I don’t think an official response is possible, and if it was, I don’t think it would be
desirable for anyone to presume to speak with the voice of Wikipedia. WMF could point them
to the policies of Wikipedia as a courtesy, in case they were unable to find them unaided,
but that is about as far as it goes. This would best be done as a polite response to the
petition when it has been delivered. I definitely don’t think a snarky response is called
for. Assume good faith, be civil, deal politely. Point out the applicable policy. That is
how we are expected to handle things on Wikipedia. Show them a good example. If they can
find reliable sources they are free to edit accordingly, with due weight.
Cheers,
Peter
From: Wikimedia-Medicine [mailto:wikimedia-medicine-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf
Of Rob Besch
Sent: Wednesday, 20 September 2017 9:09 AM
To: wikimedia-medicine(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: Re: [Wiki-Medicine] Potential Official Statement
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-homoeopa…
Regards
Diptanshu
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