[WikiEN-l] Mother Teresa article

Mon Oct 27 17:05:24 UTC 2003

The Cunctator wrote:

>That is to say, in my opinion, the root causes for this current upset
>lie in failures of the institution (Wikipedia policies and customs)
>rather than the individuals--though the individuals should be able to
>transcend the current failures of the institution by avoiding such
>temptations as calling for NPOV votes.
>
I agree to the point that I almost feel ashamed for having participated 
in some of those votes.  The development of voting processes seems to 
lend support to the idea that voting is evil.  In the wake of a highly 
complex process over the logo, the painful Votes for Deletion, and now 
NPOV votes on an individual article it becomes clear that voting is a 
technique for majorities to marginalize minority opinions.

I would say that there is a failure of institutional custom in the face 
of institutional policy.  As a custom NPOV works very well; as a policy 
it begins to cry for clear definitions that may in reality be unachievable.

I believe that there is wide consensus that NPOV is something very 
positive.  That tends to break down when we try to define what that 
means.  Trying to impose NPOV is a very POV activity.  NPOV is a natural 
by-product of open-mindedness and fair-mindedness; it's not about 
ensuring that critics and supporters of a particular POV have paragraphs 
of equal size.  The latter only changes the search for NPOV into a 
pissing match.

Ec