Talk:Examples of Bias in Wikipedia

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Talk:Examples of Bias in Wikipedia/Archive1 Talk:Examples of Bias in Wikipedia/Archive2

Reply (to this)

Aschafly: Sure, go ahead. Just remember to attribute. And i'm not hiding anything. I am a liberal.

Order: I took that view from looking at the above talk page. Also, you should remember that Wikipedia generally inflates that count since around 70-80% of those accounts are vandalism only by my estimates, even back when I was doing that study when there were only around 800,000 user names.

Even if there are only 10%, i.e. 380 000, active wikipedians, a group of 20 self selcted respondants is still insignificant. --Order 17 March, 18:35 (AEST)
There were around 50, and they weren't self selected. Karmafist 15:45, 17 March 2007 (EDT)

Others: Feel free to add to the study if you want in any way you'd like. Just remember to attribute the initial research. I took it basically by word of mouth in metapedian areas, that old user name of mine ("I", the real world "I", Andrew Sylvia, has a few more user accounts that still edit actively, including a few admin accounts) had around 10,000 welcomes if I remember correctly.

And "I"(karmafist, not "me") didn't leave that place due to this survey, it was because I fought the tyrant that runs Wikipedia when he bullied an underage minor and sacrificed my reputation with those monsters for it. Karmafist 22:57, 16 March 2007 (EDT)

Using fun statistics on wikipedia, just turn this site into a joke

I just saw that there is an additonal item on the list on bias using yet another fun statistic. You are now also quoting List of wikipedians by religion. This has nothing to do with being a responsible serious site anymore. A very bad example for the rest of the editors. -- Order 17 March, 18:50 (AEST)

Ratio (again)

Why hasn't the statistic displayed been changed, even though it has been conclusively demonstrated that the math is bad? In addition, I would not define "liberal bias" as the ratio of liberals to conservatives in a group, that is simply anti-intellectual. If they were editing from a liberal POV, instead of an NPOV (the two are different things), then it might be somewhat reasonable. Geekman314(contact me) 15:15, 17 March 2007 (EDT)

I defined "liberal bias" in the only sensible way possible: the ratio of liberals to conservatives in a group. If you have a different definition, then let's hear it. Based on my definition, the ratio of 6 is plainly correct. Liberal math to try to get a different result for 3 divided by 1/2 doesn't fly here.--Aschlafly 15:26, 17 March 2007 (EDT)
No, it's plainly not. If 2:1 is a 200% liberal bias, then that makes 1:1, a completely unbiased ratio, 100% liberal. According to your definition of ratios, the only non-liberal-bias is no liberals at all. So what makes your idea of ratios the "only sensible way possible"? --LutherBifteck 16:28, 17 March 2007 (EDT)
What? Liberal math? You divide the fraction of liberals in Wikipedia (3/4) by the fraction of liberals in America (1/3), and you get (9/4). Thats 5th grade math, not liberal math. And you graduated from Harvard? NickJ10 16:59, 17 March 2007 (EDT)
Folks, I've asked someone to propose a different definition of liberal bias. My definition makes the most sense because its scale is from 0 to infinity, like the Kelvin temperature scale preferred by scientists. No one has proposed a plausible alternative scale for liberal bias. Based on the obvious definition, my math is correct.--Aschlafly 20:56, 17 March 2007 (EDT)
  • First, you use raw numbers of a self selected group to come to do your statistics. Any conclusion drawn from is speculative at best. A non-no in statistics 101.
  • What raw data can do shows this example. In the harris poll 34% of all people are conservative. Your raw data on Wikipedia gives that 36% are conservative. This means that wikipedia is at least as conservative as the american public.
  • You assume that articles written by a conservative are automatically convervatively biased, and articles written by liberal liberally biased.
  • You simple forget about the 40% moderates in the Harris poll. Your stament six time more liberal than American public compares liberals to the American public as a whole, including moderates, your math however doesn't count moderates.
  • What you need to compare, if anything, compare the percentages of the overall population. Because with your math it doesn't matter if there are 66% conservatives in a population vs 33% liberals, or 12% vs 6%, or two conservatives vs one liberal.
What raw data from a selfselected data, with your approach to fractional math can do was demonstarted in 87.5% more New Jersyian than America and Wikipedia 75 times as biased towards Erdos than average mathematicians. Talking about fun statistics. --[[User:Order|Order] 18 March, 12:00 (AEST)


We had an editing conflict, so here my answer to your question on how to difine liberal bias.

  • You say Wikipedia is six times more liberal than the American public..
  • This means you compare Liberals to the American public.
  • The American public includes Liberals, Moderates, and Conservatives.
  • What you need to campare is percentage of liberals in America, vs the percentage if liberally biased articles in Wikipedia. To obtain an estimate for the latter just look at 100 random pages (or better 1000), and count the pages that have a liberal bias. Done. --[[User:Order|Order] 18 March, 12:10 (AEST)

Re: #6 (Great Flood)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah%27s_Ark

And which term do you think people are more familiar with -- Noah's Ark or "Great Flood"? Many civilizations have had a "great flood" story at one point or another, so why cater only to the Christians?

--LutherBifteck 20:25, 17 March 2007 (EDT)

It gets worse from there. The "Deluge (mythology)" article covers many flood myths, including the Noah one. but here's the start of the Noah section:

Hebrew (Genesis)

Further information about the Genesis version can be found at Noah's Ark.

And the "Noah's Ark" bit is actually a link to the article LutherBifteck mentioned. This "bias" entry is more than silly, it's just plain wrong or misinformed. --Sid 3050 20:39, 17 March 2007 (EDT)

REPLY: The Noah's Ark entry on Wikipedia has the same bias, with numerous references to "myth" and "story", and gratuitous claims that it is rejected today. 60% of Americans accept that the Great Flood occurred. You obviously disagree, which is fine, but your view is way out of step with the American public.--Aschlafly 20:59, 17 March 2007 (EDT)

That may very possibly be because I'm not a member of the American public. Not even to mention that Americans aren't the majority of Wikipedia users... (Assuming that you actually meant me... it's hard to tell when your reply comes on the "opening post" level addresses an unnamed "you") --Sid 3050 21:21, 17 March 2007 (EDT)


All narrative Bible verses are called stories. What word would you like in its place? Dictionary.com defines "myth" as "a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation". Noah's Ark is the very definition of a myth.
What gratuitious claims? Noah's Ark maybe accepted by 60% of Americans (who you seem to think are the sole users of Wikipedia), but don't the 40% of people who don't believe it count for something? I have not found one thing in that article to the effect "nobody really believes the Great Flood story anymore."--LutherBifteck 21:23, 17 March 2007 (EDT)

Palestinian people on Wikipedia

The Wikipedia article on Palestinian people screams with bias. Time and time again have others tried to remove the top photograph of young children, with no avail. Encyclopedic articles on other cultures and groups of people do not try to invoke sympathy and emotions by posting images of cute and innocent children. This is clearly a propaganda piece, and it holds no merit. There should be a note of this on the Examples of Bias in Wikipedia list. Wikipedialol 20:43, 17 March 2007 (EDT)

Boy, you really opened my eyes to Wikipedia's bias here. Not only are children's photographs used there, but it makes no mention of the PLO as a terrorist organization. In fact, it doesn't even define the PLO! Click on the PLO entry, and there is no acknowledgement of its massacre of innocent athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972. I'll add this now. Thanks much for pointing this out ... and I hope you can stick around and enter some info here.--Aschlafly 21:05, 17 March 2007 (EDT)
Uh... actually, there is acknowledgement of the Munich Olympics massacre at the bottom of the page, and there's a whole section devoted to PLO as a terrorist organization.--LutherBifteck 21:26, 17 March 2007 (EDT)
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