[WikiEN-l] Bad And Wrong Policy/Procedure/Guideline

Mon Nov 6 05:28:45 UTC 2006

On 11/6/06, Anthony <wikilegal at inbox.org> wrote:
>
> It seems to me that the type of people with whom this is an increasing
> problem are not the type of people who are even going to read such a
> long and complictated guideline, let alone care about following it.
>
> If your relationship with an article's topic might cause someone else
> to question your ability to write neutrally about it, then don't be
> bold.  Explain your changes, document your additions, and back down
> when challenged.  If you believe there are legal issues involved which
> necessitate your edits, then contact OTRS.  And if you yourself
> question your ability to write neutrally about a topic, then don't
> edit the article at all.
>
> I dunno, that seems to me like a common sense guideline to potential
> conflicts of interest when it comes to writing Wikipedia articles.
> This doesn't seem like a place where spelling out detailed policies is
> useful, because the problem isn't one that deals with many
> longstanding editors.  It also doesn't seem to be a place where there
> is a strong consensus as to what exactly the policies should be.

That seems common sense to me too. All we need to say about conflicts
of interest is "try to recognise your own biases, be open to others
who apprehend biases, and don't let your biases get in the way of
editing neutrally".

I don't see a real need to say much more beyond what's already at the
heart of [[WP:NPOV]], except for some very general advice as is
contained in your second paragraph Anthony. I would be happy to
include that verbatim as the contents of [[WP:COI]].

-- 
Stephen Bain
stephen.bain at gmail.com