Re: [Wiki-Medicine] Potential Official Statement

2017-09-21 Thread Peter Southwood 
I don’t think an official response is possible, and if it was, I don’t think it 
would be desirable for anyone to presume to speak with the voice of Wikipedia. 
WMF could point them to the policies of Wikipedia as a courtesy, in case they 
were unable to find them unaided, but that is about as far as it goes.  This 
would best be done as a polite response to the petition when it has been 
delivered. I definitely don’t think a snarky response is called for. Assume 
good faith, be civil, deal politely. Point out the applicable policy.  That is 
how we are expected to handle things on Wikipedia. Show them a good example. If 
they can find reliable sources they are free to edit accordingly, with due 
weight.

Cheers,

Peter

 

From: Wikimedia-Medicine 
[mailto:wikimedia-medicine-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Rob Besch
Sent: Wednesday, 20 September 2017 9:09 AM
To: wikimedia-medicine@lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: Re: [Wiki-Medicine] Potential Official Statement

 

I could see how there is an interest in providing an official response to the 
petition, as most other large organizations and networks make such declarations 
in response to large petitions. However, I believe that part of the beauty of 
Wikipedia is that there is not an official spokesperson making such statements, 
and there is a strong negative effect by forcing the famously 
publicly-crowd-sourced network to choose sides. Such a "press release" to this 
petition, though it would be backed by strong evidence, could be a dangerous 
precedent, with future similar statements ostracizing members of our community. 

 

Though I agree that there would be far-ranging media exposure to this proposed 
response, I believe that the message Diptanshu would like to pass along to the 
petition organizer is best summed up in one of the recent comments to the 
petition:

 

 

"There is no need to create a petition to change Wikipedia. The current text is 
written by people just like ourselves. Anyone can edit Wikipedia to state 
whatever they can substantiate by reference to reliable sources. The contents 
of this petition and letter contain sufficient justification to edit wikipedia 
and state your pov and give the sources for it taken from reliable and 
authentic authorities writings and so forth. There is no need to seek anyone's 
permission to do this. Even if there is a clash between your biews and those of 
others who believe homeothepay is a "quack", one can register one's views, 
quoting these reliable sources, as an alternative and more acceptable pov. At 
worst, one can present it as a "controversy" which gives equal exposure to both 
views and allows the reader to make up their minds or to look into the sources 
quoted in order to find out more." -Sean Jones

 

As a result, I'd argue it isn't necessary for us to respond, and actually don't 
believe that we could respond in any official capacity on behalf of Wikipedia. 
However, if we theoretically did, I'd move for something witty similar to what 
Peter wrote. 

 

Would appreciate others' thoughts on this,

 

R

 

 

 

On Sep 20, 2017 02:47,  wrote:

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Today's Topics:

   1. Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article on   Homeopathy
  (Diptanshu Das)
   2. Re: Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article  on
  Homeopathy (Peter Southwood)
   3. Re: Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia  article on
  Homeopathy (Sean Jones)
   4. Re: Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article on
  Homeopathy (Diptanshu Das)


--

Message: 1
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2017 22:45:49 +0530
From: Diptanshu Das 
To: Wiki Medicine discussion ,
wjmboard 
Subject: [Wiki-Medicine] Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article
on  Homeopathy
Message-ID:

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

I would like to bring your attention to the petition
https://www.change.org/p/wikipedia-changing-wikipedia-s-article-on-homoeopathy

Regards
Diptanshu

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Message: 2

Re: [Wiki-Medicine] Potential Official Statement

2017-09-20 Thread Rob Besch 
I could see how there is an interest in providing an official response to
the petition, as most other large organizations and networks make such
declarations in response to large petitions. However, I believe that part
of the beauty of Wikipedia is that there is not an official spokesperson
making such statements, and there is a strong negative effect by forcing
the famously publicly-crowd-sourced network to choose sides. Such a "press
release" to this petition, though it would be backed by strong evidence,
could be a dangerous precedent, with future similar statements ostracizing
members of our community.

Though I agree that there would be far-ranging media exposure to this
proposed response, I believe that the message Diptanshu would like to pass
along to the petition organizer is best summed up in one of the recent
comments to the petition:


"There is no need to create a petition to change Wikipedia. The current
text is written by people just like ourselves. Anyone can edit Wikipedia to
state whatever they can substantiate by reference to reliable sources. The
contents of this petition and letter contain sufficient justification to
edit wikipedia and state your pov and give the sources for it taken from
reliable and authentic authorities writings and so forth. There is no need
to seek anyone's permission to do this. Even if there is a clash between
your biews and those of others who believe homeothepay is a "quack", one
can register one's views, quoting these reliable sources, as an alternative
and more acceptable pov. At worst, one can present it as a "controversy"
which gives equal exposure to both views and allows the reader to make up
their minds or to look into the sources quoted in order to find out more."
-Sean Jones

As a result, I'd argue it isn't necessary for us to respond, and actually
don't believe that we could respond in any official capacity on behalf of
Wikipedia. However, if we theoretically did, I'd move for something witty
similar to what Peter wrote.

Would appreciate others' thoughts on this,

R



On Sep 20, 2017 02:47, 
wrote:

Send Wikimedia-Medicine mailing list submissions to
wikimedia-medicine@lists.wikimedia.org

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-medicine
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
wikimedia-medicine-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org

You can reach the person managing the list at
wikimedia-medicine-ow...@lists.wikimedia.org

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Wikimedia-Medicine digest..."


Today's Topics:

   1. Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article on   Homeopathy
  (Diptanshu Das)
   2. Re: Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article  on
  Homeopathy (Peter Southwood)
   3. Re: Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia  article on
  Homeopathy (Sean Jones)
   4. Re: Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article on
  Homeopathy (Diptanshu Das)


--

Message: 1
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2017 22:45:49 +0530
From: Diptanshu Das 
To: Wiki Medicine discussion ,
wjmboard 
Subject: [Wiki-Medicine] Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article
on  Homeopathy
Message-ID:

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

I would like to bring your attention to the petition
https://www.change.org/p/wikipedia-changing-wikipedia-
s-article-on-homoeopathy

Regards
Diptanshu

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Message: 2
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:11:25 +0200
From: "Peter Southwood" 
To: "'Wiki Medicine discussion'"

Subject: Re: [Wiki-Medicine] Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia
article on  Homeopathy
Message-ID: <004501d33194$3e7963e0$bb6c2ba0$@telkomsa.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Maybe next they will have a petition to repeal the law of gravity

Cheers,

P



From: Wikimedia-Medicine [mailto:wikimedia-medicine-
boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Diptanshu Das
Sent: Tuesday, 19 September 2017 7:16 PM
To: Wiki Medicine discussion; wjmboard
Subject: [Wiki-Medicine] Petition pertaining to the Wikipedia article on
Homeopathy



I would like to bring your attention to the petition

https://www.change.org/p/wikipedia-changing-wikipedia-
s-article-on-homoeopathy



Regards

Diptanshu



Please do not print this e-mail unless you really need to.




 

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