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| | Wikipedia's biographies, particularly of living people in the public eye, '''are''' more likely to contain ''unflattering'' material than some other sources. For example, the article on NPR news correspondent [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Totenberg Nina Totenberg], mentions a plagiarism incident. Such biographies are usually subject to editing by many editors, and material of this sort doesn't usually stay very long unless a source is cited; in this case, a Wall Street Journal article. [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith]] 17:29, 7 January 2007 (EST) | | Wikipedia's biographies, particularly of living people in the public eye, '''are''' more likely to contain ''unflattering'' material than some other sources. For example, the article on NPR news correspondent [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Totenberg Nina Totenberg], mentions a plagiarism incident. Such biographies are usually subject to editing by many editors, and material of this sort doesn't usually stay very long unless a source is cited; in this case, a Wall Street Journal article. [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith]] 17:29, 7 January 2007 (EST) |
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| | + | : '''Reply''' For starters, Wikipedia has no policy against gossip. That isn't just a matter of "editing by many editors." Gossip is not educational, and is often anti-intellectual. Look at 100 entries in the Encyclopedia Britannica and you're unlikely to see any gossip. Look at ten substantive entries in Wikipedia (other than the silly music/Hollywood/political stuff) and you're likely to see many instances of gossip. Also, I've noticed vulgar entries in Wikipedia that would never be found in a real encyclopedia, but it would violate the policy of Conservapedia to post examples here and they are not worth looking for. |
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| | + | : Let's take your Nina Totenberg example. Here are the first five sentences: |
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| | + | :Sentence one: Totenberg attended Boston University, and is the daughter of violinist Roman Totenberg, who is professor emeritus at Boston University and also teaches at the Longy School of Music. |
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| | + | :Comment: why this detail about her father??? That's gossipy. The entry is about Totenberg, not her father. |
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| | + | : Sentence two: Totenberg is the widow of the late former Sen. Floyd Haskell (D-Colo), whom she married in 1979. |
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| | + | :Comment: That fact does not define Totenberg, and should not be the second sentence. Again, this is leading with gossip. |
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| | + | :Sentences three and four: She married H. David Reines, a trauma physician, in 2000. On their honeymoon, he treated her for severe injuries after she was hit by a boat propeller while swimming. |
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| | + | :Comment: This is really silly gossip at this point. |
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| | + | :Sentence five: Totenberg began her career with the National Observer, from which she was fired for plagiarism in 1972. |
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| | + | :Comment: That was over 30 years ago, and it exaggerates an incident concerning a couple of paragraphs. This is gossip. |
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| | + | :One of the reasons people like Wikipedia is because it is so gossipy, without yet having the stigma of the National Enquirer. The same people would blush at the suggestion of reading the National Enquirer, which has higher standards than Wikipedia. |
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| | + | :Disclosure: Totenberg interviewed me once on NPR. --[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 20:39, 7 January 2007 (EST) |