Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 19:02, 2 January 2007

Excellent idea!

Hi QuackGuru. Congratulations are in order, and Happy New Year! I expect this could be a parallel to the List of pseudosciences and pseudoscientific concepts‎. The concepts are often related, but not identical.

I don't know how you have found all these articles, but when the Quackery category was deleted, a few (some obviously pro quackery) editors immediately removed the category tag from a whole lot of articles. It was proper for them to do so, since that category had been deleted, but I suspect they did it with glee! I suspect that many of the articles you already list are among them, but by following those editors' tracks, we might be able to find more. Just watch my edit history and you'll be able to figure out what was going on and who deleted the category tag. Then follow their tracks. If you will please activate your email, I'll email you the names to watch. Let me know on my user page. -- Fyslee 09:44, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Question

Is this just a list or should we be adding some sort of NPOV statements along with each. Even medicine has elements of quackery, while chiropractic has elements that are not. How do we handle that? --Dematt 03:16, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

This is another attempt at POV labelling. Misplaced Pages is not a soapbox. This article should be put up for deletion due to major NPOV issues.--Hughgr 07:09, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Whoa! Slow down a bit. This is a list, not an article. There is no labelling going on, and therefore no NPOV issue.

This isn't a category label that gets attached to articles without explanatory comments. We know what problems there were with the quackery category! The problems with category labelling are avoided by using lists instead. Of course medicine has elements that can be considered quackery when misused, and of course chiropractic has elements that aren't. Obvously the medical and chiropractic aspects that aren't related to quackery wouldn't come to mind for a student of the subject, only the aspects that are related to it. If you will notice, there are medical subjects and subjects on all sides of the spectrum. Some are only words that are not themselves quackery, but are considered red flags by some skeptics. Just as long as there is some relation to the subject in some situations, it's fair game to include it. (Please add psychotherapy!) One first gets into POV problems when one starts labelling.

Suppression of opposing POV is very unwikipedian. Misplaced Pages is about presenting all significant POV, and attempts to limit the ability of editors to contribute or collaborate is a violation of the principles that govern Misplaced Pages. Many similar projects exist here for supporters of alternative medicine and pseudoscience. To be fair, should they also be deleted? I think not. They have a right to profile Misplaced Pages's resources as well. As long as NPOV is preserved (which can be avoided by not labelling) there is no problem.

I invite your collaboration here. We need to make sure NPOV problems are avoided, so if you see direct labelling that might be in violation, please edit appropriately. Notice that the long list of possibly related categories is mostly only listed, and not actually used as a category at the bottom. This is another way to avoid problems. They are included as resources, not labels.

As with all new lists and articles, nothing is finished yet, so a premature deletion will be seen as on obvious editorial attempt to suppress possible opposing POV, a practice that is forbidden here. (The job of Misplaced Pages is to present POV, not suppress it!) This list is simply a resource for people studying the resources found at Misplaced Pages. It thus strengthens Misplaced Pages as a resource. Readers can then study for themselves and make up their own minds. -- Fyslee 08:19, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

May I inquire from Hughgr what your NPOV issues are with this list? As a list it is a compilation of articles that some people consider have something to do with quackery. As a writer about science I find this a fascinating and helpful list. It alerts me to areas that I have not previously considered. It is a valuable resource. The POV/NPOV issues are surely considered in the individual articles and not the list itself. Further, the list includes both (to coin a term) pro-quack and anti-quack articles (sound like a flock of ducks), so I think the list cannot be considered as pushing a POV.Maustrauser 08:33, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

I guess in a nutshell, who or whom decides what goes on this list. It can be easily perceived as a perjorative. --Hughgr 19:02, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Cautionary notes

I have included cautionary notes for editors (that are not visible for readers):

• Extreme caution should be exercised when writing descriptions. Direct labels that could be construed as violating NPOV policy should be avoided. There is no need to label items as quackery, scientific, quacks, debunkers, for or against quackery, etc.. Let readers decide for themselves.

Feel free to edit them to make sure we avoid NPOV problems and edit wars. Quacks and their promoters will take a whole arm if we give them a finger. By avoiding direct POV labeling, we can avoid problems and have Misplaced Pages policies as our support. -- Fyslee 10:28, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

It's not working for me. Can you show me where lists are treated differently than articles from a NPOV perspective? When you label entire categories as "related" to Quackery, you are making a statement whether that was your intention or not.

The other consideration is the subjective nature of the definition of quackery. Anything can be related to quackery, particularly in a capatalistic advertising society where the one that advertises the most (i.e. quacks the loudest) wins. Where do you draw the line? Unfortunately, I don't consider psychotherapy quackery, nor medicine, and I wouldn't put them on a list of quackery items, but if the line is low enough to include chiropractic and acupuncture, it begins to include significant others, including physical therapy, cholesterol and heart attacks, immunizations, etc. IOWs, there is a lot of gray out there - draw the line too low and it will be easier to list the things that are not quackery. --Dematt 15:30, 2 January 2007 (UTC)