I could see how there is an interest in providing an official response to
the petition, as most other large organizations and networks make such
declarations in response to large petitions. However, I believe that part
of the beauty of Wikipedia is that there is not an official spokesperson
making such statements, and there is a strong negative effect by forcing
the famously publicly-crowd-sourced network to choose sides. Such a "press
release" to this petition, though it would be backed by strong evidence,
could be a dangerous precedent, with future similar statements ostracizing
members of our community.
Though I agree that there would be far-ranging media exposure to this
proposed response, I believe that the message Diptanshu would like to pass
along to the petition organizer is best summed up in one of the recent
comments to the petition:
"There is no need to create a petition to change Wikipedia. The current
text is written by people just like ourselves. Anyone can edit Wikipedia to
state whatever they can substantiate by reference to reliable sources. The
contents of this petition and letter contain sufficient justification to
edit wikipedia and state your pov and give the sources for it taken from
reliable and authentic authorities writings and so forth. There is no need
to seek anyone's permission to do this. Even if there is a clash between
your biews and those of others who believe homeothepay is a "quack", one
can register one's views, quoting these reliable sources, as an alternative
and more acceptable pov. At worst, one can present it as a "controversy"
which gives equal exposure to both views and allows the reader to make up
their minds or to look into the sources quoted in order to find out more."
-Sean Jones
As a result, I'd argue it isn't necessary for us to respond, and actually
don't believe that we could respond in any official capacity on behalf of
Wikipedia. However, if we theoretically did, I'd move for something witty
similar to what Peter wrote.
Would appreciate others' thoughts on this,
R
On Sep 20, 2017 02:47, <wikimedia-medicine-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
wrote:
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Today's Topics:
1. Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article on Homeopathy
(Diptanshu Das)
2. Re: Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article on
Homeopathy (Peter Southwood)
3. Re: Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article on
Homeopathy (Sean Jones)
4. Re: Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article on
Homeopathy (Diptanshu Das)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2017 22:45:49 +0530
From: Diptanshu Das <das.diptanshu(a)gmail.com>
To: Wiki Medicine discussion <wikimedia-medicine(a)lists.wikimedia.org>rg>,
wjmboard <wjmboard(a)googlegroups.com>
Subject: [Wiki-Medicine] Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article
on Homeopathy
Message-ID:
<CADcdAx-nSVB95ExEYbp52Duf2to-U75b3Z3pzxsriJOX8ku0Hw(a)mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
I would like to bring your attention to the petition
https://www.change.org/p/wikipedia-changing-wikipedia-
s-article-on-homoeopathy
Regards
Diptanshu
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