authors which significantly differ because of different interpretations of what events and categories of deaths are included into mass killings. Deaths from hunger (where hunger resulted from or was aggravated by by state politics), deaths of people imprisoned by the state (both from hardships and from old age, both for political and petty criminal crimes), etc. - are these really 'mass killings'? Just imagine the amount of controversy in the topic.
- As for the astonishing 100 mln figure, even the co-authors of the guy who produced it disagree with the very approach of using such total figures - please read this explanation by another editor. I'll cite here just this fragment, relevant to the astonishment:
- The motif is obvious: a reader, who will not probably read the article as whole, after seing the first sentence will say: "Look, Hitler killed just 6 million Jews, and Communist killed 100 million people. Definitely, Communism is much more deadly than Nazism."
- This 100 million people is nothing but an attempt to manipulate the readers.
- It's more considering "astounding" as "is this really connected to this article" and "is this the least dramatic way to show an illustration on this topic?" - As was explained in the discussions on the talk page of the article, the controversial figure is just inserted to the lead and is not discussed, along with its criticism, in the body of the article. Therefore the question "is this really connected to this article" is not entirely irrelevant. And the question "is this the least dramatic way to show an illustration on this topic?", if we take the total numbers for an illustration of the topic, is quite relevant. The least dramatic way to represent these numbers would be first to explain all the problems with making exact definitions of what was 'mass killing' and what was not, as well as the problems with making a sum from many controversial statistics, from many countries and events, from many different categories of deaths. GreyHood Talk 16:53, 11 November 2011 (UTC)
- The number of victims of a mass murder is a necessary fact - of course it is necessary if it is a fact indeed, that is if we know that for sure and it is not surrounded by controversy and manipulation. But in the case with
- I agree, that's far too much. Something that is "astounding" should be something that should not normally be part of the coverage of a topic in an education manner and through presentation. The number of victims of a mass murder is a necessary fact about that crime, though one may be surprised by how large the number turns out to be, that's not the "astounding" information that we're concerned with. It's more considering "astounding" as "is this really connected to this article" and "is this the least dramatic way to show an illustration on this topic?" --MASEM (t) 16:09, 11 November 2011 (UTC)
- . ASCIIn2Bme (talk) 17:08, 11 November 2011 (UTC)
- Look, let's all be 100% honest. "Least astonishment", from the day it was written until now, has solely been used for (and understood as, by those who use it) "this offends my beliefs, and that trumps whether or not numerous others find these images educational and informative". I've concluded days of digging, and that is all I have found. Everything else, including the larger quote above, is already covered in other policies and guidelines.
- Now, if someone wants to prove me wrong, I've got two suggested routes you can take (if you can think of another, by all means do so): since this resolution, (1) find me ANY instance where current policies didnt cover an issue and the resolution's "least astonishment" section was trotted out, or (2) find me ANY instance where the resolution's "least astonishment" section was trotted out for ANYTHING OTHER THAN "this offends my/his/their beliefs, thus I'll use this resolution and ignore numerous people claiming they find the image(s) educational and informative"
- Just one! That's all I ask. ANY such example for #1 or #2. Anyone? Bueller? Best, ROBERTMFROMLI | TK/CN 17:22, 11 November 2011 (UTC)
- To GrayHood's point, if the figure of mass murders is a contested number but trying to be forced in, say, the lead, as a means to surprise or draw the readers attention, that's covered by WP:V. Eg, if the number if unsure, you don't use the upper, questionable bound (say "as many as 100 million"), you use the lower, verified bound ("at least 1 million") - that is, always use the conservative statement if there's a questionable range on it. Using the former is a form of astonishment, but not one that needs to be called out as a problem per the Foundation since other policies nix that type of approach in the bud. --MASEM (t) 17:34, 11 November 2011 (UTC)
- Lowest total of estimates appears to be about 85 million (using lowest for each case, and zero for contested cases). The claim is also made that a lede should not add up figures to give low to high estimate totals, but should only say "tens of millions" which I suggest would really astonish those who read the sources. I responded that a summary was a ... summary, and does not need a separate reliable source for simple addition <g>. Cheers. Collect (talk) 23:18, 11 November 2011 (UTC)
- I would agree that the statement "with estimates in the tens of millions" is better than any synthesis addition. It is a rough order of magnitude that establishes why this is an important piece of history, and while an "astounding" figure of merit to a reader discovering this piece of information for the first time, it's still not the type of astonishment that we're needed to avoid from the Foundation's statement because it is still a verifiable and necessary fact to state about the piece of history. --MASEM (t) 23:24, 11 November 2011 (UTC)
- Lowest total of estimates appears to be about 85 million (using lowest for each case, and zero for contested cases). The claim is also made that a lede should not add up figures to give low to high estimate totals, but should only say "tens of millions" which I suggest would really astonish those who read the sources. I responded that a summary was a ... summary, and does not need a separate reliable source for simple addition <g>. Cheers. Collect (talk) 23:18, 11 November 2011 (UTC)
- OK, this seconds a recent post on the MKuCR talk page, where I also was told that 17:50, 11 November 2011 (UTC)
Thoughts on "Objectionable Content"
In my opinion, this is a term that has the easiest chance of being abused. And it is idiotic to even try to define it. There is no universally agreed upon definition of "Is item A objectionable?". The vast majority of articles here are objectionable to by someone. Let's delete them all!!!
This is I think the answer: "Discussion of potentially objectionable content should not focus on its offensiveness but on whether it is appropriate to include in a given article." (as noted above). And solely that. When people have very very strong beliefs about something, they confuse "objectionable" with "don't like". For instance, I do not find the article on murder objectionable - I find the act of murder objectionable. I don't find the presence of images in a biography of Muhammad objectionable - people find their beliefs not being enforced on others to be objectionable. We've had major stinks on articles on Israel, Palestine, the IRL, Scientology, Atheism, homosexuality, Christianity, Evolution, Creationism and many many more because people find the content as a whole or certain sections highly objectionable. Let's delete them!!! OR go back to the first sentence of this paragraph. We cannot consider personal objections in deciding content. Doing so creates a bias and inserts specific POVs. We should only consider whether content is appropriate for the article (and permitted by the laws of the state of Florida and the United States).
We cannot change history. We cannot change science. We aren't here to change religion. Removing content based on objections by one group against another is akin to pretending history, science and religion are different than they really are. Once this ball gets rolling, when does it stop? Who of you gets to decide what's objectionable? How many people need to think something is objectionable in order for us to act upon it? Is it relevant to the article (or section thereof) and informative/educational (and, etc, etc, etc, other policies and guidelines that apply)? Yes? Then keep it - no disclaimers, no waffling. Otherwise do not keep/insert it. This really should be that simple.
This is an encyclopedia. I do not come here to read even more disclaimers (isn't there a policy against that?). I do not come here to find relevant information missing because x number of people found it objectionable. I do not come here to debate "my religion and beliefs are better than yours, so my objections hold weight that must be honored - remove this content" either - that's an unwinnable battle. Either the content stays and people object, or the content goes, and the encyclopedia slowly gets crippled more and more. Specific case example, the images of Muhammad... if we honor "objections", when do we then have to honor the "objections" we got from the Church of Scientology? You know, the ones we ignored? Or, will any of you decide to induce so much bias and POV pushing in deciding that CoS's objections hold less weight because their religion isn't worth as much in such matters? Where does Christianity fit? Or Judaism? Or The Church of Latter Day Saints? Get my point? Best, ROBERTMFROMLI | TK/CN 21:21, 19 November 2011 (UTC)
- Additional Note: Look at the big picture. Or lack thereof. This term is already being used for single purpose POV pushing without equal application across other such articles on Wikipedia. And that is because those people find A, B and C objectionable and not D, E and F. Because, again, there is no universal agreement on which is which - and in the end, there's next to nothing on Wikipedia that isn't objectionable to someone. So, do we ensure it's included in a fashion that allows people to POV push all across Wikipedia? Or, what criteria do we use to ignore certain objections? Yours? Mine? Don't use my criteria on what I think is objectionable or not - I'm honest enough to admit, like everyone else that I have biases on such things - are the rest of you honest enough to admit that? If so, that makes this a very dangerous term to include anywhere. ROBERTMFROMLI | TK/CN 21:27, 19 November 2011 (UTC)
- Nobody has proposed doing anything different from what reliable sources do. If reliable sources avoid using pictures of Muhammad then we should do the same. If reliable sources don't criticise Scientology then we shouldn't criticise it. If they do the opposite in either case we should do that too. That's how NPOV works.
- And as a global project we have to take into account what people consider globally, and not just take into account what is considered acceptable in the state of Florida - just like we do when comparing reliable sources for text content or article titles or whatever.
- Additionally the number of generally accepted cultural/religious issues which result in censorship is extremely small. The British Museum clearly didn't think there was a slippery slope when they returned the aboriginal heads to the Australians on cultural/religious grounds. Other than images of the prophet muhammad that is the only equivalent case I can think of. -- Eraserhead1 <talk> 22:40, 19 November 2011 (UTC)
- RobertMfromLI, your "line drawing" argument is fallacious. If objectionability cannot be determined, because it involves a subjective decision on a matter as to which there is no universal agreement, then neither can relevance of an image to an article, the correct style in which to write articles, or, for that matter, the correct wording of this policy. Of course, all such matters can, and normally are resolved in accordance with an rough average of editors' personal beliefs. But we normally don't need to determine objectionability ourselves, because RS have done that for us. I agree that "We cannot change history. We cannot change science. We aren't here to change religion." Neither can we change the POV of reliable sources. NPOV is built upon this, by taking the average of the available POVs, or describing the major ones in proportion to their frequency. As I think you'll admit, the tenor of images selected by an RS is part of their POV. Defining NPOV, for image selection purposes, as far afield from RS, because we think their POVs amount to censorship and pandering to prudes/the religious right or whatever, leaves us with absolutely no guidance whatsoever as to the correct choice of images. While you can say that not considering objectionability removes the subjectivity from the decision, interminable debates can still be had as to relevance, value in describing the subject matter, or any other matter that would be subject to unguided editorial discretion. Indeed, these factors could be used as surrogates for objectionability, since that question can no longer be discussed openly. Being "not censored" provides neither a means to end heated debates nor objective criteria for making editorial decisions, but does wrap opposition to NPOV as written in the flag of free speech. POV pushing in attempts to override basic content policies is hardly so notable an endeavor. Alessandra Napolitano (talk) 22:50, 19 November 2011 (UTC)
- Eraserhead: Muhammad is only one of many articles of the sort. Secondly, the issue over Scientology is not what you think. It's closer to the fact that we even discussed it than had disparaging remarks. Third, did you know there is a reason why Wikipedia only accepts donations - instead of running ads? It's so bias can't be paid for and no appearance of such can exist. Unlike what has been claimed of various encyclopedias. Print encyclopedias have a different audience than Wikipedia. They cater to that audience. I haven't bought a print encyclopedia in ages - I am not part of that audience.
- Alessandra: You are going way off tangent. Objection is very different than relevance. I'd expect any editor would realize that. Is discussing carbon dating relevant to the article on "Age of the Earth"? YES. Is it objectionable? YES, VERY. Nor did I EVER imply changing POV of sources. I stated the exact opposite - it is those policies that should be applied - not who objects or how many people object. And if you think POV pushing to override basic content policies isn't notable, then you do not spend enough time in Recent Changes. Off the top of my head, I can name two articles that have had over a DOZEN edit wars in the last couple weeks. Perusing my watchlist, I can name HUNDREDS. I agree with NOTCENSORED not being the be all end all. I've stated dozens of times it is other policies that should determine what is included (or not). NOTCENSORED is important only in preventing censorship of relevant, informative content. Nothing more. Best, ROBERTMFROMLI | TK/CN 22:59, 19 November 2011 (UTC)
- Firstly which other articles are like Muhammad?
- With regards to carbon dating, and the age of the earth, while a small number of extremists may believe that the world is 6000 years old, only a tiny minority (if any) reliable sources will follow that line. Obviously no scientific sources will believe the earth is 6000 years old either.
- With the Muhammad cartoon controversy I believe the BBC didn't publish the images on ground of offensiveness, if the BBC were in the minority, great. Then we can include images in the article, if not, I think we should change our position.
- If you can create a good list of sources that will prevent most of the sensible opponents from commenting at all - and if you can argue that removing the Muhammad images would be an NPOV violation - which if you have a big list of sources using such images you would - then you wouldn't need to continually argue the case and spend tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of words on it. -- Eraserhead1 <talk> 23:16, 19 November 2011 (UTC)
- RobertMfromLI, your "line drawing" argument is fallacious. If objectionability cannot be determined, because it involves a subjective decision on a matter as to which there is no universal agreement, then neither can relevance of an image to an article, the correct style in which to write articles, or, for that matter, the correct wording of this policy. Of course, all such matters can, and normally are resolved in accordance with an rough average of editors' personal beliefs. But we normally don't need to determine objectionability ourselves, because RS have done that for us. I agree that "We cannot change history. We cannot change science. We aren't here to change religion." Neither can we change the POV of reliable sources. NPOV is built upon this, by taking the average of the available POVs, or describing the major ones in proportion to their frequency. As I think you'll admit, the tenor of images selected by an RS is part of their POV. Defining NPOV, for image selection purposes, as far afield from RS, because we think their POVs amount to censorship and pandering to prudes/the religious right or whatever, leaves us with absolutely no guidance whatsoever as to the correct choice of images. While you can say that not considering objectionability removes the subjectivity from the decision, interminable debates can still be had as to relevance, value in describing the subject matter, or any other matter that would be subject to unguided editorial discretion. Indeed, these factors could be used as surrogates for objectionability, since that question can no longer be discussed openly. Being "not censored" provides neither a means to end heated debates nor objective criteria for making editorial decisions, but does wrap opposition to NPOV as written in the flag of free speech. POV pushing in attempts to override basic content policies is hardly so notable an endeavor. Alessandra Napolitano (talk) 22:50, 19 November 2011 (UTC)
- Well, carbon dating is discussed in almost all RS on the age of the earth, so we include it. As a corollary, the content isn't objectionable, for editorial purposes on the English Wikipedia, since the RS wouldn't have included it if they thought it was, and NPOV requires yielding to their guidance. Now I contrast this situation with the goatse images. It seems that no reliable sources whatsoever included the stretched anus photograph. However, resourceful editors, fervently believing in free speech, decided to go directly to the shock site, copy the image, and upload it here. It should have been obvious that, since RS uniformly refused to reprint the image, or a substantially similar recreation, they regarded it as unpublishable garbage. This should have resulted in a swift deletion of the image, with a warning to the uploader not to do it again. But, supporters of "not censored" argued that the deletion of the garbage would be censorship; that, if we did so, we would be endorsing the censorship practised by the RS. They were right. But NFCC had an articulable justification, apparently having nothing to do with "censorship" at all. So, yes, "not censored", as applied, is straightforwardly in opposition to NPOV. Alessandra Napolitano (talk) 23:24, 19 November 2011 (UTC)
- And actually the BLP policy. Preventing gossip from being added to wikipedia articles is censorship. -- Eraserhead1 <talk> 23:26, 19 November 2011 (UTC)
- And actually the
- Well, carbon dating is discussed in almost all RS on the age of the earth, so we include it. As a corollary, the content isn't objectionable, for editorial purposes on the English Wikipedia, since the RS wouldn't have included it if they thought it was, and NPOV requires yielding to their guidance. Now I contrast this situation with the goatse images. It seems that no reliable sources whatsoever included the stretched anus photograph. However, resourceful editors, fervently believing in free speech, decided to go directly to the shock site, copy the image, and upload it here. It should have been obvious that, since RS uniformly refused to reprint the image, or a substantially similar recreation, they regarded it as unpublishable garbage. This should have resulted in a swift deletion of the image, with a warning to the uploader not to do it again. But, supporters of "not censored" argued that the deletion of the garbage would be censorship; that, if we did so, we would be endorsing the censorship practised by the RS. They were right. But
- A few points:
- We do not "do what the RS's do". The RS's we use are largely secondary sources, and we are a tertiary source. What they do(analyze original research/primary documents) is completely different from what we do(summarize their reports). We do not draw conclusions from a secondary source that the absence of an image is a statement of intent to censor. It is incorrect and appeal to an audience, or any other way they wish to present themselves. An illustration is neither an idea nor a concept, it's a method for presenting ideas/concepts, so long as does not introduce something not found in an RS it isn't OR.AerobicFox (talk) 23:40, 19 November 2011 (UTC)
- So if an illustration is neither an idea nor a concept, I would like you to determine the species of this snake. You may not read the file name, the description, or consult an RS with photographs of snakes. Good luck :) Alessandra Napolitano (talk) 00:00, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- The idea/concept would be "some species rattlesnake". The picture is a method of illustrating the concept of some "species of rattlesnake". No matter how you present this rattlesnake: text, video, picture, taxonomy tree, it is still the same concept, but a different method of presenting it. WP:OR deals with original concepts, and not with original methods for illustrating/describing verifiable concepts which we do regularly.AerobicFox (talk) 01:17, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- Have you ever seen a photograph of a rattlesnake before? This is why mapping text to images can be so difficult, to the point of conceptual separation. Alessandra Napolitano (talk) 01:49, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- I have seen rattlesnakes in my hometown before(although ours are a different type and look much different). Answer this for me then, would you be opposed to a textual description of a sources image? For instance describing in words the appearance of an artifact. Our current policy allows for us to do so as well as the reverse just as stated in WP:OI which states can create original images to illustrate concepts that have been reported by sources.AerobicFox (talk)
- I have seen rattlesnakes in my hometown before(although ours are a different type and look much different). Answer this for me then, would you be opposed to a textual description of a sources image? For instance describing in words the appearance of an artifact. Our current policy allows for us to do so as well as the reverse just as stated in
EraserAlessandra: Agreed on that end part. I've said something similar in the past on these topics. But that wasn't the intent of NOTCENSORED. It's intent, as was indicated in the last paragraph, was to ensure that scientific, political, religious or other groups could not censor Wikipedia due to their beliefs. "Homosexuality: ALL FAGGOTS WILL BURN IN HELL!!!" - guess which religious organization prompted, promoted and posted that? They removed all the relevant content (which they disagreed with) and replaced it with something just like that. There've been more "legitimate" changes that also are covered by not allowing a religious or political organization to make such changes... like in depth rewrites that turn that article into "Bible School" with fancy polite text that still says the same thing - while once again removing chunks of relevant content they (their belief system) disagreed with. And more crude stuff (yes, than the first example) because of religious beliefs, albeit not pinnable on a particular organization. THOSE are the types of actions (especially the second one, where a chunk of the article was turned into a Bible piece condemning homosexuality) that notcensored is for - IMO. Same goes for science types writing "Idiot creatards believe... (total nonsense with their real beliefs removed)" in articles on Creationism and such. Same goes for religious groups lobotomizing scientific articles because it offends their beliefs (such as defacing the "Age of Earth" article by removing whole chunks and dropping in "The Earth is 6,000 years old" and using Bible passages as references. Same goes for CoS wanting information about their religion removed from Wikipedia. Those are censorship.- Get my point now? YES (emphatically), notcensored has been misused. Multiple times. BUT, adding "offending content" to it just creates a scenario for even greater misuse. I don't think we're on the opposite side of this coin. I have a feeling we're on the same side. Best, Rob ROBERTMFROMLI | TK/CN 00:15, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- If not censored is to fulfil its intended purpose of ensuring that scientific, political, religious or other groups could not censor Wikipedia due to their beliefs, while keeping goatse-type images out, then deference to the practices of most reliable sources in terms of the subject matter conveyed, including the sort of images used, needs to be made explicit. Otherwise, with editors insisting an illustration is neither an idea nor a concept or that RS censor themselves, so we need to set things right, not censored will continue to be misapplied for the defense of the ejaculation video and similar borderline-OR and undue weight content, making a laughingstock out of the project. Alessandra Napolitano (talk) 00:51, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- Agreed. And thus, perhaps you see why adding "objectionable" to the mix, instead of fixing the problem, makes it worse by creating the leverage to continue such things? notcensored does not obliviate OR or UNDUE or anything else. And it works both ways. Heck, notcensored isn't even really related to those. That's the thing. It's not a defense for keeping or removing such content - except as a response to "well, my political/religious/personal objections/societal beliefs are against this". Then, it's a valid use. "Your" (general "your" - not you) religious beliefs aren't rationale. Nor "your" political views. Nor mine. Imposing them to remove content is censorship - and when notcensored should come in. That was the problem with two editors in the recent Muhammad Images fiasco. It kept reverting to honoring Islamic religious beliefs they didnt even understand. And that is when notcensored was dragged out. As a valid response to someone trying to use religious beliefs to remove content. As that failed, it became IAR and "oh, they aren't relevant" and "oh, they aren't educational because they aren't real - but lets not apply this uniformly on other articles - just this one". That twisted trail kept leading back to "because it offends...religious beliefs" - which resulted in notcensored validly being dragged out again. For the same reasons (Scientology, LDS and others) that religious/political/etc was added to notcensored in the first place. Best, ROBERTMFROMLI | TK/CN 01:05, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- If objectionability, or on-wiki controversy, or whatever isn't recognized as a factor in the policy, then we're stuck playing by the same rules for very different types of content. For instance, articles about organizations often include their logos, taken from their own websites, with no proof of republication in RS. That doesn't arouse heated debates. On the other hand, uploading the goatse stretched anus "logo" lead to protracted arguments, culminating in its deletion with a surrogate justification. If we're being honest, then it should be possible to admit that the goatse image was deleted because it was offensive to a large proportion of editors.
- Now, when a significant proportion of RS include the same or similar images to the ones we're using, the "it's offensive to editors here" argument should go out the window. This would be the purpose of "not censored": to ensure that material widely published in reliable sources can be included in articles, consistent with NPOV and WP:WEIGHT, irrespective of users wishing to exercise a heckler's veto. The Muhammad images discussion, and similar disputes, should be resolved by reference to how anglophone RS treat the topic.
- Considering the objectionability of content widely ignored by reliable sources is simply an acknowledgement of Wikipedia's sloppy image sourcing practices. Including unpublished organizational logos normally isn't considered a violation of WP:WEIGHT, since they form only an incidental portion of the article. Whatever else may be said of the goatse stretched anus and similar images, they aren't remotely incidental. Alessandra Napolitano (talk) 01:40, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- So, what you are saying is that if one cites a British encyclopedia as the source in (using the running example) the use of images in the Muhammad article, even though that encyclopedia may carry a known bias due to the fact that those of the Islamic faith represent the second largest religious population in the UK (and it is a PAID for publication that needs to cater towards its audience), we should do the same whenever someone claims "religious objection!!! Oh, and look what they do!"? As for anuses and such, I don't find the image objectional... distasteful, yes, disgusting, sure. But I think there were plenty of other criteria for removing it. I only care about relevance, educational and informational value, due weight, properly sourced... to put it bluntly, I don't give a rat's ass about anyone's feelings on how objectionable content is - including my own - which is why you will never find a single comment from me stating such objections on any topic or image. Not because there aren't any - but because I don't think my standards for making myself offended are the basis for anything here. We aren't here to cater toward those who are buying a printed encyclopedia. We're here to make one without the restrictions such impose. And unlike a printed book, where one can accidentally flip to the wrong page and be "re-offended", that is not possible here, except by choice. It can only happen once. And even that can be prevented using instructions available on this very site (such as in the Muhammad FAQs page). As for me, couldn't care less about the goatse image (inclusion or lack thereof). Had I entered into that debate, I'd only have cared about the rationale behind its inclusion or removal. Best, ROBERTMFROMLI | TK/CN 02:04, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- Muhammad is a very broad subject. Therefore NPOV requires considering the totality of RS available, to the extent reasonable (we can't examine everything, but we can use random sampling.) So, no one encyclopedia, British or otherwise, could provide conclusive guidance for the Muhammad article. We wouldn't even have to find a majority of RS including the images. All that would be needed is a sufficiently large minority of sources using the images that their display in the main article would not violate WP:FRINGE. Per WP:VER, we give use anglophone sources where available. I've no doubt that NPOV favors the inclusion of the Muhammad images despite their extremely controversial status on Wikipedia.
- While historical images of Muhammad actually have serious educational value, the value of stretched anuses is negative. Not even so much because of offending people as making the project look like a bad joke. Applying normal (very low) image inclusion standards to this sort of thing will only get us more of it. Alessandra Napolitano (talk) 03:33, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- Alessandra is right. Some English-language sources on Muhammad include some figurative images (along with calligraphy, images of mosques and such), others avoid figurative images and only show the latter types of images. We need to reflect the overall balance. So a small number of images is in line with NPOV. A proliferation of them is not. --JN466 07:57, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- Muhammad is a very broad subject. Therefore NPOV requires considering the totality of RS available, to the extent reasonable (we can't examine everything, but we can use random sampling.) So, no one encyclopedia, British or otherwise, could provide conclusive guidance for the Muhammad article. We wouldn't even have to find a majority of RS including the images. All that would be needed is a sufficiently large minority of sources using the images that their display in the main article would not violate
- So, what you are saying is that if one cites a British encyclopedia as the source in (using the running example) the use of images in the Muhammad article, even though that encyclopedia may carry a known bias due to the fact that those of the Islamic faith represent the second largest religious population in the UK (and it is a PAID for publication that needs to cater towards its audience), we should do the same whenever someone claims "religious objection!!! Oh, and look what they do!"? As for anuses and such, I don't find the image objectional... distasteful, yes, disgusting, sure. But I think there were plenty of other criteria for removing it. I only care about relevance, educational and informational value, due weight, properly sourced... to put it bluntly, I don't give a rat's ass about anyone's feelings on how objectionable content is - including my own - which is why you will never find a single comment from me stating such objections on any topic or image. Not because there aren't any - but because I don't think my standards for making myself offended are the basis for anything here. We aren't here to cater toward those who are buying a printed encyclopedia. We're here to make one without the restrictions such impose. And unlike a printed book, where one can accidentally flip to the wrong page and be "re-offended", that is not possible here, except by choice. It can only happen once. And even that can be prevented using instructions available on this very site (such as in the Muhammad FAQs page). As for me, couldn't care less about the goatse image (inclusion or lack thereof). Had I entered into that debate, I'd only have cared about the rationale behind its inclusion or removal. Best, ROBERTMFROMLI | TK/CN 02:04, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- Agreed. And thus, perhaps you see why adding "objectionable" to the mix, instead of fixing the problem, makes it worse by creating the leverage to continue such things? notcensored does not obliviate OR or UNDUE or anything else. And it works both ways. Heck, notcensored isn't even really related to those. That's the thing. It's not a defense for keeping or removing such content - except as a response to "well, my political/religious/personal objections/societal beliefs are against this". Then, it's a valid use. "Your" (general "your" - not you) religious beliefs aren't rationale. Nor "your" political views. Nor mine. Imposing them to remove content is censorship - and when notcensored should come in. That was the problem with two editors in the recent Muhammad Images fiasco. It kept reverting to honoring Islamic religious beliefs they didnt even understand. And that is when notcensored was dragged out. As a valid response to someone trying to use religious beliefs to remove content. As that failed, it became IAR and "oh, they aren't relevant" and "oh, they aren't educational because they aren't real - but lets not apply this uniformly on other articles - just this one". That twisted trail kept leading back to "because it offends...religious beliefs" - which resulted in notcensored validly being dragged out again. For the same reasons (Scientology, LDS and others) that religious/political/etc was added to notcensored in the first place. Best, ROBERTMFROMLI | TK/CN 01:05, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- If not censored is to fulfil its intended purpose of ensuring that scientific, political, religious or other groups could not censor Wikipedia due to their beliefs, while keeping goatse-type images out, then deference to the practices of most reliable sources in terms of the subject matter conveyed, including the sort of images used, needs to be made explicit. Otherwise, with editors insisting an illustration is neither an idea nor a concept or that RS censor themselves, so we need to set things right, not censored will continue to be misapplied for the defense of the ejaculation video and similar borderline-OR and undue weight content, making a laughingstock out of the project. Alessandra Napolitano (talk) 00:51, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- Have you ever seen a photograph of a rattlesnake before? This is why mapping text to images can be so difficult, to the point of conceptual separation. Alessandra Napolitano (talk) 01:49, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- The idea/concept would be "some species rattlesnake". The picture is a method of illustrating the concept of some "species of rattlesnake". No matter how you present this rattlesnake: text, video, picture, taxonomy tree, it is still the same concept, but a different method of presenting it.
- So if an illustration is neither an idea nor a concept, I would like you to determine the species of this snake. You may not read the file name, the description, or consult an RS with photographs of snakes. Good luck :) Alessandra Napolitano (talk) 00:00, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
The problem with the "copy other reliable sources" idea is that it would be, in practice, intractable and would solve nothing. As has been pointed out, the presence or absence of an image in a printed source tells us nothing about what we should do in an online encyclopaedia. But, even if we pretend it does, what we then enter into is a series of propositions and counter-propositions about the various sources that do and don't use images of Mohammmed (if we're being honest that removing the goatse image was partly motivated by censorship, we can also be honest that the current discussion is only about one article).
That's already started with the stipulation that we should be looking at anglophone sources. We normally consider sources in any language to be valid RS and, since images have no mother tongue, it seems a little odd to lean that way in this case. So why is this being suggested? Surely not because one side of the argument has calculated that this would work in its favour.
Next, we'll get into all the other reasons why the sources proposed might not be good enough. They're non-neutral. Not representative. Not religious enough. In the wrong medium. Cover too narrow a subject area. No-one will shift sides through any of that, so its pointless. --FormerIP (talk) 02:25, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- We prefer anglophone sources because WP:VER tells us to. As far as the prospect that using sufficient prevalence in RS to not violate WP:FRINGE as an image inclusion standard will create interminable arguments over references, we argue over sources and NPOV all the time, so this should be nothing new :) However, the current discussion is certainly about more than one article. There are quite a few sexology articles where image inclusion disputes have been framed in terms of "not censored". Any substantive change to the policy would shift the playing field. Alessandra Napolitano (talk) 03:46, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- To FormerIP: And I and two others already touched on something else probably relevant to this issue. Various of the pictures of Muhammad were not veiled - veils were painted on later when that became the norm. That begs the question, which holds more relevance in a biography - one that depicts perceptions of what he looked like, or one that depicts perceptions of what he didn't look like because the believe arose that one could not depict what he looked like? That was one of my core arguments. In a biography, one puts depictions of what someone was perceived to look like. Altered paintings where veils were added, or paintings where veils were included as part of the original were done with the specific intent of not depicting what he looked like. That's like going to the article on an engine and seeing the picture (2nd from the bottom, orangish backgroun) having the engine blanked out and the transmission still visible. It not-depicts an engine. ROBERTMFROMLI | TK/CN 03:48, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- FormerIP, this proposition would simplify decision-making wrt controversial content. The judgment calls required would be no more problematic than WP:NPOV decisions made all the time here. We do that well. This is about more than Muhammad. It may have spilled over from there and Pregnancy and, for me, Suicide, but it's about controversial content curation in general. Any decision made here will affect the entire project. I prefer to use anglophone sources because I have at least some hope of assessing their academic stature. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 04:15, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- To Alessandra, that is not what VER says. It says: "English-language sources are preferred over non-English ones, assuming English sources of equal quality and relevance are available." (emphasis mine) On a topic of greater interest in other countries, it's quite likely that non-English sources will be of greater quality and relevance. Best, ROBERTMFROMLI | TK/CN 03:48, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- Or we could decide that English sources cover Muhammad just fine. The question affects the text of the article, not just image usage. It's one of those nasty subjectivities that has to be decided upon the basis of unguided editorial discretion.
- To give a concrete example about how a manner of presenting content can affect the credibility of the source, consider Giles Brindley's 1983 presentation [5] on phentolamine and papaverine. A room full of urologists, presumably, were not offended by the sight of an erect penis. But they didn't expect to see the presenter drop his pants. That's not the sort of activity that enhances one's academic credibility. Similarly, Wikipedia's choice of images affects how the project is viewed. Alessandra Napolitano (talk) 04:04, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- Wrt your concerns about the term "objectionable", the Foundation used "controversial" in part to avoid the problems you point to. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 04:15, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- Hi Anthony, agreed on a lot of it. Hence that coupled with what the full resolution actually said, my objections to "objectionable" and "offensiveness" as being substitutes. I'm sure we've both been around Wikipedia long enough to see tons of Wikilawyering... wording is important to help minimize that. Sadly. :-/ Best, Rob ROBERTMFROMLI | TK/CN 04:28, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- With Muhammad images in reliable sources a good start would be to see which sources covered the Danish Muhammad cartoons and included a reproduction - that would certainly give you which news sources thought it was appropriate at a reasonably recent point in time. With other sources you could probably judge whether they included any images of anything else in their book/article and in which case whether they included an image of Muhammad.
- With regards to sources usage of images, actually I have no real idea - I would hope it would be clear one way or the other, and I would guess that it will be somewhere in the middle. It sounds like a problem that has rumbled on for years, and that any attempt to solve it is a step forward and any escalation is more likely to bring about some sort of compromise (e.g. less images or a disclaimer) that only escalation can really bring. -- Eraserhead1 <talk> 08:29, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- Hi Anthony, agreed on a lot of it. Hence that coupled with what the full resolution actually said, my objections to "objectionable" and "offensiveness" as being substitutes. I'm sure we've both been around Wikipedia long enough to see tons of Wikilawyering... wording is important to help minimize that. Sadly. :-/ Best, Rob ROBERTMFROMLI | TK/CN 04:28, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
There can be reasons for removing images. The absence of an image in a source deemed to be somehow similar to our article is not one of those reasons. That argumentation can be presented on an article Talk page and it might sway a few editors, but that sort of reasoning should not be elevated to the level of a policy guideline. Wikipedia articles are unique entities. Yes, they must contain no information that is not verifiable. But images are not verifiable information—certainly not in the sense that verbal assertions are information. It is true that sufficient information has to be available about an image for it to be acceptable for inclusion. We have to know that it is what it purports to be. But I think that images are invested with words when used in a primarily verbal presentation such as in a Wikipedia article. An image stands mute aside from the surrounding words in an article. An image cannot be untrue, unless we are mistaking its identity. WP:RS concerns itself with verifiability. The notion of reassigning WP:RS to standing as gatekeeper of images is without logic. If one wishes to argue that an image should not be in an article one has to show that the image fails to advance the aims of the article. One has to convince one's fellow editors that the article would be better off without the image. In the case of the "goatse" image an argument could have been made that the image was not central to understanding the goatse web site. I don't know if that would have swayed fellow editors, but that argument does not need a change in policy language. And if editors decide that the spread anus belongs in the goatse article then I believe it belongs there. I would argue against it. But I don't accept that there is a standard of "offensive" in imagery and I refuse to understand that the failure of some other reliable source to include an image translates into an inability of this encyclopedia to include that image. Imagery is nonverbal in most cases, unless a strong verbal assertion is included in the imagery itself, and even this is not conclusive. Surrounding text is what matters—that must be reliably sourced. WP:WEIGHT too is not a policy that is applicable to images, unless the surrounding text is in violation of WP:WEIGHT. The article Talk page is the place for resolving disputes about inclusion of images. Each article is unique. No arguments are barred from such discussions. I think an editor can present the argument that a source does not contain the image that other editors wish to add to the article. But other editors will probably point out the differences between the source and our article, and that is the way it should be. No special status should be given to the argument that some other source does not contain an image that happens to be in dispute. That is an attempt to create an unfair, and illogical, means of keeping images out of articles. I don't believe there is any inherently "objectionable content" as concerns images. Language in policy should not be concocted to create a not-level playing field in this regard. Time-consuming as it is, the place for arriving at resolutions to such questions is on the article's Talk page, although there could be a separate noticeboard set up just for addressing, project-wide, the inclusion/exclusion of images. That an image is "offensive" is in my opinion one of the weakest reasons for arguing that an image should be removed. Bus stop (talk) 16:27, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- Bus stop: Next time I'm just creating a heading and asking you to do the actual post. I tend to ramble a bit and post my thoughts in 5 disjointed posts - unlike your single post above that covers pretty much everything. ;-) Best, Rob ROBERTMFROMLI | TK/CN 17:11, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- I vehemently disagree that it covers anything. "An image cannot be untrue, unless we are mistaking its identity." True, but irrelevant. In order to be useful in articles, images must be accompanied by captions describing their purported relation to the subject. That is text, and needs to be verifiable. In articles about obscure subjects, we've been sloppy about this, taking the photographer at their word. However, there is no excuse for this approach on high profile articles. To verify that the image caption is true, in the sense of accurately describing the subject matter depicted, an image in a reliable source is needed for comparison, unless the image is a graph or similar compilation of published data. An image is worth a thousand words; one cannot conclusively infer from a published description such as "a man, in his thirties, with light skin, black hair, light brown eyes, a medium to heavy-set build, and a neatly trimmed moustache" an association between an image and the person described. So, if you want to say that photos don't need to be supported by sources, you're right - until they're added to articles with captions purporting to identify them that may or may not be accurate.
- Now, given that the association between images and their captions is substantive content requiring verification, it is likewise subject to NPOV. If you want to say that we don't care how many MEDR discussing ejaculation include a video of the act, fine - but we do care about how many MEDRS caption videos as such. That much is text, which no amount of sophistry will unbind from our content policies. Alessandra Napolitano (talk) 17:17, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- Regarding proper captions, I believe Bus stop implied that above. And regardless, it is something all or most of us in this discussion understand as a necessary requirement (a bunch of us went to great lengths to properly caption the images on Muhammad, for instance) - as a matter of fact, based on the experience of all of the editors commenting here, I'd surmise that all of us understand that requirement, even if not specifically spelled out above in Bus stop's post. As for sources, I suspect, as everyone will recall, images must have sources when uploaded - so that too is covered. Best, ROBERTMFROMLI | TK/CN 18:01, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- The issue is not sources for the captions when already assuming that the photo is really what it claims to be, but sources for the image/caption association (the caption says this is an image of John Doe, but how can this be verified?) These associations, if reliably sourced, are then subject to NPOV and due weight in their usage. Simply saying "you said something or other about captions, so I'll explain how much I like proper captions" isn't helpful. I doubt this issue is resolved because "images must have sources when uploaded", since, while {{GFDL-self}} is normally valid for copyright purposes, it is not an editorially WP:OI, since original text likewise requires verification in RS. As thoroughly explained above, text is often not sufficient to verify the image/caption association. Alessandra Napolitano (talk) 18:32, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- The issue is not sources for the captions when already assuming that the photo is really what it claims to be, but sources for the image/caption association (the caption says this is an image of John Doe, but how can this be verified?) These associations, if reliably sourced, are then subject to NPOV and due weight in their usage. Simply saying "you said something or other about captions, so I'll explain how much I like proper captions" isn't helpful. I doubt this issue is resolved because "images must have sources when uploaded", since, while {{GFDL-self}} is normally valid for copyright purposes, it is not an editorially
- Regarding proper captions, I believe Bus stop implied that above. And regardless, it is something all or most of us in this discussion understand as a necessary requirement (a bunch of us went to great lengths to properly caption the images on Muhammad, for instance) - as a matter of fact, based on the experience of all of the editors commenting here, I'd surmise that all of us understand that requirement, even if not specifically spelled out above in Bus stop's post. As for sources, I suspect, as everyone will recall, images must have sources when uploaded - so that too is covered. Best, ROBERTMFROMLI | TK/CN 18:01, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- The absence of this sort of (NSFW) image in reputable sources on cucumbers is most certainly a reason not to include this or similar images in cucumber. It's not up to us to depart markedly from illustration conventions in reliable sources, and to give preference to rare types of imagery over standard ones, even if they do depict the article subject. --JN466 18:29, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- If Wikipedia wants to be taken as something more than a Frat boy encyclopaedia, and wants to get taken seriously as a reference site (even if just for school projects) then posting things like Goatse has to go.
- Additionally if you follow reliable sources that is a great way to avoid making large numbers of unnecessary arguments about whether a particular image is suitable. -- Eraserhead1 <talk> 18:43, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- Actually the reason not to use an image like that in the cucumber is because it doesn't do a good job of illustrating any part of the article. If we had an article or section on the use of vegetables as masturbatory aids, then it's possible it might be a good image to illustrate that page (but as we don't have such an article/section (as far as I know), and I don't know what other images are available, it isn't possible to say for sure).
- If Wikipedia wants to be taken seriously as a reference site then it is best to use the images that best illustrate the topic in question. I'm not aware that we are viewed as a "Frat boy encyclopaedia" (but please give a reference to a reliable source if I'm wrong), nor that we normally have large numbers of unnecessary arguments about whether an image is suitable - we have over 3.8 million articles, and less than 5 examples have been cited on this page. I'm also not aware that, other than quickly reverted vandalism, we have any significant problem with using clearly inappropriate images to illustrate an article. An image of an erect penis is a suitable illustration for the Pokemonarticle, which is why we don't use such an image on that page. Equally, outside of vandalism, the Goastse image was never proposed for any article that didn't discus the Goatse image/website; so all this talk of "Goatse images must stop" is entirely a red herring - there is nothing to stop.
- Regarding matching other reliable sources, this is always going to be inaccurate because you cannot prove a negative. If a reliable source uses an image, we can be sure that they determined it was appropriate for them to use. However if they didn't use an image, we cannot be sure why they didn't - perhaps they didn't have one available; maybe they determined that they could only use n images (either for the specific topic or for the whole work) for xyz reasons and that this image was the n+1th best; alternatively they didn't think it relevant for their target audience - e.g. if your audience is gynaecologists then you don't need to use a generic image to illustrate the concept of pregnancy, if your target audience is primary school-age Muslim girls in Pakistan your image choice is going to be different to if your target audience is a mixed class of A-level biology students in the United Kingdom). Maybe they did think the image was inappropriate for all reliable sources, perhaps they said "we'd love to use an image like this, but we can't afford the rights to it", or "We're not using this image because the publisher doesn't like it". We can never know the reason why an image is not included, and we can't know how many sources would have used an image if they could. Thryduulf (talk) 21:16, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- (edit conflict)Following what RSes use mostly is fine for most articles. However, for topics which deal with subjects that are sensative to a given demographic will censor themselves. FE, most mainstream magazines or television programs won't show a picture or video of ejaculation. However, educational sources, especially sex education ones, will. If we simply go with the "majority" viewpoint we are going to be promoting a whitewashed version of reality because the majority of RSes in most cases are going to whitewash their information so as not to alienate or more likely cause bad press through controversy.
- Furthermore, even we ignore that aspect, sources may not have images or video for technical reasons. First, video cannot exist in print media. It is physcially impossible with current technology to have a video appear on a piece of paper (sorry to say, this isn't the world of Harry Potter). For images, they use a lot of resources when transfering over the net therefore certain sites may decide for technical reasons to exclude them. On print that limit doesn't exist, but the costs of images still come with the cost of paper. If you want to give as much info as possible and have a limited amount of paper to do so, often using text is better. Wikipedia isn't made of paper though and except as a secondary consideration, doesn't consider page size.∞陣内Jinnai21:21, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- This is a textbook WP:VER, "The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth". Wikipedia portrays the world as RS see it, not as you believe it is, or would like it to be. Alessandra Napolitano (talk) 22:10, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- I agree with Alessandra. And since when did we say "follow mainstream sources" or "follow paper sources"? The recommendation is to follow reliable sources, as in all the reliable sources, including online and specialty sources. The alternative is to follow the personal opinions of whichever editors happen to be working on the page, and I really don't think that's our best method of choosing images. WhatamIdoing (talk) 02:40, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- This is a textbook
- We don't write articles which are parallels of other articles. We don't write articles that are congruent to other articles. Articles can be written with or without the inclusion of images. We are writing articles that do not exist elsewhere. We can choose to include an image where another article did not include an image. We make choices. We are not free to assert that which is not verifiable in reliable sources. But we are free to use our own means to convey accurate information. We can choose our own words and we can choose to include images or not to include images. If an editor disagrees that the inclusion of a given image contributes to conveying to a reader accurate information, that argument should be presented, and if a consensus of editors agrees—it should be removed. It would not matter if a source included the particular image or not. We are making editorial decisions. A consensus at Wikipedia determines if we include that image or not. We don't just include images if they are tenuously related to the subject of the article. We make editorial decisions. We may be responsible editors and we may be "Frat boys" as mentioned above. Every edit to an article is a choice. In trying to be responsible editors are we going to urge the inclusion of the cucumber-in-the-vagina image in our article titled Cucumber? The reason for not posting that image to that article is not that reliable sources on cucumbers do not include that image or related images, but rather because we are trying to create an encyclopedia and we have an idea of what sort of articles this project can produce. It is not inconceivable that the cucumber-in-the-vagina photo could be included in our "cucumber" article but we feel that in our judgement that its inclusion would not be warranted, and we can present cogent arguments to that effect on the relevant article's Talk page. Bus stop (talk) 22:21, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- The problem with that approach is that we get editors that steadyfastily say "well, that doesn't offend me, so it must stay or you're breaking NOTCENSORED". This is what is creating the problem. This is why we have to twist the problem on the side to point to the fact that we are not creating new factual information, which includes the novel approach of illustrating articles, and ask the question of what reliable sources actually use when discussing the topic in significant detail. Thus, if an editor tries to introduce an illustration that takes an approach that no other RS has done in the past, we shouldn't be allowing that either. I will admit there are probably fringe cases where IAR applies to this, but in general, this is a fair rule that works for most content. --MASEM (t) 23:27, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- The only time that "that doesn't offend me, so it must stay or you're breaking NOTCENSORED" is a valid argument is to counter the removal of content because someone declares it "offensive", and even then it's not the best counter. What they should be saying is "Wikipedia is not censored, so being "offensive" is not a reason to remove content. If you think that this doesn't illustrate the topic, or you think there is a better image, then discuss it on the talk page". Just as being offensive to some people is not a valid reason to remove an image, not being offensive to someone is not a reason it must stay. If you want to argue for the removal of an image based on it's none-use in some reliable sources, then do so. However it is not a trump card, and other editors do not have to agree with you. Thryduulf (talk) 00:44, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- This mantra that I hear repeated ad nauseam "we don't care if content insults or offends readers" is getting old. Offensive does matter. It harms the project. Bus stop asserts we can leave controversial content choices to the instincts of whatever editors congregate around an article. It doesn't work. WP:NOT. Jayen's proposal is an elegant solution to a real problem. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 02:08, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- This mantra that I hear repeated ad nauseam "we don't care if content insults or offends readers" is getting old. Offensive does matter. It harms the project. Bus stop asserts we can leave controversial content choices to the instincts of whatever editors congregate around an article. It doesn't work.
- The only time that "that doesn't offend me, so it must stay or you're breaking NOTCENSORED" is a valid argument is to counter the removal of content because someone declares it "offensive", and even then it's not the best counter. What they should be saying is "Wikipedia is not censored, so being "offensive" is not a reason to remove content. If you think that this doesn't illustrate the topic, or you think there is a better image, then discuss it on the talk page". Just as being offensive to some people is not a valid reason to remove an image, not being offensive to someone is not a reason it must stay. If you want to argue for the removal of an image based on it's none-use in some reliable sources, then do so. However it is not a trump card, and other editors do not have to agree with you. Thryduulf (talk) 00:44, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- The problem with that approach is that we get editors that steadyfastily say "well, that doesn't offend me, so it must stay or you're breaking NOTCENSORED". This is what is creating the problem. This is why we have to twist the problem on the side to point to the fact that we are not creating new factual information, which includes the novel approach of illustrating articles, and ask the question of what reliable sources actually use when discussing the topic in significant detail. Thus, if an editor tries to introduce an illustration that takes an approach that no other RS has done in the past, we shouldn't be allowing that either. I will admit there are probably fringe cases where IAR applies to this, but in general, this is a fair rule that works for most content. --MASEM (t) 23:27, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- We don't write articles which are parallels of other articles. We don't write articles that are congruent to other articles. Articles can be written with or without the inclusion of images. We are writing articles that do not exist elsewhere. We can choose to include an image where another article did not include an image. We make choices. We are not free to assert that which is not verifiable in reliable sources. But we are free to use our own means to convey accurate information. We can choose our own words and we can choose to include images or not to include images. If an editor disagrees that the inclusion of a given image contributes to conveying to a reader accurate information, that argument should be presented, and if a consensus of editors agrees—it should be removed. It would not matter if a source included the particular image or not. We are making editorial decisions. A consensus at Wikipedia determines if we include that image or not. We don't just include images if they are tenuously related to the subject of the article. We make editorial decisions. We may be responsible editors and we may be "Frat boys" as mentioned above. Every edit to an article is a choice. In trying to be responsible editors are we going to urge the inclusion of the cucumber-in-the-vagina image in our article titled Cucumber? The reason for not posting that image to that article is not that reliable sources on cucumbers do not include that image or related images, but rather because we are trying to create an encyclopedia and we have an idea of what sort of articles this project can produce. It is not inconceivable that the cucumber-in-the-vagina photo could be included in our "cucumber" article but we feel that in our judgement that its inclusion would not be warranted, and we can present cogent arguments to that effect on the relevant article's Talk page. Bus stop (talk) 22:21, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
- Thryduulf's comment about when and why we replace offensive images with less offensive ones should probably be added to WP:Offensive material. WhatamIdoing (talk) 02:43, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- (edit conflict)I don't think so. The only time its brought up that someone has a problem is when its an indivisual basis where they object to it personally and refuse to listen to any legitimate arguments why it should say citing specifically that they find it objectionable and thus it should be removed. There are exceptions to that rule and I have seen long-standing images removed or replaced on occasion so its not like Wikipedians are completely daft about public opinion. It's more of a case that if you go to an article about ejaculation, you should have some expectation that you may come across an image that you find disturbing because the topic covers info that the is to a number of people disturbing to talk or think about. Going to cucumber on the other hand, someone doesn't have the expectation because while vegetables are used as sexual objects, its not for most people the first idea that comes to mind in most cases and even if it did come to mind as a thought in your mind, most people would still not expect the article to go into depth about such things. If they went to another article about vegetables used as sexual devices, that might be different because there is a different level of expectation.
- That said, I know there are a lot of terms out there for sex, violence, etc. that people don't know and may see a wikilink to the term and are not sure based on the context what it is, but be curious enough to check it. That's why we should perhaps treat the lead sections with a bit more caution when having controversial images there so as to not offend someone who did not intentionally go to the link simply because they wanted some clarification. While the image or video would do that quite well, possibly better than text, it one doesn't need to have to have the controversial material always in the lead. However, guidance like that is not for 02:58, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
@Anthony: Your position seems to be that we should adopt an approach more inclined to censor precisely because the consensus of editors is opposed to that. You're entitled to your opinion, but can you see how that might look like a weak way to frame your argument? --FormerIP (talk) 03:16, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- No, my position is we should treat controversial content the way reliable sources and similar publications do. I honestly don't know what the community as a whole thinks about that. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 03:27, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- Editorial standards are based on community consensus and not from reliable sources, so you should familiarize yourself with what the community wants. We did not base The Five Pillars of our encyclopedia off of what RS's do. Wikipedians by and large do not believe in censorship, and the argument that because other sources believe in censorship that we must also is a run around of consensus because no part of any of our policies agree with such a position. If you want to run a poll which states "If sources are censoring material then we should to" then go ahead, but it will have an infinitesimal chance of passing.AerobicFox (talk) 04:12, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- Some very popular reliable sources, particularly from the Murdoch stable, feature Page Three girls. A link from that article takes me to The Sexiest 100 Page 3 girls. Breasts and nipples everywhere! I suspect these would be unacceptable in conservative parts of the USA, but are obviously OK in the UK and other countries where they exist. It's impossible to declare a clear, single community standard on this stuff. Do the conservatives really want to ban from Wikipedia material that is commonly published in the daily press? HiLo48 (talk) 04:38, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- The type of works that feature Page Three girls are likely not reliable sources to use for material. --MASEM (t) 04:51, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- And more importantly, are they publishing semi-nude girls alongside articles on topics of interest for WP? It's one thing if there are questionable images that appear within a larger published work, but we're talking about images used in conjunction with actually article content. --MASEM (t) 04:53, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- It seems as though your opinion is that if a source has an editorial staff known for fact checking publishes explicit photos then they are not reliable. Am I getting this right? This almost seems like No true RS would publish explicit content so I will try to pass a policy saying to follow RS's, and if a source does post explicit content then it isn't a true RS.AerobicFox (talk) 04:59, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- I wouldn't be too generous with ascribing "editorial staff known for fact checking" to Murdoch's operations generally. This describes The Economist, Der Speigel, The New Yorker, and so forth. The Sun, not so much, and I don't think applying Murdochian standards to our articles would probably be a good way to go. Other than that, not sure what the point is? Obviously there will always be people like Murdoch, but what has that do with reliable sources or, really, anything? Herostratus (talk) 05:10, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- What the hell does Murdock have to do with anything? I am responding to this "The type of works that feature Page Three girls are likely not reliable sources to use for material.", a generalized comment stating that works with topless models are likely not reliableAerobicFox (talk) 05:39, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- This is slightly off topic, but a work that purports to be serious but publishes nude photos for tantalization only is hard to take seriously in any other aspect; not always unusable, but throws a lot of discreditation to the publication as a whole and would be the type I'd replace with more reliable sources if I could. On topic: again, they aren't publishing page three nude photos inside an article about the latest World Cup match, ergo, the fact that a nude photo is in the larger volume makes absolutely no impact on the discussion on whether what we should illustrate the World Cup match (or other tied topics) with. In other words, when assessing the types of images that available sources employ for the World Cup match, the page three nudes would not even be part of the body of work to consider since they're not part of the article. --MASEM (t) 14:32, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- "a work that purports to be serious but publishes nude photos for tantalization only is hard to take seriously in any other aspect" in other words, "if it publishes things I don't like it isn't a reliable source" which when combined with your insistence only doing what reliable sources do is a brilliant way to enforce your POV on the encyclopaedia. Reliable sources are ") 15:09, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- It's a question of the bias and independence of the source, putting its reliability into question, if they're throwing such images simply to tantilate, even if unrelated to all other content in the work, into the larger publication. This is what is begging the question here on WP: how can people take this work seriously if we're using images of questionable nature when less objectionable but of equivalent educational value exist? Note that I did not say we never can use such sources that have such images elsewhere in the publication body, just that I would try to find something else first if I can (like, if you are talking sporting events, that's certainly going to be published in a less questionable work.) --MASEM (t) 16:40, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- Our priorities are firstly providing info and secondly being taken seriously. If a source has a known reputation for fact checking then it is reliable, your argument that "if they place nude pics to tantalize then despite this they aren't reliable" will do nothing but open the door for "they publish(what I consider) to be inflammatory/incendiary material, so they aren't reliable" or "they publish XXX which I don't like and think is unprofessional, so they aren't reliable". — Preceding unsigned comment added by AerobicFox (talk • contribs)
- I never said I didn't like it. I do think, however, when you are publishing certain things like that, or headlines and news stories specifically for the spectacle and not the intrinsic news value, you bring into question whether you are seriously fact-checking everything you publish (eg twisting perspectives to gain the largest audience) and are not a source that cannot be taken professionally, even if every other news item could fully meet all other requirements for WP. --MASEM (t) 18:35, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- Our priorities are firstly providing info and secondly being taken seriously. If a source has a known reputation for fact checking then it is reliable, your argument that "if they place nude pics to tantalize then despite this they aren't reliable" will do nothing but open the door for "they publish(what I consider) to be inflammatory/incendiary material, so they aren't reliable" or "they publish XXX which I don't like and think is unprofessional, so they aren't reliable". — Preceding unsigned comment added by AerobicFox (talk • contribs)
- It's a question of the bias and independence of the source, putting its reliability into question, if they're throwing such images simply to tantilate, even if unrelated to all other content in the work, into the larger publication. This is what is begging the question here on WP: how can people take this work seriously if we're using images of questionable nature when less objectionable but of equivalent educational value exist? Note that I did not say we never can use such sources that have such images elsewhere in the publication body, just that I would try to find something else first if I can (like, if you are talking sporting events, that's certainly going to be published in a less questionable work.) --MASEM (t) 16:40, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- "a work that purports to be serious but publishes nude photos for tantalization only is hard to take seriously in any other aspect" in other words, "if it publishes things I don't like it isn't a reliable source" which when combined with your insistence only doing what reliable sources do is a brilliant way to enforce your POV on the encyclopaedia. Reliable sources are ") 15:09, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- This is slightly off topic, but a work that purports to be serious but publishes nude photos for tantalization only is hard to take seriously in any other aspect; not always unusable, but throws a lot of discreditation to the publication as a whole and would be the type I'd replace with more reliable sources if I could. On topic: again, they aren't publishing page three nude photos inside an article about the latest World Cup match, ergo, the fact that a nude photo is in the larger volume makes absolutely no impact on the discussion on whether what we should illustrate the World Cup match (or other tied topics) with. In other words, when assessing the types of images that available sources employ for the World Cup match, the page three nudes would not even be part of the body of work to consider since they're not part of the article. --MASEM (t) 14:32, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- I wouldn't be too generous with ascribing "editorial staff known for fact checking" to Murdoch's operations generally. This describes The Economist, Der Speigel, The New Yorker, and so forth. The Sun, not so much, and I don't think applying Murdochian standards to our articles would probably be a good way to go. Other than that, not sure what the point is? Obviously there will always be people like Murdoch, but what has that do with reliable sources or, really, anything? Herostratus (talk) 05:10, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- It seems as though your opinion is that if a source has an editorial staff known for fact checking publishes explicit photos then they are not reliable. Am I getting this right? This almost seems like No true RS would publish explicit content so I will try to pass a policy saying to follow RS's, and if a source does post explicit content then it isn't a true RS.AerobicFox (talk) 04:59, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- AerobicFox, you say that we didn't derive the 5 pillars from reliable sources. That is true. However, the second pillar ties us to reputable sources. It asks us to present information in due proportion to its prominence in the best and most reputable sources, rather than allowing us to make things up as we go along. And the community consensus is that this is how it should be. --JN46617:07, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- Community consensus is as you have stated "to present information in due proportion to its prominence in the best and most reputable sources", it is not as you are otherwise basically claiming "to attach WEIGHT to the presentation and style of reliable sources". What you are arguing is essentially to merge WP:WEIGHT which no matter what subject you are dealing with, citation styles, etc, will never be passed because it's on its face a huge and unrealistic burden.AerobicFox (talk) 17:53, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- Community consensus is as you have stated "to present information in due proportion to its prominence in the best and most reputable sources", it is not as you are otherwise basically claiming "to attach WEIGHT to the presentation and style of reliable sources". What you are arguing is essentially to merge
- Some very popular reliable sources, particularly from the Murdoch stable, feature
@FormerIP. Elaborating on my earlier response. You equate exercising good taste with censorship. They're different. One is motivated by concern not to offend and disaffect our readers, the other is motivated by a belief that others haven't the right to see or read certain material. Most of us are opposed to the latter, censorship. And most of us are opposed to creating unnecessary offense. This is a dispute between editors who see the difference and those who can't. Who'll win the day? I don't know. But I sense the time has come to challenge the mantra "we don't care if we offend our readers." I certainly care. This is an encyclopedia, not an exercise in anarchy or a platform for activists. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 07:34, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- What I'm seeing is that we're trying to address three different cases at one time:
- Case 1 is where a clear minority of editors insist that an image that is offensive to the large majority of editors shouldn't be removed because otherwise we're violating NOTCENSORED. This is where NOTCENSORED can be improved by pointing to sources: if the minority assert that such images are appropriate but no reliable source ever uses that type of image, we shouldn't be using it either. That's not censoring, that's avoiding original research. (As well as concensus). We should add language to NOTCENSORED to make it clear that it doesn't protect the fringe cases like this.
- Case 2 is where a clear minority of editors insist that an image is offensive to them or some group they asset, and that we should remove it. This is specifically what NOTCENSORED addresses presently - we don't remove content because it is offensive to a small group. No changes are needed here.
- Case 3 is the one that falls between the extremes: a significant fraction (not a small minority) of editors recognizes something is offensive to them or to a group of readers; or a significant fraction recognizes that such offensive imagery is really okay, showing that such imagery is used in reliable sources. In such cases, there are clearly no simple rules; my argument to improving NOTCENSORED wording is that if reliable sources use such imagery on a regular basis, then WP editors can chose to the do same; at that point, it is debate for consensus to determine which imagery is best to use assuming that all choices are of equivalent educational value. My only personal cavaet is that we should be smart and possess enough common sense that when there are two or more equally appropriate choices with one that may be more offensive than the other to use the less offensive version. But that's what I would do; there is no policy that can require this beyond the Foundation's request to avoid shocking the reader.
- But again, this still all comes down to making sure we are following the footprints of what the bulk of reliable sources have done before to maintain ourselves as a tertiary source. --MASEM (t) 16:40, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- Again, Masem there may be technical reasons sources don't use images (and moreso audio and video). Your proposal does not in any way take this valid point into consideration. It assumes there will always be (outside FRINGE), some non-textual representation.∞陣内Jinnai 17:03, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- There is no dearth of illustrated sources on ejaculation, sexual intercourse, pregnancy, Muhammad, the holocaust, Gaddafi's death, gangrene, suicide, body painting or most other topics that might result in a discussion of how due a particular type of image is. Where there is a genuine dearth of illustrated sources, we could go one level up and conform to standards for topics in the same general content area. (On the other hand, a genuine dearth of sources may also indicate that the topic is not notable). Also note that we are generally able to cite TV programmes, videos on news websites, documentary films etc. --JN466 17:19, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- I recognize this is a case but would be very hard pressed to think of how it can actually occur. But let's assume it does, that while there's a large body of RS on a topic, none of them had the technical ability to include visual guides. In such as case, I would then say to look at what the sources that can include pictures on a closely related topic would incorporate. It would not be OR to create new imagery for topic X based on the types of imagery for topics near X. If it so happens that all closely related topics to X are in the same boat, that no sources had the technical capability to include sources, we then just need to rely on common sense of what to use. But I'm pretty confident of these being extremely rare cases where that may happen. --MASEM (t) 17:22, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- Well here is a question then just to throw out a what if; How many people would need to find something objectionable before we take their point of view and apply it? In my own opinion this shouldn't matter but we keep coming back to the if enough people find it offensive argument. I don't think we can assign a number, as doing so smaller groups (one's around the target number but not over it) will complain of discrimination while larger groups can insist on radical changes through strength in numbers. For example in most muslim countries it is customary for women to wear full coverings, do we plan to cater to that expectation as well? For those that can't draw the similarity in the argument remeber this group would be considered large enough to cater to on articles like the Muhammad page. Tivanir2 (talk) 18:47, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- Other than "more than 1 person" its probably impossible to nail down a number because it depends on the article. That's why I suggested rewiting 22:33, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- That's the beauty if this proposal: if we follow what reliable sources do, we don't need to decide who to avoid offending. If most articles on Jesus don't illustrate with Piss Christ, then we don't. If most articles on Muhammad don't have lots of Islamic figurative depictions, we don't. If most reliable sources on Saudi Arabia don't have the naked face of a woman on the cover, we don't put one in the lead of Saudi Arabia. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 03:22, 22 November 2011 (UTC)
- I still don't go for that idea personally. Most sources cater to specific groups, and thus will censor things for them. I guarentee if I look up an article for saudi arabia I can find precedence for veils and hijabs on women. Again it comes down to is this group large enough to force the rest of the people in the world to adhere to its own beliefs? That is why I continue to believe that everyone should be ignored if you make a project beholden to a group for any reason they have a stick to beat you with forever more. Tivanir2 (talk) 16:54, 22 November 2011 (UTC)
- If a topic is only covered by a certain set of sources, with a readily-known self-censoring on certain types of images, then we still can only follow what those sources say because we have no idea how the rest of the world would treat the topic. But when the topic is broadly covered by more than just that self-censored, even if the topic "belongs" to that group, then we can look at the other sources to see what type of imagery is used, and then consider what the best approach is. --MASEM (t) 17:05, 22 November 2011 (UTC)
- This is inherently unworkable, puts an unreasonable onus on the article editors, and overall comes across as an attempt to get the image-censoring movement a victory by technicality. An encyclopedia is not a copy service, we're not just trawling through other sources and duplicating what we find there. The project should be free to use or not use images according to our own existing policies and guidelines to determine appropriateness. This extra condition of "how other sources use images" is a bad proposal. Tarc (talk) 17:21, 22 November 2011 (UTC)
- Just because it is the path of least resistance doesn't make it right. As it is now most individuals (using the muhammad article as an example) are willing to work with people if they have genuine concerns as long as they aren't about offense. We could stand to have more images of his calligraphy as long as they add something new to the mix. However to decide to remove all portraits is considerably about appeasing a group because it is their end want. On the argument for several images ground has already been broken on probable removal because they aren't helping the article and they certainly shouldn't take up space just because (we have too many images as is.) All of the removal considerations are based on merit and what they provide, not because someone is offended. Tivanir2 (talk) 21:44, 22 November 2011 (UTC)
Wikipedia is not a democracy
Is the intention of the section
- "Consensus is ultimately determined by the quality of the arguments given for and against an issue, as viewed through the lens of Wikipedia policy, not by a simple counted majority", period. However, a straw poll might reveal the simple but comparatively rare case where there are no arguments against an issue. Uniplex (talk) 13:05, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- Thanks for your response, but it didn't directly address my question regarding "not desirable" and the support from the link. --Bob K31416 (talk) 13:19, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- That "Wikipedia is not a democracy" is strongly supported by the link; the reason why: that polls tend to impede determination of consensus (by directing attention towards personal opinion and away from discussion viewed through the lens etc.) is not directly supported by the link. Uniplex (talk) 13:40, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- Is the link really making a comment on polls or on whether or not Wikipedia is a democracy? It said, "Wikipedia is not primarily an experiment in Internet democracy" and "We *are* a grand social experiment of course. But not _primarily_." Here's what is at the link for reference.
- That "Wikipedia is not a democracy" is strongly supported by the link; the reason why: that polls tend to impede determination of consensus (by directing attention towards personal opinion and away from discussion viewed through the lens etc.) is not directly supported by the link. Uniplex (talk) 13:40, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- Thanks for your response, but it didn't directly address my question regarding "not desirable" and the support from the link. --Bob K31416 (talk) 13:19, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
David Gerard wrote:
> Wikipedia is not primarily an experiment in Internet democracy. It's a
> project to write an encyclopedia.This should be printed out and handed to every single person on the planet. I think I'll start a new nonprofit organzation to do that. Wikimedia will give everyone an encyclopedia. The new organization will give everyone a piece of paper explaining: it's an encyclopedia, not an experiment in democracy.
We *are* a grand social experiment of course. But not _primarily_.
Well said.
--Jimbo
- --Bob K31416 (talk) 13:52, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
- P.S. It looks like the link is implying that Wikipedia is a democracy, but that it is not primarily an experiment in democracy. --Bob K31416 (talk) 14:22, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
I very strongly oppose this appeal to Jimbo's authority. Setting all other considerations aside, he does not say we are an experiment in democracy. We aren't; we are an experiment in consensus. Polls can demonstrate consensus; they can also demonstrate absense of consensus. When the latter, usual, case exists, they tend to delay the discussion that actually produces consensus. For much, much more, see the guideline
- 1) Re "I very strongly oppose this appeal to Jimbo's authority." - There is currently in the "...not a democracy" section of this policy the above mentioned link to Jimbo's comment. Are you suggesting that the link be removed?
- If so, are you suggesting its removal because it just became apparent that Jimbo's comment has been misinterpreted in this policy? In any case, the misinterpretation of Jimbo's comment should be corrected, either by removing the link or correcting the misinterpretation.
- 2) Re "he does not say we are an experiment in democracy" - Actually he does seem to imply that. He enthusiastically quotes David Gerard who said, "Wikipedia is not primarily an experiment in Internet democracy. It's a project to write an encyclopedia." Jimbo adds, "We *are* a grand social experiment of course. But not _primarily_." In these comments Jimbo neither says that Wikipedia is not a democracy, nor does he say that Wikipedia is not an experiment in democracy. What he does say is that Wikipedia is not primarily an experiment in democracy. The policy is misinterpreting Jimbo's comment.
- --Bob K31416 (talk) 14:27, 22 November 2011 (UTC)
- That's (your interpretation) pretty much my reading of the Jimbo quote. I agree with him and David Gerard on that point, too. It is a grand social experiment. I think the impact of Wikipedia, thanks to its practical epistemology, is comparable in importance to the invention of moveable type; but this incidental thing, its unique, uber-transparent form of self-governance, may turn out to be its greatest contribution to civilisation. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 16:51, 22 November 2011 (UTC)
- Jimbo's note is the reason that the phrasing "not primarily an experiment" is in there at all. I would have said, before reading Anthony Cole's note, that this could stand simply as consensus. If I were Jimbo, I would remove it; he has often objected to his comments being treated as revelation. As myself, I might make it a footnote, as the history of the idea; but I don't feel strongly about it. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 20:22, 22 November 2011 (UTC)
- You've misquoted policy regarding the phrase. Please reread it. Also, it's a matter of Jimbo's comment being misinterpreted by the policy section, as I mentioned in my last message. Jimbo's message is being misinterpreted to support the ideas of that policy section, which it doesn't when it isn't misinterpreted. --Bob K31416 (talk) 01:14, 23 November 2011 (UTC)
- I removed the link but kept the phrase so that the text is unchanged. --Bob K31416 (talk) 05:04, 23 November 2011 (UTC)
- You've misquoted policy regarding the phrase. Please reread it. Also, it's a matter of Jimbo's comment being misinterpreted by the policy section, as I mentioned in my last message. Jimbo's message is being misinterpreted to support the ideas of that policy section, which it doesn't when it isn't misinterpreted. --Bob K31416 (talk) 01:14, 23 November 2011 (UTC)
From above, Jimbo says “it's an encyclopedia, not an experiment in democracy”; i.e. he does say that
- Wikipedia is not an experiment in democracy.
The policy says:
- “Wikipedia is not an experiment in democracy”.
Where's the problem? Uniplex (talk) 06:00, 23 November 2011 (UTC)
- Uniplex, You've misquoted the message. Please read it again. --Bob K31416 (talk) 07:09, 23 November 2011 (UTC)
I have done, but I still can't see the problem. Copied and pasted from Jimbo's post above:
“ | The new organization will give everyone a piece of paper explaining: it's an encyclopedia, not an experiment in democracy. | ” |
Uniplex (talk) 08:07, 23 November 2011 (UTC)
- Uniplex, You’re right. My mistake. Somehow I overlooked that part of the message. I have undone my edit on the project page. Regards, --Bob K31416 (talk) 14:35, 23 November 2011 (UTC)
Mediation
I think mediation is the right answer here. Supposedly 100,000 words have been split over Muhammad, therefore the current discussion process clearly isn't producing sensible results. -- Eraserhead1 <talk> 19:08, 24 November 2011 (UTC)
- I've suggested mediation multiple times on different pages; no one on the other side wants to do it. Mediation doesn't work unless all sides enter into it in good faith. --Ludwigs2 19:39, 24 November 2011 (UTC)
- I think we should at least have a serious attempt at formal mediation. If people refuse to walk away from the debate or to engage with some sort of mediation process then that becomes a conduct issue which can be addressed by Arbcom.
- I think it is worth waiting until the RFC is closed which gives people a chance to consider their options of this. -- Eraserhead1 <talk> 19:45, 24 November 2011 (UTC)
- Consensus is clear enough on the matter, 3-4 holdouts doesn't get to squat and demand that they be met halfway, when what they demand is so ludicrously out of proportion with the goal of the project; to inform without fear of censorship. Tarc (talk) 01:39, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Indeed. I rarely agree with Tarc, but I've got to say this whole process has gotten out of hand. Please accept there is no consensus for these changes--NOTCENSORED, as written, has the backing of the community and at this point further attempts by the same folks to change it are likely disruptive. Hobit (talk) 01:57, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Put this issue to bed, trying to invoke more processes wont get around the clear consensus. Medcom cannot overrule a widely advertised, high participation RFC even if they wanted to. Monty845 02:09, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Mediation would be a waste of everybody's time. The only issue is that a half-handful of editors refusing to listen to things they don't want to hear (and in at least one case having repeatedly failed to hear on every single occasion for several years) and it would be seriously unlikely for them to start listening now. Thryduulf (talk) 02:17, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- I'm sorry, there is no consensus here, and constantly whining that there is isn't doing anyone one damned bit of good. I swear, you guys really can't argue a point worth beans. Quit with the mindless grandstanding and talk like reasonable people. --Ludwigs2 02:22, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Actually, Lugdwigs2, most of us have been. Mediation isn't an option here: no mediator is going to be able to unilaterally change WP:NOT, nor could they agree to do so. What needs to happen is for the people proposing a change to recognize that there is no consensus for the change they have proposed, and its extremely unlikely that any variation of what they are proposing will gain consensus. Continuing to argue for the change when it is obvious that point has been reached is simply tendentious editing.—Kww(talk) 03:45, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- By contrast, Kww, I think what needs to happen here is for the people opposing any change to recognize that they are doing damage to the core principles of the project: to wp:5P, to foundation principles and resolutions, and to the ability to write an accessible, usable, reader-friendly encyclopedia. Or are you suggesting that some purported consensus amongst a limited number of 'advocates for controversy' can overturn the core purpose of the project? What's happening here is that you and the other opponents are (in a noble but misguided battle against what you perceive as censorship) making articles actively hostile to significant portions of our readership, without any meaningful justification for doing so. That is simply wrong.
- By contrast, Kww, I think what needs to happen here is for the people opposing any change to recognize that they are doing damage to the core principles of the project: to
- Actually, Lugdwigs2, most of us have been. Mediation isn't an option here: no mediator is going to be able to unilaterally change
- I'm sorry, there is no consensus here, and constantly whining that there is isn't doing anyone one damned bit of good. I swear, you guys really can't argue a point worth beans. Quit with the mindless grandstanding and talk like reasonable people. --Ludwigs2 02:22, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Mediation would be a waste of everybody's time. The only issue is that a half-handful of editors refusing to listen to things they don't want to hear (and in at least one case having repeatedly failed to hear on every single occasion for several years) and it would be seriously unlikely for them to start listening now. Thryduulf (talk) 02:17, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Put this issue to bed, trying to invoke more processes wont get around the clear consensus. Medcom cannot overrule a widely advertised, high participation RFC even if they wanted to. Monty845 02:09, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Indeed. I rarely agree with Tarc, but I've got to say this whole process has gotten out of hand. Please accept there is no consensus for these changes--NOTCENSORED, as written, has the backing of the community and at this point further attempts by the same folks to change it are likely disruptive. Hobit (talk) 01:57, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Consensus is clear enough on the matter, 3-4 holdouts doesn't get to squat and demand that they be met halfway, when what they demand is so ludicrously out of proportion with the goal of the project; to inform without fear of censorship. Tarc (talk) 01:39, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- I and many others feel the core principles are being upheld by preserving knowledge in the face of censorship. What is becoming clear here is that this is a fundamental wiki-philosophical divide that you simply do not have the numbers to overcome. Sooner or later, disputes here to boil down to a "how many support X" vs "how many support !X". You're on the short end of the stick, L. Tarc (talk) 04:18, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Not once have I used the words "stupid" or "evil", nor have I said that any group of people can't object to things. Everyone is free to voice secular objections on any topic, regardless of their religious beliefs or lack thereof, and we should pay attention to them.—Kww(talk) 04:34, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- @Kww: I don't remember if you've ever used those particular words, so I'll nod to your first statement. But in fact, your second statement is absolutely false from your own perspective. The essence of NOTCENSORED (as you defend it) is to preclude discussion. NOTCENSORED is used by you and others to say - simply put - that certain perspectives will not under any circumstances even be considered. On Muhammad, where I repeatedly make the 'entirely secular sociological claim' that the typical depiction of Muhammad is an abstract image, you and others tell me I'm making a religious claim and invoke NC. On Pregnancy, where I make the purely sociological claim that most people do not expect (and prefer not) to see gratuitous nudity, editors tell me that I am making an 'offense' claim and invoke NC. It is impossible to voice any opinion against any controversial image, because editors like you will assert that any opposition to the image must perforce be about offense. It's a little policy black hole that sucks the life out of any conversation about controversial images; a vapid bit of self-fulfilling, self-serving, circular reasoning. The way it is use in cases like this, it's useless, confrontational, and destructive to the project on multiple fronts, which is why it needs to be revised.
- @Tarc: I understand that you believe are doing important work battling censorship. I'll even do you the grace of suggesting that your heart is in the right place, and on some articles what you do is useful. However, on the kinds of pages we're considering here you've turned into POV-warriors, battling censorship that doesn't actually exist and going to such lengths to overcome some perceived threat of bias that you start imposing a bias in the opposite direction. I don't object to what you do in principle; I object to the utter failure of common sense and common courtesy that leads you to such ridiculous extremes of combativeness. Do you understand me? --Ludwigs2 05:44, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
3-4 holdouts. 4 serious? If you look at the RFC there are only 60% in favour of doing nothing. Hardly a strong majority - especially given the refusal to compromise at all to give the minority any ground. And the Muhammad discussion appears to have been ongoing for years. While you personally not want to have mediatin here I cannot think of a reason beyond playing site politics. If mediation isn't taken seriously I will take the case to Arbcom. -- Eraserhead1 <talk> 17:51, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- For God's sake will you stop counting votes! Numbers are irrelevant. The quality of argument is ALL that matters. And threatening posts ("...I will take the case to Arbcom", etc) are not quality posts. HiLo48 (talk) 17:57, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- And exactly what could a mediator do when there's no consensus to change the policy? It wouldn't matter what side the mediator took in the dispute, he wouldn't be able to direct a policy change, and mediators haven't got the power to deal with editors that refuse to back down from a losing argument. Do you really believe Ludwigs2 will ever stop arguing for this obviously lost cause? Arbcom arguably could at least do something about that, but even they can't change a policy without consensus.—Kww(talk) 17:59, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Ludwigs already tried Arbcom a few weeks ago and got unanimously denied, so I'd advise against that route. You and he have made proposals that have failed to gain consensus, there's really nothing else to do at this point other than to drop it as a failed/rejected proposal and find something else to work on. Tarc (talk) 18:07, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- You know, Kww, Tarc, HiLo, this is what is so unpleasant about discussing things with you. You simply refuse to listen. it doesn't matter what we say or what we do, you simply ignore it and repeat what you said earlier. It's like talking to bots. Every time I make a decent point (as I did four or five paras above) you go back to spouting the same old nonsense as though I hadn't said anything.
- I'm sorry, but you cannot hold this page hostage via IDHT forever. We are making reasonable arguments, and we will continue to make them until they get a fair hearing, and if you continue to stick your fingers in your ears and refuse to hear us, then this issue is simply going to continue indefinitely. As HiLo says, consensus isn't about numbers, it's about arguments, and you guys don't really have any arguments in your corner. So stop being stubborn and think things through please. thanks. --Ludwigs218:29, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- I'm sorry, but you cannot hold this page hostage via
- Repeating the same things all the time is actually what distinguishes them from ELIZA. Hans Adler 18:35, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- We hold nothing hostage: you and Hans are fundamentally wrong: that is why your arguments are ineffective. I listen to them, consider them, and reject them. Making a large number of diverse, but fundamentally incorrect, statements does nothing to increase their validity. You continuously argue that the religious perspectives have applicability to our editorial policy, and wish to change this policy to bolster that position. If you come up with language that specifically excludes religious offense, I'll consider it, but until you do, your proposed changes are unacceptable.—Kww(talk) 18:51, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Kww: 'fundamentally wrong' how??? perhaps you listen to, consider, and reject our arguments entirely inside your own head, but outwardly you show no sign of it: your outward behavior is indistinguishable from IDHT. Objectively, all I can say for sure is that you have a some kind of personal problem with religion, but you don't explain what that problem is or why you think it's important. You merely treat it as a (pardon the pun) God-given fact, and get angry and self-righteous when people question it.
- Kww: 'fundamentally wrong' how??? perhaps you listen to, consider, and reject our arguments entirely inside your own head, but outwardly you show no sign of it: your outward behavior is indistinguishable from
- We hold nothing hostage: you and Hans are fundamentally wrong: that is why your arguments are ineffective. I listen to them, consider them, and reject them. Making a large number of diverse, but fundamentally incorrect, statements does nothing to increase their validity. You continuously argue that the religious perspectives have applicability to our editorial policy, and wish to change this policy to bolster that position. If you come up with language that specifically excludes religious offense, I'll consider it, but until you do, your proposed changes are unacceptable.—Kww(talk) 18:51, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Repeating the same things all the time is actually what distinguishes them from ELIZA. Hans Adler 18:35, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- So, brass tacks: we can explain (and have done so at length) why you're position is fundamentally wrong, and I'll do it again if you like. can you explain why you think we're fundamentally wrong? Because if you can't, then you are nothing more than another IDONTLIKEIT junkie on a bender. So explain yourself, or admit that you can't. --Ludwigs219:41, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- You are fundamentally wrong because your argument is based on examining concerns that have no relevance to a secular project. Religious concerns cannot be weighed, allocated, and balanced in the same way that other views are, because holders of religious beliefs are not concerned with whether these beliefs have any factual support. Such things are incompatible with building an encyclopedia.—Kww(talk) 19:56, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Kww: that is poor reasoning on at least three counts:
- Irrelevance: None of the images under consideration are 'factual' in any meaningful sense of the term. 'factual' images (images which uncontroversially accurate and representative) are a far stronger case; we are talking about images that are of questionable value.
- Failure to define: you have failed to define what you mean by a 'secular project', and failed to explain in what way Wikipedia is secular. That's not anywhere in policy that I can see. If we use the most conventional definition of secular then your point is simply wrong. Obviously we can include religious opinions in secular work, so long as they are properly framed as beliefs peculiar to a particular group - that's explained unambiguously in NPOV. If you are using an idiosyncratic definition of 'secular' then you need to explain what you mean by it.
- Unproven assumption: Why do you think that religious beliefs cannot be weighed, allocated, and balanced like other topics? obviously, some of the more outlandish religious beliefs (like creationism) don't carry much weight in certain venues, but they can certainly be weighed and balanced. In fact, the problem here is not that these kinds of things can't be weighed; the problem is that editors like you and Tarc refuse to allow them to be weighed. Clearly this is what happened on the Muhammad article: reliable sourcing is heavily weighted against lifelike depictions of the prophet, but editors there consistently use NOTCENSORED to prevent the article from conforming to the proportional representation present in sources.
- I can only assume that in that last point you are thinking about topics like creationism (where politically driven advocates are trying to attack good science with bad science). I can't argue with that, but there is no issue of science or factuality here, there's just the editorial preferences of a handful of wikipedia editors and the earnestly held beliefs of a sizable segment of our readership. I think we both know that if it's a choice between following whims we should follow the whims of our readership, not our editors.
- Kww: that is poor reasoning on at least three counts:
- You are fundamentally wrong because your argument is based on examining concerns that have no relevance to a secular project. Religious concerns cannot be weighed, allocated, and balanced in the same way that other views are, because holders of religious beliefs are not concerned with whether these beliefs have any factual support. Such things are incompatible with building an encyclopedia.—Kww(talk) 19:56, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- So, brass tacks: we can explain (and have done so at length) why you're position is fundamentally wrong, and I'll do it again if you like. can you explain why you think we're fundamentally wrong? Because if you can't, then you are nothing more than another
- In short, you haven't really explained anything. You've made an unexplained (and suspect) claim about secularism, and then unjustifiably asserted that we can't weigh and balance religious viewpoints because of some inapplicable concerns over factualism. Now I'm willing to allow that I might have misinterpreted your position, so can you address these seeming failures of reason? Or have I actually pegged what's wrong with your argument? --Ludwigs2 21:19, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Indeed. Ludwigs, I have been hearing you for over a month now, but I am diametrically opposed to your opinion on the matter. Disagreement does not mean that one does not hear or understand the argument made, so please stop beating the deadhorse of ) 19:28, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Tarc, I can give reasons for why my position is correct. you can't. That's the difference between reasonable discussion and IDHT. So I'll issue you the same challenge as I gave to Kww above: make your case, or give it up. --Ludwigs219:45, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- You would be a lot more convincing if you actually did give reasons and evidence for your position instead of your opinions. Other users here have consistently responded to your positions only to get thoughtless dismissals from you. I would suggest focusing on the topic in your posts instead of always commenting on other users and then claiming they haven't responded to you.AerobicFox (talk) 20:46, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Tarc, I can give reasons for why my position is correct. you can't. That's the difference between reasonable discussion and
- Ludwigs, you have made countless repetitions of very similar statements over the months and years as to why you believe your position is correct. On every single occasion, a consensus of editors has rejected them, and normally it's a different set of editors each time which should tell you something. Tarc has also, on many occasions, explained the reasons why he holds his position, and the reasons why he rejects your position. The difference is that his reasons are support by policy, practice and a consensus of editors. If there is any evidence of "I didn't hear that" it's coming from you - I've lost count of the number of times and number of ways you've been told that your interpretation of policy has been rejected by the community, and that your proposals to change the policy to match your interpretation have been rejected by the community. Thryduulf (talk) 20:58, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Ludwigs, I gave reason for my position a month ago, but I will repeat it for your benefit; the importance of providing information to the reader outweighs a concern of "offense". Be it conservative prudery or religious fundamentalism, it simply does not matter. Since I have explained myself ad nauseam, and you are absolutely unable to affect change to WP:NOT policy by continuing this current thread, so I think I will bow out until/unless a new tangent crops up. Tarc (talk) 21:32, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Thryduulf: your argument seems to be that I should sacrifice good reasoning for bad, just because a lot of people use bad reasoning. And I defy you to find a diff of Tarc actually explaining his position; Most of the time he's doing what you're doing - telling me that consensus is against me so I should just shut up. ad populumis not an argument, at least not one that I give a fuck about.
- Thryduulf: your argument seems to be that I should sacrifice good reasoning for bad, just because a lot of people use bad reasoning. And I defy you to find a diff of Tarc actually explaining his position; Most of the time he's doing what you're doing - telling me that consensus is against me so I should just shut up.
- Aerobic: I've given my reasons about a half a jillion times already, but for your benefit I'll do it once more:
- As a project, wikipedia should not offend the beliefs, sensibilities, or mores of our readership without due cause.
- Doing so makes the project look biased, damages its reputation, and creates an overabundance of talk page hostility.
- This principle has been upheld for article text in various policies: wp:BLPfor the most notable.
- While 'due cause' is certainly subject to discussion, NOTCENSORED creates a class of images which have immunity from all discussion, so that no cause can ever be sufficient to remove them.
- This creates a loophole where editors can create unencyclopedic articles by pushing unnecessary but controversial images into the article and locking them there with NOTCENSORED.
- Therefore, NOTCENSORED needs to be revised to preclude its use for controversial images except where there is clear due cause for using a controversial image. This would shift the burden: Editors who want to use the images need to show that the images add enough value to the article to offset the detrimental side-effects of using them.
- As a project, wikipedia should not offend the beliefs, sensibilities, or mores of our readership without due cause.
- It's sheer common sense, really: Editors on most pages do this kind of nuanced balancing as a matter of course without issue. But on particularly controversial topics there are always a few editors that start using NOTCENSORED in a deliberately aggressive and uncritical manner just to beat down the opposition. It's that noxious use of NOTCENSORED that's damaging, and that needs to be removed as an option. --Ludwigs2 21:53, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Aerobic: I've given my reasons about a half a jillion times already, but for your benefit I'll do it once more:
- Tarc: Your second statement doesn't follow from your first. Yes, as you put it "the importance of providing information to the reader outweighs a concern of offense". But not all additions are equally informative (or even informative at all), and trivial material shouldn't outweigh anything; certainly not be used as a justification for offending long-established and earnestly-held beliefs and mores. You see the world in black and white, with you against the hordes of prudes and fundamentalists; that's a ridiculous, unsupportable view of the world. Many people who are not prudes do not want to see gratuitous nudity, and many people who are not fundamentalists do not want to see their religious beliefs violated for no cause. Is that the best argument you have to offer? --Ludwigs2 22:03, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Yes, it is, and it is all that is really needed to thwart your push against "offensive" imagery. Now, that really is my last word. Take care. Tarc (talk) 22:36, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- LOL - then you might as well go away. remember, consensus is about having the better argument -one more consistent with policy and logic - and your argument is as weak and hole-ridden as swiss cheese on a hot summer day. it's just plain silly. I mean, I get that you have strong personal feelings about this, but feelings alone are not sufficient to support your perspective.
- Yes, it is, and it is all that is really needed to thwart your push against "offensive" imagery. Now, that really is my last word. Take care. Tarc (talk) 22:36, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Tarc: Your second statement doesn't follow from your first. Yes, as you put it "the importance of providing information to the reader outweighs a concern of offense". But not all additions are equally informative (or even informative at all), and trivial material shouldn't outweigh anything; certainly not be used as a justification for offending long-established and earnestly-held beliefs and mores. You see the world in black and white, with you against the hordes of prudes and fundamentalists; that's a ridiculous, unsupportable view of the world. Many people who are not prudes do not want to see gratuitous nudity, and many people who are not fundamentalists do not want to see their religious beliefs violated for no cause. Is that the best argument you have to offer? --Ludwigs2 22:03, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- I swear… --Ludwigs2 22:48, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
So, I think that's disposed of Tarc: He's made it clear that his position is not even intended to be rational, so we can safely dismiss it. Kww: do you have a response? Aerobic Fox? Can anyone here make a decently rational argument against my position, or are you all just going to hunker down in unreasoning resistance the way Tarc has? --Ludwigs2 23:01, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- The rational reasons have been explained to you time and again. Namely: Wikipedia operates on a principle of NPOV. It is impossible to define "offensive" in a way that is compatible with NPOV. It is not possible to censor in a way that is compatible with NPOV, and no matter how you want to try an spin it removing images that offend one or more people because they offend people is censorship, in fact it's the whole point of censorship. So, given that censorship is impossible to do and remain neutral, the only possible way an encyclopaedia can be NPOV is to be uncensored. Given that we are not censored, we do not censor or filter things, or make image or other choices based on what might or might not offend people. It's as simple as that. Thryduulf (talk) 23:25, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Facepalm Hmm, well other than a new tangent popping up I had planned to bow out of this, but I guess I should have added a "unless someone says something so patently absurd" qualifier as well. My dear Ludwigs, this isn't vanquished me from the field, if that is how you view all this, perhaps it is time to reopen the An/I report. If you'd rather avoid that, then please calm down and drop out of the warrior stance. I am quite content with my position that the Wikipedia should remain free of ideological and religious censorship, that nether can or should be used as a basis for removal of any content, visual or otherwise. I do sympathize with the frustrations of being on the unsuccessful side of a project proposal; not everything I have advocated for here over the years has prevailed, y'know. But there comes a point in time where being passionate about one's beliefs crosses a line into bitter tendentiousness, and I think this topic has reached that point. Sometimes people just have to man up and move on. Tarc (talk) 23:27, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
- Tarc:either you're making a rational argument or you're not, and if you're not then you opinion is not all that useful. Currently, you are not making a rational argument. You can continue to offer up that silly reasoning you mentioned above till the end of the world arrives for all I care, and I will continue to point out that it is not a credible or sensible argument: how much fun will that be! I don't disagree with your desire to keep Wikipedia free of ideological and religious censorship, I simply disagree with the irrational and hyperbolic argument you are making in this particular case. clue in to what I say, Tarc; don't fly away on your own assumptions.
- You may go on back to ANI if you like. If there is any reason for me to participate I will tell them exactly what I am telling you: that you are stubbornly refusing to engage in credible rational discussion, and simply clogging up the page with endless repetitions of defunct reasoning and threats of administrative action. we'll see how that goes.
- Thryduulf, sorry, but I can't make heads or tails of what you're saying. we don't need to 'define' things in terms of NPOV (I really have no idea what you are trying to suggest with that phrase), we use NPOV to balance different viewpoints. Offense is a viewpoint; it may have more weight or less, depending on the context, but there's no provision in NPOV for saying that some perspectives get ignored because we don't happen to like them. Further, not every editorial act is an act of censorship. Like Tarc, you've created this extremely black-and-white worldview in which every discussion about a controversial image is intrinsically some kind of fanatical censorship to be crushed, and I am trying to point out to you that what you are crushing in not censorship but the consensus process itself. We should be able to discuss controversial images through normal consensus processes, and we cannot do that so long as editors slam that 'not censored' door in the face of even the most reasonable discussion.
- Wikipedia is not censored, yes. but that does not mean that we are forbidden to make editorial choices about images. NOTCENSORED does not imply the principle of maximum offensiveness (where we must use offensive images just to prove to people that we're not censored). again, common sense is the key here: We simply need to evaluate the positive contributions of images against their negative impacts so that we can - again - reach a rational decision about what images to use. --Ludwigs2 00:22, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
- I have a response, yes, but it isn't much different: from all external evidence, you willfully misunderstand what I say, which makes trying different phrasing tedious. So first, a question: do you recognize the difference between providing neutral coverage of a religious belief and taking recognition of that same religious belief when making editorial decisions?—Kww(talk) 00:33, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
- Kww: sorry, I really am trying to work this out, so I'm not meaning to misinterpret. To answer your question, yes: I understand the difference (though I suspect I understand it differently than you). Which do you want to discuss first, or do you have a different direction to take this? --Ludwigs2 00:51, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
- I have a response, yes, but it isn't much different: from all external evidence, you willfully misunderstand what I say, which makes trying different phrasing tedious. So first, a question: do you recognize the difference between providing neutral coverage of a religious belief and taking recognition of that same religious belief when making editorial decisions?—Kww(talk) 00:33, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
- Wikipedia is not censored, yes. but that does not mean that we are forbidden to make editorial choices about images. NOTCENSORED does not imply the principle of maximum offensiveness (where we must use offensive images just to prove to people that we're not censored). again, common sense is the key here: We simply need to evaluate the positive contributions of images against their negative impacts so that we can - again - reach a rational decision about what images to use. --Ludwigs2 00:22, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
- Regarding "either you're making a rational argument or you're not", I feel that I am, and my argument is largely echoed by many others. Your take on the value/merit of my argument is not an opinion I value in the slightest at this point, to be honest. A consensus exists, right now, for my general outlook on what "not censored" protects. You have made proposals. Those proposals HAVE BEEN REJECTED. There is absolutely nothing you can do about that at this time. Tarc (talk) 00:54, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
- Tarc, feel what you like: when I can dispose of your argument as easily as I did, then you are clearly not making a credible argument, and it doesn't matter how strongly you feel about it or how many people agree with you. Remember, lots and lots and LOTS of people agree passionately with the logic of creationism, but that doesn't make creationism a reasonable viewpoint. You've manufactured a ridiculously exaggerated worldview in which religion=fanaticism and discretion=prudery, and all of your argumentation rely on that exaggerated worldview being true, when it's not even remotely realistic. You are free to continue to believe in it (just as people are free to continue believing in creationism), but you lose the right to insist that other people believe it because you've strayed so far from the realm of common sense and common experience. A consensus based on nonsense of this magnitude is not the kind of consensus that the project is looking for.
- And there is something I can do about it: I can continue to try to explain it so that people understand what I am talking about. it's a long, slow, grinding process, but there's no other way to make these kinds of changes then to keep at it until either I convince enough people I'm right or someone says something clever enough to convince me that I'm wrong. What you've argued is not even close to clever enough. --Ludwigs2 01:09, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
Of course the numbers aren't the only thing in the world, but you guys can hardly seriously claim to have won the argument fully on policy, its not as if the points against you are utterly clearly refuted by any stretch of the imagination, and its not as if you guys have won all the arguments (e.g. there is still no serious coherent argument in favour of the images at pregnancy). Therefore for a first approximation counting the numbers is perfectly sensible. If you guys don't want to engage in formal mediation on the images at Muhammad and Pregnancy suggest a serious dispute resolution step we can take instead I'm perfectly happy to follow it.
If you guys refuse to engage in dispute resolution then that is a conduct issue rather than a content issue which the arbitration committee is perfectly prepared to engage with. Of note the issues which caused the decline by the arbitration committee before were the lack of completion of an RFC and that it was a content issue rather than a conduct issue.
For what its worth I have zero intention in taking this matter to ANI. ANI isn't good for anything, and 100k words is way beyond ANI's scope anyhow. Obviously you guys are perfectly entitled to walk away if you don't want to engage with dispute resolution. -- Eraserhead1 <talk> 00:59, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
- And that is obviously the only way you will get the change you want - forum shop the hell out of these discussions until everyone else gets tired of dealing with it and gives up. So far this nonsense has been at the Muhammad and Pregnancy talk pages, ANI at least twice (probably more), Jimbo's talk page, A WQA report designed to silence an opponent, VPP (several months ago), and here. Have I missed anything else? How many times must you fail to achieve the consensus you want before this charade is put to an end? Resolute 03:52, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
- Um, I've only been involved in this discussion here and arguably at the arbitration case request page. Its not forum shopping to attempt to escalate a dispute that has been going on for 4 years and that has about 600k words spilt on it on the Muhammad images talk pages alone.
- Before that I made one set of comments once on the Muhammad images page over a year ago. -- Eraserhead1 <talk> 08:23, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
- And that is obviously the only way you will get the change you want - forum shop the hell out of these discussions until everyone else gets tired of dealing with it and gives up. So far this nonsense has been at the Muhammad and Pregnancy talk pages, ANI at least twice (probably more), Jimbo's talk page, A WQA report designed to silence an opponent, VPP (several months ago), and here. Have I missed anything else? How many times must you fail to achieve the consensus you want before this charade is put to an end? Resolute 03:52, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
This is related to the RfC a few sections up. If this proposal is adopted it may moot most of the issues raised in that RfC.
Adding
Basically, adding the hatnote makes the guideline clearly say:
- Content with higher encyclopedic value are preferred over that with lower encyclopedic value [something the guideline already says quite clearly].
- In the case of a tie, use the less-shocking content
davidwr/(talk)/(contribs)/(e-mail) 00:23, 24 November 2011 (UTC)
Support adding WP:ASTONISH hatnote
- Support, as proposer. davidwr/(talk)/(contribs)/(e-mail) 00:23, 24 November 2011 (UTC)
Support, this seems pretty much common sense to me. Thryduulf (talk) 00:51, 24 November 2011 (UTC)- Support, as the originator of the RfC you're talking about. We can discuss how far this alleviates the concerns in that RfC, but it is certainly a good idea regardless. --Ludwigs2 04:41, 24 November 2011 (UTC)
- Support, sure, why not. --JN466 05:29, 24 November 2011 (UTC)
- Sure. Not so sure I'll be calling it a day. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 12:59, 24 November 2011 (UTC)
Oppose adding WP:ASTONISH hatnote
- Oppose Despite many pleas to this principle in other RfCs I've been part of, it rarely helps. WP:ASTONISHrefers to "the average reader", but doesn't define one. Many editors who argue for more conservative images tell us that, while they are not personally offended, there are people in society who will be offended by an image. It's a third person type argument, presented as if they are being thoughtful on someone else's behalf. It's all so very vague. Completely open to ongoing debate and discussion. This proposal will NOT resolve problems in this area. I see it as just another attempt to push Wikipedia towards Conservapedia.
- the underlying argument of this position reconstructs the problem by inappropriately mixing the epistemic with the editorial level on a model basis and the proposed paragraph doesn't offer substantial value, regards --Jan eissfeldt (talk) 05:09, 24 November 2011 (UTC)
- Oppose I don't think WP:ASTONISH has much relevance as currently written. Sure it wouldn't do much harm to hatnote the current version, but I fear it will be a back door to the censorship proposals above. The understanding of the principal of least astonishment, as used here, is far different then the one used at that page, and I would strongly object to some of the understandings being hatnoted. As the target is not a policy or guideline, it is not subject to the same level of scrutiny. As a matter of prudence, Policies and Guidelines should not incorporate by reference material that is subject to lesser scrutiny, which I think it is the only meaningful result hatnoting it could have. Monty84505:21, 24 November 2011 (UTC)
- oppose as per all my previous comments. We go with the picture that best illustrates the topic. Period. Also I'm going to suggest we stop it with this topic for a long while. I think consensus is clear enough. Hobit (talk) 05:46, 24 November 2011 (UTC)
- Oppose. There are already links to the relevant guidelines and howtos in that section's hatnote: