On Sat, 29 Jan 2005 22:15:09 -0500, Stirling Newberry wrote:
Thank you Stirling for that very comprehensively referenced link.
Perhaps, if it isn't already, that link should be added to some of the
relevant articles. I note we also have an article entitled "AIDS
reappraisal" which discusses many of the claims and counter-claims
relating to this issue.
To the original poster, I would like to point out that, while your
frustration is understandable, your claims of "censorship" betray a
slight misunderstanding of the workings of Wikipedia. You talk of
having "posted" information to Wikipedia, terminology generally
associated with online discussion forums, and you talk of "your
censors", implying that there is some identifiable group who have
acquired this role. In fact, what you did [or so I assume] was to edit
an encyclopedia article to contain extra information - your "post"
does not exist as a seperate entity, but is an integral part of the
article. The "censors", meanwhile, are simply fellow editors who felt
- rightly or wrongly - that that information was misplaced; they have
no higher authority than greater experience with the existing content,
and you should not need to challenge them in order for your views to
be heard.
Admittedly, in some cases, views do become entrenched within parts of
Wikipedia, and this is something often discussed - sometimes heatedly.
However, since the discussion and evidence you called for in this case
*do* seem to exist - both within Wikipedia, and more generally - I
don't think this is one of those cases. Clearly, something needs to be
improved, since you did not find the information you were looking for,
but this is most likely a matter of working out how better to
cross-reference existing content, rather than radically re-evaluating
everything on the site.
That said, I have not reviewed any of the content in question in any
detail, and am not an expert in the field, so it may well be that
there *are* glaring inaccuracies, and even some degree of bias, in the
present content. Basically, however, I hope you find the culture of
Wikipedia sufficiently open that you can discuss any such issues you
find (note that every page has a "discussion" page attached to it for
this very purpose) and work towards correcting them in a spirit of
consensus.
--
Rowan Collins BSc
[IMSoP]