Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Placement bias

2009-06-27T18:15:04Z

Andrew Dalby: moving my added info to a more relevant position (this isn't placement bias!)

'''Placement bias''' is the manipulation of the order and placement of information in order to distort the impression left in the reader.

[[Liberal]] methods often use placement bias to obscure important facts unfavorable to their argument, and to promote their claims beyond what is justified. Some examples:

* The [[Wikipedia]] entry on [[Boy Scouts v. Dale]], a case that the [[liberal]]s lost, features a glowing praise of the attorney on their side near the top of the article, an aside which had no relevance to the decision that he lost.<ref name="wikibias">[[Bias in Wikipedia]].</ref>

* [[Liberal]] icon [[Bertrand Russell]] receives glowing adoration on Wikipedia; it is only after about 7,700 words about him that Wikipedia finally mentions Russell's support of the [[communist revolution]] (but pretends that Russell quickly opposed it). <ref name="wikibias" />

It is understood in newspaper editing that the number of people who read a comment is proportional to its proximity to the beginning of the article. Moreover, readers expect the more important information to be first, and place more emphasis on the top part of an article. As an example of how this can be manipulated, Wikipedia's entry on former liberal Vice President [[Al Gore]] contains no mention of the drug charges against his son. But Wikipedia's entry on conservative Vice President [[Dick Cheney]] prominently mentions his adult daughter's sexuality.<ref name="wikibias" /> The same effect can be seen in the [[Jimmy Swaggart]] article; also in disputes on the talk page of Wikipedia's [[Barney Frank]] article concerning what details deserve mention in the introduction.<ref>See http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Barney_Frank&oldid=291734546.</ref> Similarly, in the entry on Barack Obama on [[Conservapedia]] the prominent placing of the long section "[[Barack Hussein Obama#Obama is likely the first Muslim President|Obama is likely the first Muslim President]]" might be seen by some as placement bias.

On [[Wikipedia]], placement bias is taken one step further by downplaying facts unfavorable to [[liberals]] by placing them in entirely different, and less-visited, entries. For example, the drug charges against Albert Gore III were mentioned in the rarely-viewed Wikipedia entry "Al Gore III" -- but that entry has now been deleted.<ref>See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Al_Gore_III_(8th_nomination).</ref>

==References==
<References/>

==See Also==
[[Examples of Bias in Wikipedia]]

[[category:media]]
[[category:Liberal Bias]]

Placement bias

2009-06-27T17:58:56Z

Andrew Dalby: Reinserting and updating a detail omitted in 2008

'''Placement bias''' is the manipulation of the order and placement of information in order to distort the impression left in the reader.

[[Liberal]] methods often use placement bias to obscure important facts unfavorable to their argument, and to promote their claims beyond what is justified. Some examples:

* The [[Wikipedia]] entry on [[Boy Scouts v. Dale]], a case that the [[liberal]]s lost, features a glowing praise of the attorney on their side near the top of the article, an aside which had no relevance to the decision that he lost.<ref name="wikibias">[[Bias in Wikipedia]].</ref>

* [[Liberal]] icon [[Bertrand Russell]] receives glowing adoration on Wikipedia; it is only after about 7,700 words about him that Wikipedia finally mentions Russell's support of the [[communist revolution]] (but pretends that Russell quickly opposed it). <ref name="wikibias" />

It is understood in newspaper editing that the number of people who read a comment is proportional to its proximity to the beginning of the article. Moreover, readers expect the more important information to be first, and place more emphasis on the top part of an article. As an example of how this can be manipulated, Wikipedia's entry on former liberal Vice President [[Al Gore]] contains no mention of the drug charges against his son.<ref>The issue was formerly mentioned in the rarely-viewed Wikipedia entry on the son, Al Gore III, but that entry has now been deleted. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Al_Gore_III_(8th_nomination)].</ref> But Wikipedia's entry on conservative Vice President [[Dick Cheney]] prominently mentions his adult daughter's sexuality.<ref name="wikibias" /> The same effect can be seen in the [[Jimmy Swaggart]] article; also in disputes on the talk page of Wikipedia's [[Barney Frank]] article concerning what details deserve mention in the introduction.<ref>See [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Barney_Frank&oldid=291734546].</ref> Similarly, in the entry on Barack Obama on [[Conservapedia]] the prominent placing of the long section "[[Barack Hussein Obama#Obama is likely the first Muslim President|Obama is likely the first Muslim President]]" might be seen by some as placement bias.

On [[Wikipedia]], placement bias is taken one step further by downplaying facts unfavorable to [[liberals]] by placing them in entirely different, and less-visited, entries.

==References==

<References/>

==See Also==
[[Examples of Bias in Wikipedia]]

[[category:media]]
[[category:Liberal Bias]]

Placement bias

2009-05-23T21:31:11Z

Andrew Dalby: Adding two examples -- one from Wikipedia, one from Conservapedia

'''Placement bias''' is the manipulation of the order and placement of information in order to distort the impression left in the reader.

[[Liberal]] methods often use placement bias to obscure important facts unfavorable to their argument, and to promote their claims beyond what is justified. Some examples:

* The [[Wikipedia]] entry on [[Boy Scouts v. Dale]], a case that the [[liberal]]s lost, features a glowing praise of the attorney on their side near the top of the article, an aside which had no relevance to the decision that he lost.<ref name="wikibias">[[Bias in Wikipedia]].</ref>

* [[Liberal]] icon [[Bertrand Russell]] receives glowing adoration on Wikipedia; it is only after about 7,700 words about him that Wikipedia finally mentions Russell's support of the [[communist revolution]] (but pretends that Russell quickly opposed it). <ref name="wikibias" />

It is understood in newspaper editing that the number of people who read a comment is proportional to its proximity to the beginning of the article. Moreover, readers expect the more important information to be first, and place more emphasis on the top part of an article. As an example of how this can be manipulated, Wikipedia's entry on former liberal Vice President [[Al Gore]] contains no mention of the drug charges against his son. But Wikipedia's entry on conservative Vice President [[Dick Cheney]] prominently mentions his adult daughter's sexuality.<ref name="wikibias" /> The same effect can be seen in the [[Jimmy Swaggart]] article; also in disputes on the talk page of Wikipedia's [[Barney Frank]] article concerning what details deserve mention in the introduction.<ref>See [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Barney_Frank&oldid=291734546].</ref> Similarly, in the entry on Barack Obama on [[Conservapedia]] the prominent placing of the long section "[[Barack Hussein Obama#Obama is likely the first Muslim President|Obama is likely the first Muslim President]]" might be seen by some as placement bias.

On [[Wikipedia]], placement bias is taken one step further by downplaying facts unfavorable to [[liberals]] by placing them in entirely different, and less-visited, entries.

==References==

<References/>

==See Also==
[[Examples of Bias in Wikipedia]]

[[category:media]]
[[category:Liberal Bias]]

Rudy Giuliani

2007-03-15T19:33:16Z

Andrew Dalby: Correcting misspellings of his name (have I caught them all?)

'''Rudolph ("Rudy") Giuliani''' (born 1944) is the former two-term [[Republican]] mayor of New York City. He presided over the city when the [[9/11]] terrorist attack occurred. He is running for the Republican nomination for president of the United States in 2008.

Giuliani is [[liberal]] on social issues such as [[abortion]], gay rights and guns. In 1994 Giuliani made a highly public endorsement<ref>http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n22_v46/ai_15999869</ref> of Democrat [[Mario Cuomo]] in his reelection race for governor of New York against Republican [[George Pataki]], who won anyway.

Giuliani did attract some support by conservatives by emphasizing law-and-order as mayor, which included reducing crime in New York City. When U.S. Senator [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan]] announced that he would retire in 2000, Giuliani raised millions of dollars from conservatives in an apparent attempt to defeat [[Hillary Clinton]] for that seat. But after Giuliani raised all that money, he declined to run and many have no idea what happened to their donations.

The National Catholic Register is advising Catholics not to vote for Rudy in 2008 because he is pro-choice. <ref>[http://ncregister.com/site/article/2017 No Deal Rudy]</ref><br>

Prior to becoming mayor of New York City, Giuliani served as a prosecutor for the [[Department of Justice]] in the 1980s. As U.S. Attorney, Giuliani presided over many high-profile arrests and prosecutions, many of them apparently publicity stunts. Acquittals in the Southern District of New York are very rare, but juries acquitted former Miss America Bess Myerson and former Philippines First Lady Imelda Marcos of charges brought by Giuliani.

In another display of publicity, Giuliani began prosecuting insider trading after an investigation by the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] uncovered some illegality. Giuliani then arranged for two Wall Street brokers to be handcuffed, put up against the wall, and arrested at their offices. They were subjected to humiliating publicity, but were apparently innocent: no charges could even be brought against them.

Giuliani helped arrange for the Republican National Convention to be in New York in 2004, where he often promoted himself before delegates at special events. But Giuliani's only contribution to the [[Bush Administration]] has been to persuade Bush to nominate Giuliani's friend [[Bernard Kerik]] as the head of [[Homeland Security]] after the 2004 election.{{fact}} Numerous scandals then surfaced about Kerik and he withdrew.

Giuliani's personal background is unlike most presidents. He avoided the Vietnam draft first by obtaining a deferment by attending law school, and then by obtaining a dubious "civilian occupation deferment" to serve as an allegedly essential employee -- which was merely as a law clerk for a judge. Giuliani has been married three times. His first marriage was to his second cousin, Regina Peruggi. They were married for 14 years, before Giuliani had their marriage annulled by the Catholic church. His divorce from his second wife to make it possible to marry another woman consumed enormous time and media attention from 2000 to 2002.

Giuliani is leading in most polling for the 2008 Republican nomination.<ref>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/republican_presidential_nomination-192.html</ref>

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Biographies]]
[[Category:Politics]]