[WikiEN-l] systemic bias

Mon May 8 16:35:27 UTC 2006

 "Raphael Wegmann" wrote

>. WP:NOT censored states:
>   "Wikipedia cannot guarantee that articles or images are tasteful
>    to all users or adhere to specific social or religious norms or
>    requirements."
> It doesn't state:
>   "It is Wikipedias mission to publish tasteless articles or images
>    and breaking social or religious norms or requirements."
>
> WP:Profanity is more specific in that matter. It states:
>   "Including information about offensive material is part of
>    Wikipedia's encyclopedic mission; being offensive is not."

So, Wikipedia editors need not self-censor, while engaged in writing the 
encyclopedia articles.  As decent people, they will self-censor in talk page 
discussion.  Self-censorship is of course a basic social requirement.

This is comparable to the common understanding about academic freedom: you 
can say anything, independent of the popularity of the opinion.  WP should 
be dealing with facts, though.  In both cases, there is a clear 
understanding about _how_ you say things, which comes as a responsibility of 
the role.  That is a matter of reputation-management rather than policy, 
though.

Charles 