Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 01:14, 23 April 2010

Thought

I wonder if we need to explicate in the lede that the guideline is not intended to apply to direct quotations and descriptions of attributed opinion. That's self-evident to you and me, but is it to the average neophyte?—DCGeist (talk) 01:46, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

Good idea, Dan. Tony (talk) 02:39, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

My thoughts

• Words that may introduce bias - this does not give any positive examples, it simply tells us that most words we might use for these situations are best avoided. "Alleged", in fact, is often the best (and most concise) word to use when discussing an apparent or perceived crime or other wrong doing that is under investigation.
• Words that label: "Pedophilia is a paraphilia." - Not sure that's not much better than the original, actually, as you have to click through to get the explanation (if you even do understand after reading that article)... and the first word is linked anyway! Do we need this example, for that matter? Isn't it a bit extreme?
• Extremist, terrorist, or freedom fighter? - huh?
• Noting what is being noted: "If a fact appears in an encyclopedia, it is presumably noteworthy." - I'd scrap that sentence as being both obvious and condescending
• See and saw: "...any other noun without visual organs..." - actually no noun has visual organs... "entity" is probably intended here?

General - this really is verbose in the extreme! I got so far and ended up going "tl;dr"... It could say all the same stuff in a quarter of the words. Good luck with finding the ah... correct words.  :) --Jubilee♫clipman 18:10, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

• OTOH, having just looked through the diffs, I must admit the tightening of the bias section was 100% necessary and very well done (apart from not having positive examples). If the rest can be cut down that way, great! Cheers --Jubilee♫clipman 21:01, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Jubilee, what I'm going to do is tighten the whole thing right down, but I won't be removing things I disagree with, unless they're clearly wrong. I'll leave that for a second phase. For now, the aim is just to make it readable. SlimVirgin 05:39, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

That makes sense. Pretty much what I'm doing with the music stuff (though at the moment I am just making notes for myself). Great work from all working on this! DCGeist scrapped that sentence second bullet point up, BTW, thank God! Cheers --Jubilee♫clipman 00:30, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Good things come to he who waits...

Slim, I see you've added a couple words to the box of Words that may editorialize (terrific design concept, by the way) that are unmistakable, quintessential, definitive peacock terms! That's a legendary move, destined to be a classic.

The peacocks are undoubtedly "words that may editorialize", but I'm wondering if the degree of consolidation suggested by the current format might be just a bit too radical for our fellow editors when it comes to this issue. What do you think of having two boxes under WtME--creating a new one with "legendary" and classic" to which we could add, say, a dozen more, and one more mega-terse graf, this one devoted to the peacock issue? Or, for consistent design, we could do exactly the same thing, but with its own section header distinct from WtME.—DCGeist (talk) 07:08, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes, that sounds fine. I'm wondering if you want to try merging peacock and the others into this now, as I think we have this page fairly tight. That's assuming you're still planning to do that. I suspect there will be objections, but we can see.

By the way, if you like the boxes, that's good, but if not feel free to remove. I'm not wedded to them. :) SlimVirgin 08:09, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes, I'll attack peacock now.

I think the boxes are great. I think we could use examples of euphemism and cliché in a couple more categories: sex? illness and injury? disability?—DCGeist (talk) 08:16, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

Sure, expand as you see fit, and I'll see if I can think of some too. There are no shortage of examples. :) SlimVirgin 08:27, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

Peacock image

I dig the images, too, but the peacock one is cutting off too much of the right side of the box, at least in my viewer. We'd want to have an image aficionado free the pea from his rectangular white background, like our weasel, who overlaps his box a little in much more attractive fashion.—DCGeist (talk) 09:06, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

Feel free to remove in that case. I wonder whether we need so many shortcuts too. Perhaps we could trim these a little? If you don't mind, I'd like to use the weasel image in the lead, because it's cute and it does sum up what we're talking about. I'm not keen on the lead image I added: looks a bit too close to censorship. SlimVirgin 09:28, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

Agree on all points. We can certainly impose a limit of two shortcuts per section.—DCGeist (talk) 09:33, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

Or what do you think about using the peacock in the lead? There's no overlap problem up there, and that way we get to keep both him and Weezie. Just a thought. If you've got a strong vision of how our little vermin will work in the lead, go for it.—DCGeist (talk) 09:53, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

The thing I like about the weasel is that he includes "some people say," which deals with another point. But that's very minor. I'm happy with the peacock too. :) SlimVirgin 10:14, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

This is a MOS not a children's book. The images should go Gnevin (talk) 07:47, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Gnevin - Please stop removing the images just because you personally think they are "childish". I happen to think they both help to illustrate the points raised in the guideline. If we get consensus to remove one or both, then by all means remove; until then please leave as is. Thank you --Jubilee♫clipman 21:46, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

As per my edit summary per talk they look childish in a MOS however if they are re-added again I'll consider the matter closed Gnevin (talk) 22:05, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Astounding

The progress here is incredible! I particularly like the boxes used to contain the questionable words: I might use that for the music MoSes. Whatever else is true, this gives me pointers as to where we are likely headed overall and where I need to take those that I'm am working on. (I, too, am working in userspace: see main MoS talk page under the Music section.) --Jubilee♫clipman 00:43, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Nice!! - Wikidemon (talk) 16:13, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Definetly. Am strongly in favour of this change which will make it easier for editors to learn best practice in one place. (without overloading MOS) As a minor point it would be good if the neo section could explicitly say that while neos should be avoided in the text of an article, its okay to have articles with a neo as the subject. Some editors try to use neos as an excuse for deletion, it would be absurd not to have an article on Sovereign Wealth Fund or Chimerica! FeydHuxtable (talk) 16:51, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

Weasel word

Gotta love the ironic aptness of the second tag found in this section! How come templates aren't required to follow the MoS? Or are they? --Jubilee♫clipman 10:38, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Profanity

I'm wondering what these sentences refer to: "In certain cases, it is necessary to employ expressions that some devout readers will find blasphemous. Special care should be taken that such use is never offhand and that alternative expressions are considered to determine if they might be equally informative substitutes. However, Misplaced Pages is not censored, and the use of such expressions when appropriate is fully supported by policy."

I tried to remove the first, but then the rest made no sense, and when I tried to copy edit it, I realized I didn't know what it was saying.

SlimVirgin 06:28, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Profanity covers a broad range of expressions, including those with the potential to be regarded as blasphemous. My Merriam-Webster's Collegiate defines blasphemy as "the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God" and "irreverence toward something considered sacred or inviolable". Potentially blasphemous expressions should never be used glibly, but must be defended when encyclopedically appropriate.—DCGeist (talk) 06:43, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

I worry that by mentioning it we give credence to the concept of "blasphemy." I also can't think offhand of a word that might cover. SlimVirgin 06:50, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps no single word, but many expressions. "There is no credible evidence that anything like the biblical Garden of Eden ever existed or ever could have." That's a plausibly encyclopedic sentence that many devout Jews, Christians, and Muslims would consider blasphemous.—DCGeist (talk) 07:06, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

I don't think I'd want to see that in a section about profanity, or in this guideline at all. I feel it's quite close to saying, "We may often have to use words that imply women, gays, and blacks are equal in the eyes of the law. Although that may offend our misogynist, homophobic, and racist readers, it is fully supported by policy." :) SlimVirgin 07:21, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

On whether it belongs in a section about profanity, I disagree: I think it's a significant issue, perhaps the issue, of profanity in an encyclopedic context. (Ideologically, I am very much inclined toward your position, but the fact is that profanity means what it means, which goes beyond mere offensiveness. Mainstream religious belief, however noxious its attributes sometimes are, is still conventionally accorded a deference that non-religious creeds are not.) I am not devout, and I know the vast majority of Misplaced Pages contributors are not, but the issue of blasphemy is very important to many of those who are devout, countless numbers of whom are our readers. That said, I do not think it is necessary that this page directly address the issue, and I would be happy to see it relegated to a See also link.—DCGeist (talk) 07:43, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Though, as I read what I just posted, that smacks of passing the buck. I guess, a bit unhappily, that I believe it should be addressed here. Perhaps we should seek other opinions.—DCGeist (talk) 07:47, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Sure, good idea. As for a title, what do you think of Misplaced Pages:Words to watch? SlimVirgin 08:05, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

As noted on the main Talk page, I think it's goddamned fucking brilliant.—DCGeist (talk) 08:16, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Hey, you just used some words to watch! (But I'm glad you like it.) :D SlimVirgin 08:22, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Back to blasphemy: I cut out the long clause in the middle of the passage, which reduces the tone of deference and, I think, makes it more focused, mo' better.—DCGeist (talk) 01:52, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

I suggest renaming WP:Words and Imagery to Avoid and move Misplaced Pages:Profanity here Gnevin (talk) 08:43, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

DCGeist why did you remove the part about images? I thought the goal here was to bring common MOS together . With a few tweaks this MOS could include Profanity also Gnevin (talk) 07:47, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Other pages

To what extent are the other pages (neologism, weasel, and peacock) now incorporated here, or is there work still to be done to bring in their key points? SlimVirgin 03:04, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Their key points have been incorporated here. In communication with Tony, I expressed my belief that this page is ready to go "live." Optimally, that would be in place of the existing Words to avoid page, followed after !brief discussion by a retitling to Words to watch. It occurred to me that alternately we could bring it online directly as Words to watch and argue from there that it should supplant Words to avoid. The latter process might be more politic, but the former is much more efficient.

As an obvious corollary, once this page is brought online, I believe it will be time to edit no-ne, no-we, and no-pe so that they are no longer marked as part of the Manual of Style.—DCGeist (talk) 03:17, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Or we redirect those pages to Words to avoid, but that could be harder. What's your instinct about how to proceed with this page? SlimVirgin 03:29, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

That either way, it will help a great deal if Tony's around. It looks like he's online. I'll solicit his opinion.—DCGeist (talk) 03:37, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

It would be ideal to incorporate them now. In a few hours' time, I'll compare all pages to see where we lie in terms of rationalisation. (Got client right now.) Tony (talk) 07:22, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

• Well, this page is going to get quite a deal longer if we are to incorporate those other pages. I've made a start with the peacock page, tweaking and trimming it down. Is this going to work? I'm perfectly amenable to reversion if Slim and other editors here don't think it will. The gleam in my eye is to remove three MoS pages so that editors can go to the one W2W page, nice and simple. It would encourage synergy between these closely related areas and bring together editors with interest and expertise in the whole field of appropriate expression in WP articles. I guess one of my concerns in a more expansive approach to integrating these pages is that editors may be more willing to see the others taken out of the MoS if what is seen as useful guidance is included here. Tony (talk) 14:57, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

I'm willing to start working them in if there's material in them that's not already in here. Not sure what Dan's thinking is on that point. SlimVirgin 22:31, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

OK, need regular feedback on how much is too much. I thought, for example, that long list of words to "watch out for" at the Peacock page was useful; I trimmed it down a bit, though, and made it running text rather than the verticalised whole page it is at Peacock. I like the explicit freedom it gives (kind of ... "just watch these ones, they're not exactly banned, but they flag the need for care"), and have repeated that message here, I hope. There's more from Peacock I plan to bring here. Again, please comment or revert if this is becoming too big.

Actually, I had expected the page to be fairly large if it's to encompass three or four existing ones. Tony (talk) 03:27, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

PS I removed "freedom figher" from the puffery list: it's not really puffery, but is an excellent example of what to watch out for WRT POV, and I'm sure I've seen it exemplified on one of the other pages. It would be good to retain here in the right subsection. Tony (talk) 03:30, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Also

This is a fact about the subject. Also, this is another fact about the subject, also, the subject did this.

One of my own bugaboos -- the overuse of "also". "Also" is pretty much implied for every list of facts, and is generally unnecessary; it makes the prose seem childish and perhaps over-eager.

Is this just my own personal take? I'm not sure where or how I'd place this. --jpgordon 16:33, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

You're not alone. More often than not, "also" is redundant. Not sure if this fits into any of categories in WTW, though. Dabomb87 (talk) 01:25, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Isn't it used similar to "In addition", etc. and is sometimes useful to make a paragraph flow better? That's the way I see it. Gary King (talk) 01:28, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

jpgordon, you took the words out of my mouth! Tony (talk) 03:31, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Gary: sometimes. Compare "Like Temple Sinai's previous rabbis, Broude also passionately supported liberal causes" (taken from this version of TFA Temple Sinai), where the also is redundant , to "On 26 July 2000, Manchester United opened their Trafford Training Centre training ground and Academy on land formerly owned by Shell. Manchester City also have a training ground on Carrington Moss" (from tomorrow's TFA Carrington Moss), where the also adds meaning (Manchester United has a training ground there, and Manchester City does too). Dabomb87 (talk) 04:13, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

This page is (quite rightly) about words to watch not because they're unnecessary or poor style, but because they damage our neutral point of view. While overuse of "also" is a problem for a well-written article, it doesn't belong in this guideline. Happy‑melon 18:53, 12 April 2010 (UTC)

That is, indeed, the primary focus. More generally, this page draws attention to words that may be entirely unproblematic in other contexts, but must be used cautiously on Misplaced Pages. The overuse of also is a problem everywhere in English writing, and thus does not bear special consideration here.—DCGeist (talk) 20:24, 12 April 2010 (UTC)

On images and profanity

Gnevin has made two related proposals, which I'll take up here:

• Renaming the page Words and imagery to avoid, or perhaps now, Words and imagery to watch, and expanding coverage in that way.

• I'd argue against this primarily on the basis of focus. There's a conceptual integrity to "words to watch" that would, I think, be lost if imagery were to be included. However, I'd be interested in seeing a detailed breakdown of how the treatment of imagery could be consolidated and summarized along the lines we've established here.

• Eliminating the discussion of profanity here if imagery is not covered, and simply providing the mainlink.

• I'm simply opposed to this. It seems natural and necessary to cover profanity in a page surveying "words to watch". And, as I noted on the main MoS Talk page,

I think WP:Profanity is viable as a stand-alone page. It deals fairly well with issues more or less outside the newly focused purview of Words: (a) images, (b) prohibition of disclaimers and bowdlerization of quotations, and (c) alternative means of referencing strong language. However, there is enough overlap to merit a brief section in Words ... and a main link to Profanity.

• This continues to strike me as the best way to deal with the topic.—DCGeist (talk) 17:55, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

These are 2 separate issues from my point of view but the second issue only arises if we agree see also shouldn't be done as I am now suggesting . The see of see also can be viewed Wikipedia_talk:Manual_of_Style#Transclude_to_other_MOS.2Fcore_only and it would be great if you could take a look Gnevin (talk) 18:38, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

It took me a bit of effort to understand what you're suggesting in the chart/discussion you linked to, but I think I've got it.

If I understand its relevance to out present discussion, what you're suggesting is that a condensed WP:Profanity/core be created and transcluded here in place of the Profanity mainlink and dedicated text. While this would promote consistency in the way that your plan generally promises, it would also bring the content of this page into areas well outside of Words to watch. I think that might be a problem with your plan generally—that gains in consistency would be offset by loss of focus. But perhaps solutions could be found for that. I'll be interested to hear what others think, and will keep an eye on the main MoS Talk page thread.—DCGeist (talk) 19:30, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Well for Profanity core would be something like

Words and images that would be considered offensive, profane, or obscene by typical Misplaced Pages readers should be used if and only if their omission would cause the article to be less informative, relevant, or accurate, and no equally suitable alternatives are available. Including information about offensive material is part of Misplaced Pages's encyclopedic mission; being offensive is not

Which is generic enough to work in several places , we could even get smart and use a {{{1|Words and images}}} . Which would allow us to say words here rather than words and images Gnevin (talk) 22:11, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

A very interesting proposition. Will others please look at this, both on our Words to watch page here and the transcludable (?!) core page (User:SlimVirgin/Profanity/core), and weigh in?—DCGeist (talk) 23:51, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

What exactly does {{{1|Words and images}}} do exactly? If I remove NOWIKI it just becomes Words and images, which is exactly the same as typing Words and images. The transclution is quite good, but I wonder if we need to reproduce it in multiple places: I thought the point was to avoid multiple places...? Confused.  :/ --Jubilee♫clipman 01:11, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

The 1 allows you to overwrite Words and images with more apt text. So {{User:SlimVirgin/Profanity/core|Words|language}} gives Words that would be considered vulgar rather than Words and images that would be considered vulgar. The point is to avoid multiple places but there will always be a need to point to other MOS and we need a way to keep it consistent Gnevin (talk) 07:46, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

Ah! I always wondered what that {{{1}}} thing did! Thanks. I see your point about the usefulness of this method, also --Jubilee♫clipman 08:21, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

Article title

Words to watch - Although I can can see the rationale for avoiding "avoid" (as it were), I am not sure the new title is much more helpful: how do you "watch" a word? I could watchlist word or perhaps write the word on a piece of paper and wait to see if anything happens (probably not much unless someone comes along and rubs it out or adds more, or a poltergeist decides to frighten me...) I know that there is a colloquial use of the word "watch" that means "be wary of", e.g. "watch your language". However, by using the word in this context we seem to be using one of the very words we should perhaps watch... Unless that's the point, of course... I did see the comments on this at WT:MOS, BTW, and especially note (!) Tony's comment, so I guess this is probably settled. I thought it more useful to ask this question here though so that my thoughts could be more easily spotted --Jubilee♫clipman 20:15, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Absolutely, "to watch" is used in the sense of "to be wary of" or "to be careful with". Our style guidelines concern article space (and, if you really want to stretch a point, file space), not the other namespaces. We can and must use all sorts of expressions here that we counsel caution with in article space. A style guide is all about "subscribing to particular points of view".—DCGeist (talk) 20:31, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

"Words to watch" should mean just that, and not necessarily "Forbidden words." A good test of such a guide as this is to test it on some featured articles and see if they fail it, or if they would seem flat and insipid when it was applied. Ditto for generally respected recent publications such as the New York Times, Time magazine, or Britannica. We should not be seen as the "political correctness police" or as Bowdlerizers of good writing. Some degree of elegant variation may be needed such as alternatives for "said," "stated" or "wrote." I do not see "reported" as implying correctness or authority more than those three. "Claimed" is sometimes appropriate, in cases where something is likely to be doubted, and respected sources often use that term. "Words to watch" brings to mind a joke from years gone by: The English teacher tells her class "There are two slang words I never want to see in your writing. One of them is 'grody' and the other is 'bitchin.'" A student excitedly asks "But teacher, what are they?" Edison (talk) 20:35, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

(ec)DCGeist - That makes sense. I support the move in that case. Any word on going live? --Jubilee♫clipman 20:38, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Edison's points are well taken. I've spent most of my time at Misplaced Pages writing Featured Articles, and I've certainly tried to help craft this guideline so it passes the test described by Edison. I know, as well, that SlimVirgin, who has done more work than anyone in bringing the page to its current state, is very sensitive to the point that it not be viewed as a catalogue of "forbidden words". I believe the language we've arrived at goes as far as reasonably possible to ensure that the title is taken to mean just what it says.

On a somewhat related point, I believe the peacock image we have had off and on in the lede, as accompanied by the caption Slim wrote for it, is fairly professional in quality and a worthwhile mnemonic for the page as a whole. I'm restoring it.—DCGeist (talk) 21:11, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Have restored the weasel: see above section where the images are discussed --Jubilee♫clipman 21:49, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Here's a vote for the images of the Peacock and Weasel (sounds like a great pub). Edison (talk) 00:18, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

"Controversial"

Can we add the term "controversial" to this list somehow? As I've said elsewhere, "controversial" is a fairly meaningless well poisoning term. You could describe every 20th and 21st century American president as "controversial", but we wouldn't describe them in the leads of their bios that way: "William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was the controversial 42nd President of the United States...", "George Walker Bush served as the controversial 43rd President of the United States...", "Barack Hussein Obama II is the controversial 44th and current President of the United States..." Jayjg 02:43, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

Mind you, those numbers are controversial, so it might work in that context... :P That said, the point is well made. However, I would hesitate to add words that were not already in any guideline: after all, this stage of process is only about rationalising the present guidelines, not adding things to them... --Jubilee♫clipman 04:10, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

The guideline already has the word "controversy" - perhaps it could just be modified to "controversy/controversial". Actually, I think "controversial" is more problematic than "controversy". Jayjg 22:02, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

I think the intent of the guideline is sufficiently clear that readers will understand the caveat about controversy and scandal similarly applies to controversial and scandalous. We're trying to get away from lists that vainly attempt to be exhaustive and succeed only in being exhausting; we want just enough examples to clarify the fundamental philosophical point of each section. 'Cuz the point is the point, 'ite.—DCGeist (talk) 22:26, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

In theory I agree with you. In practice, you'd be astonished at how literally people view these things. Jayjg 02:04, 11 April 2010 (UTC)

Sadly, I know you're right. There's no approach that will guarantee success. So, I'll cast my !vote for holding the line on the number of featured examples in each section at where we have it now—around 15. A lower number runs a greater risk of insufficiently exemplifying the point(s) of each section; a higher number runs a greater risk of having the box read as a blacklist: "on it—bad; off it—good." That said, I wouldn't mind replacing controversy with controversial—a little variation between the box and the following narrative is actually good, I think; having both in the box, however, strikes me as overkill.—DCGeist (talk) 03:12, 11 April 2010 (UTC)

Peacock words

Why has the longish list of peacock words I transferred (and trimmed) from that page been removed? The edit summary didn't seem like an adequate explanation, Gnevin. Tony (talk) 11:27, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

We can't and won't want to list every possible peacock word. We have enough examples and should leave it up to our users as to what is and isn't a PEA term Gnevin (talk) 11:36, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

Not every possible peacock word, but I thought the list was useful. I presume no one will object to the significant reduction in guidance. It's not a big deal for me, so perhaps it's the case that peacock words aren't a big problem on WP nowadays. "Staunch" is in the box, but does not immediately bring peacockery to my mind. Tony (talk) 12:07, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

WP:NEO

I think the shortcut WP:NEO should point to the bits of WP:NEO that were more like a notability standard, since that's how it was widely used in AfD and AfC discussions. I've been trying to find a home for it, but it looks like it'll probably end up in WP:NOTDICT. Some discussion here. Gigs (talk) 14:17, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

Euphemism/cliché

I have a problem with this entire section. Whilst terms like 'lion's share', 'gave his life' and 'tip of the iceberg' should obviously be avoided, that is simply because they may introduce bias. The other terms may greatly vary in their usage and acceptance from country to country and from dialect to dialect. I for one, don't consider 'hard of hearing' and 'visually challenged' to be euphemisms, their use in Australian English is nearly ubiquitous (to the point where deaf and blind may be considered unnecessarily blunt). An American body's recommendation on the US English usage of the terms doesn't apply here in the slightest, and I can't see why it ought to apply to an international encyclopaedia. —what a crazy random happenstance 04:55, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

Who would ever consider a neutral, factual, simple word "unnecessarily blunt" in the context of an encyclopedia? Answer: those uncomfortable with direct expression and good writing. That's exactly why this guideline is necessary.—DCGeist (talk) 05:11, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

I wasn't proposing that the use of the simple word be banned, but I do question the need to depreciate equally valid and widely accepted alternatives. 'Black' is also a neutral, factual, simple word, yet we prefer 'African-American' for black Americans. 'Homosexual' is likewise depreciated in favour of 'gay'. 'Blind' and 'deaf' don't have quite the baggage that 'black' and 'homosexual' do, but banning 'hard of hearing' and 'visually impaired' is a solution in want of a problem - rule creep at its finest and least necessary. —what a crazy random happenstance 05:25, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

Move to main space?

Time to move to main space ,mark as proposed and mark the others for merge ?Gnevin (talk) 14:07, 12 April 2010 (UTC)

My concern is that not enough of the information in these outlying pages has been included here to launch it yet. Do people not agree that this page needs to be a lot longer? A prime reason for launching this page, surely, is to remove others from the MoS category, simply listing them here as "See alsos". If that is to happen, we need to capture more than just a very brief summary of those pages. Tony (talk) 09:56, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

I think the length is perfect. What do you think is missing? Gnevin (talk) 10:49, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

So can we remove the other pages from the MoS when this one goes live? Tony (talk) 11:21, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

No, we've to move this to main space and mark as proposed and the same time we need to propose a merge at each of the MOS.If con is in favour then we merge Gnevin (talk) 12:59, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

But the obvious thing to do is to include MORE of the pages to be merged. I don't think you appreciate the level of local resistance to removing pages from the MoS category. This is not going to work unless a good deal of the text—or at least the concepts and points—is already merged. It is not wise to move this anywhere until the product is properly prepared, and at the moment it is just a very bare summary. In addition, the editors at outlying pages will probably be more supportive if a "see also" is included at this new page. I am reverting. Tony (talk) 15:01, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

This is intended to replace WP:PEA,WP:NEO etc why would we see also to them? This makes no sense. Also as per the discussion below we've agreed not too see also. If you think more should be included edit but I don't see the need for bloat Gnevin (talk) 15:45, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

Length is not a virtue. Being simply an amalgamation and rewriting of the separate pages, is not a virtue. Efficiently consolidating these overlapping guidelines into one page which covers all the necessary concepts, without so much bloat, is a virtue. I agree that the absence of any key concepts or principles would be a problem. There's no point in needlessly adding examples and fluff from the other pages; the clean and fresh presentation of this page is a significant advantage. Happy‑melon 16:04, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

The reason I suggest moving to the main space now is we as a group of editors have reached a stability which I don't see changing. We need the community's input now Gnevin (talk) 16:14, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

My perspective—substantially shaped by Slim's progressive, and I think, highly effective approach—on how this new page would represent a significant advantage over what exists is very much in agreement with Happy-melon's. While there is additional material in WP:NEO, WP:PEACOCK, and WP:WEASEL that could be brought here, I believe the most important principles addressed by those pages are all now addressed here. And the more concise we keep this page, the more the focus is kept on what's most important. (I note also that efforts are being made to merge the significant, but non-style-guideline material in WP:NEO into WP:NOTDICT.) If you do identify any key concepts that are missing, Tony, by all means introduce them. (I do see that you revised and expanded the box of peacock terms—looks great.) But if there's a need to add on for purely political reasons, well, that's why I didn't pursue a career in politics.—DCGeist (talk) 18:45, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

There's no hard-and-fast boundary between politics and utility, in this case. Yes, we need to keep outlying editors on board, if possible. Yes, we need to get rid of fluff. But I do look at those pages and see things that are useful, but are not here.

The second issue is: what do people propose to do with those pages, once this one is launched. The options, I guess, are (1) delete them; (2) remove them from the MoS category, with the option of leaving them in WP space as they are, or tagging them as essays. Could we have some input on this practical matter? Best to do this in a planned fashion, don't you think, rather than have to deal with reverts and grumpiness from others while thinking on our feet. Tony (talk) 11:56, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

The best thing would be to redirect those pages to the new Words to watch. Is there anything else on those pages, Tony, that could be usefully transferred here? SlimVirgin 12:07, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

So we have a go? Gnevin (talk) 14:15, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Slim, I apologise for neglecting this page: I'm a bit-player in writing a $34 million application due tomorrow <bignotes himself> and I'm involved in a huge kerfuffle at WT:NFC <making myself look foolish>.

I see resistance to change at the Neologism page. But I've no in-principle objection to going live at this stage. In fact, it might make us all sit up and move the task forward. Tony (talk) 15:47, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Resting place

Admittedly the dead are not literally "resting" (although I'm sure there are some cultures where the dead are perceived to be) and the phrase "resting place" can generally be avoided by being more specific (e.g. "J Doe was buried in Fooville Cemetery" rather than "J Doe's resting place is Fooville Cemetery"), but there do seem to be certain circumstances where it is the most appropriate choice. I can't think of a synonymous general purpose term in English for talking about the location where the remains of a person are kept or were disposed of. "Place of burial" only works if the person was actually buried, for instance, and there are a variety of other options for the disposal of a body (e.g. scattering of ashes; an urn stored above ground; Tower of Silence). In a column heading in a table, or in a category, where many people are being covered and therefore it may be impossible to use a more specific term, "resting place" remains a sensible catch-all option. I think the section on avoiding euphemisms would do better to focus on examples where the euphemism is clearly to be avoided and can be replaced (possibly with the help of a little rewording) by a more neutral and direct term, which the guide should list. TheGrappler (talk) 16:34, 12 April 2010 (UTC)

An interesting observation. But I think for those rare instances where it is impossible to avoid a catch-all, you've actually indicated what the Misplaced Pages-appropriate expression would be: location of remains (or site of remains). I believe the figurative resting place is, in fact, clearly to be avoided. We could certainly list location of remains as the preferred catch-all in the brief narrative.—DCGeist (talk) 18:05, 12 April 2010 (UTC)

I don't think "location of remains" actually works for towers of silence or similar means of body-disposal; of course "resting place" doesn't work literally for that either, but it isn't literal in the first place. I remain unconvinced that "resting place" is a serious enough problem to pick out for special treatment in a short summary, particularly when there is no clear recommendation made of what to replace it by. It is a normal English phrase, albeit not one that should be read completely literally - but it's hardly alone in the English language on that count. Unlike some of the other euphemisms on display it is neither misleading nor egregiously presumptuous. TheGrappler (talk) 01:31, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

Let's hear some other views. Anyone?—DCGeist (talk) 02:28, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

"Resting place" and "passed away" are too coy for neutral writing, IMO. There's a possibility of a faint POV in the personification of the dead (not everyone believes there's life after death—these seem to be specific cultural constructions). Dan's solution seems very sensible. Tony (talk) 06:52, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

If the place and method of disposal the corpse it should be stated such as x was buried in...,y ashes where spread over.... However how do we deal with someone who's method is unknown z was ?? in Gnevin (talk) 09:10, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

In the rare case that an encyclopedia should ever need to address such a situation: "The manner in which X's remains were disposed is not known." Simple and straightforward.—DCGeist (talk) 18:32, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

I prefer "location of remains" or similar. The current Template:Infobox person uses "resting place". I wonder whether there will be resistance to changing that. SlimVirgin 01:31, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

The terms "place", "location" etc are actually only useful if we know a single specific place/location/etc. Otherwise, how do we deal with people whose ashes are thrown into the sea (?location = Atlantic Ocean), people whose relics reside in various religious buildings, homes etc (?location = various), or people who were drawn and quartered and whose remains were scattered to the four winds (?location = everywhere)? Assuming, therefore, that the information will be offered when known unequivocally, location of remains seems best, IMO, since it avoids the ephemistic word "resting". The change should be made to the infobox to reflect the advice given in this guideline once it has been accepted by the community --Jubilee♫clipman 17:43, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

RFC

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It's proposed WP:NEO, WP:PEA, WP:WEASEL and WP:AVOID to be merged to Misplaced Pages:Words to watch. Please give your views Gnevin (talk) 23:23, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

I totally disagree. Words to watch? What exactly is there to watch? I can watch a word all day long and it does absolutely nothing for me. As I have said elsewhere, a weasel word is a weasel word, it is a term wellknown, well-understood and appreciated in its refusal to knuckle under the endeavours of the mealy-mouthed brigade to bowdlerize everything out of sight. In fact, the term "words to watch" is another weasel word in its own right. If someone claims things that amount to a weasel word or term we should condemn it as the practice of weaseling should not be encouraged. Unless, of course, it isn't a weasel word and only looks like one, but that is amply explained in the Wiki article weasel word. It is not a neologism (as some people have claimed elsewhere) as it has been around since 1900. Whether the term "weasel word" is apt or not doesn't come into it, it has been part of the English language so long the term is like an old friend. The practice of weaseling, however, is another thing altogether. Dieter Simon (talk) 00:11, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Comment The name on this guideline can change and is a minor consideration. Weasel still exists here. Gnevin (talk) 07:43, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Support. I haven't looked at the details of the implementation, but any problems with that can be fixed later as they are noticed. There is a natural tendency for rules to multiply and expand, and without countermeasures one soon gets a situation where nobody has an overview and there are lots of contradictions. This merge is an essential step for maintenance of our rules. Hans Adler 00:26, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Support—This is such a sensible move, and part of the bigger picture of making the MoS usable by ordinary editors who want quick, convenient advice that is well managed. Tony (talk) 03:20, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Support Reversal of instruction creep is a good idea. A quick look through the page and I don't see anything I disagree with. OrangeDog (τ • ε) 12:09, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Support I support any effort to condense the MOS, and this merge retains the important principles of the separated pages in one concise guidelines. Dabomb87 (talk) 12:42, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Support The precise present title may or may not be useful—I myself have questioned the phrase Words to watch elsewhere and for the same reasons as Dieter Simon—but condensing the advice on unhelpful words and phrases into one centeral location can only be a good thing. The title can be changed if necessary as Gnevin explained. Furthermore, all the old pages will serve as redirects to sections of this page: editors will still be able to search for a precise terms such as "weasel" or "peacock" and end up (respectively) in the section on Vague attributions which describes weasel words or in the section on Puffery which describes peacock terms. "Words to avoid" is perhaps not good since it seems to suggest that WP is making judgements on these terms as has been explained further up this talkpage --Jubilee♫clipman 15:57, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Support: WP:AVOID and WP:PEACOCK are unreadable. Most of WP:NEO has nothing to do with a Manual of Style. And, contra the hilarious wails atop, most ordinary editors don't have a bloody clue what we mean by WEASEL. Support this page, support this merge, and give thanks to SlimBabe for rockin' the concision HARD.—DCGeist (talk) 06:51, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Support: The MOS needs to be more readable and usable for the average reader, and this is a good step in that direction. Nice work to the drafters! Dana boomer (talk) 14:44, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Support: As someone who initally opposed this change. I have to say they all the editiors involded have done a great job in condensing these pages. Be now have all of the content and none of the filler Gnevin (talk) 15:17, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Comment Some or all of these pages can be merged. But title Misplaced Pages:Words to avoid (or even Misplaced Pages:Avoid weasel words and Misplaced Pages:Avoid peacock terms) is much explanatory title than "Words to watch". Strange and ambiguous title "Words to watch" is against the spirit of Misplaced Pages policy Misplaced Pages:Article titles. --Snek01 (talk) 20:55, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Response: There is no title that is perfect. Words to watch is memorable and accurate, though it might strike a few as ambiguous. Words to avoid is simply wrong.—DCGeist (talk) 21:09, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Comment:What you need to make clear about weasel words (as the Wiki article does) is that it is not just the few sample phrases trotted out such as: "some people say"; "it is believed that;" as shown in this project page, what you certainly need to give space to are the many different ways weaseling is done. Where are the references to the advertising gimmicks: "...up to 50% off";"...is now 20% cheaper"; "Four out of five people would agree that..."; etc.

Where are the different ways people are using in making claims which they do not substantiate? Statements they do not cite sources for in general?(I do not mean within Misplaced Pages, that is taken care of by the various guidelines). What about the usage of the passive voice to avoid having to state, who did what, as in: "Mistakes have been made", but who made them? The way "spin" in politics is being used is another type of weaseling. The way you have set it out in the "Words to watch" project page doesn't cover 10% of the "weaseling" problem, and doesn't even begin to deal with the subject. If you were to include all of those different aspects, this subject alone would take over the greatest amount of space within "Words to watch". Please don't make light of this. It is an important subject. Dieter Simon (talk) 01:08, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

Support: Excellent work at summarizing and distilling several often bloated MOS pages into one readable page with a common memorable theme. Jayjg 02:15, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

comment while the MOS is difficult to use, the key reason for "watching" for most of these words is because of WP:NPOV, WP:OR and WP:V concerns, not style. MM207.69.139.147 (talk) 02:21, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

Response: In fact, considerations of literary style on Misplaced Pages overlap considerations of our core content policies. This overlap is natural and desirable. In Misplaced Pages terms, part of what makes good literary style good is that it abides by policy. It would be supererogatory to create a literary style guideline that treated questions of good writing applicable but nonspecific to Misplaced Pages—there are myriad worthwhile works to which contributors interested in improving the overall quality of their writing may turn, from Tony's tutorials to Fowler's Modern English Usage to Follett's Modern American Usage.—DCGeist (talk) 04:29, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

Support with thanks to DCG and the others for sorting it all out. A nice example of constructive collaboration. :) SlimBabe 03:22, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Support This is much more concise and ties together the mess that we had before in a much cleaner way. My respects to everybody who worked on it (I didn't see this til fairly late). Ray 23:10, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

Next step

The RFC has been up for about six days and it is clear the proposal is meeting with community approval. The proposal can be actualized tomorrow, at the seven-day mark, by removing the guideline templates from WP:NEO, WP:PEA, WP:WEASEL, and WP:AVOID; moving them to the Misplaced Pages:Historical archive, if desired, or simply redirecting to here; and placing a live Manual of Style template on this page.

The next matter is what the ultimate full-length title of this page should be. There is an effort, currently building consensus on the main MoS talk page, to title all subpages of the Manual of Style according to a standardized convention for the sake of consistency, clarity, coherence, and cross-page compliance. The current naming convention—applied to roughly half of the recognized style guidelines—is Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (topic). Please join the discussion of whether that convention should be maintained or a new one employed, according to which we will then name all MoS pages, including this one.—DCGeist (talk) 23:43, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

I think it would be very inappropriate to mark the original pages as historical. They won't be historical, they will simply be merged, and their history will be available in the redirects. Otherwise I fully agree. Hans Adler 07:12, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

Strongest oppose I think this is a process abuse which will irritate a lot of editors, the vast majority of users of the page having not seen this obscure and marginal discussion. --BozMo talk 19:09, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

This is simply false. There have been repeated advisories on the involved talk pages (on WP:WEASEL, for instance, there was a major thread and template tagging on April 1 announcing that a process like this was in the formative stages, and then short, straightforward, relevant posts inviting you to join it on April 7 and April 17). There has also been considerable discussion on the main MoS talk page, in addition to templates on top of all the involved pages. It is your tone and your reliance on falsehood that are abusive. Apologize or be ignored.—DCGeist (talk) 19:34, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

Please calm down, both of you. By the way, it was also briefly mentioned on the village pump, and it is being announced on WP:CENT, which is transcluded to many of the busiest Misplaced Pages pages.

Speaking of process abuse: I take it, BozMo, that you have reasons other than bureaucracy to object to the merging of several closely related small guidelines? Hans Adler 20:09, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

I wish you could put your hand on my heart, Hans. I'm perfectly calm.—DCGeist (talk) 21:07, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

Yep, as it happens I am calm too (and do not see what I have written above is "false", I think the process was an abuse thats all). There have been a series of proposals of this form over the past few years on the weasel page, for example fairly recently Wikipedia_talk:Avoid_weasel_words#RFC which is still visible on the talk page. They seem to attract far more attention from contributers, last longer and involve more people than this discussion off on some project page no one even knew existed and reveal quite a lot of support for keeping the page as is and specifically for not summarising it as "avoid vague attribution" which is not the main point of the guideline. Taking the discussion a long way away from the guideline is not a good idea. And "Rock the Vote" as a heading does not sound like it carries any serious discussion, it just sounds utterly childish. Personally, I do not think this move and 90% deletion helps and find the existing page useful. But I am a grumpy 45 year old in busy full time employment with a young family who generally takes a dim view of the fact policies keep being pointlessly tinkered with in a way which makes it very difficult to keep sufficiently up to date to be an effective admin here. A lot of people seem to mess about with things which were thought through properly once because of a preference for their own kind of order. In general therefore I think this move runs against an established precedent of opinion and has insufficient mandate as well as being in the wrong place. The start of Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy comes to mind concerning the idea that as well as watching talk pages I should actually read every talk page comment on every policy I care about. --BozMo talk 22:01, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

According to the self-admittedly jargonistic WP:Avoid weasel words, "On Misplaced Pages, the term refers to evasive, ambiguous or misleading attribution." You have claimed that "avoid vague attribution" is "not the main point of the guideline." What do you believe is its main point?—DCGeist (talk) 22:08, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

Listen, I do understand that you are trying to make things better but do you think vague covers "evasive, ambiguous or misleading"? For example 50% of weaseling is mischeviously "calling into question a statement" for example by changing a statement by the subject from explained>>claimed on a BLP. Today I can point to the text refering to this and it is sufficient for why an edit is unacceptable. That possibility is lost with the compression. But tomorrow what do I say... "claimed is vague attribution"? It is not it is misleading attribution intended to encourage doubt in veracity. Core weasel, nowhere in vague attribution.--BozMo talk 22:22, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps if you'd taken just a couple of minutes to actually read this page, you would have seen that this point is directly addressed earlier in the very same Words that may introduce bias section, under the header Statement characterizations. Please take those couple of minutes, then come back here and tell us what, if any, main point of WP:WEASEL is actually not addressed by this page.—DCGeist (talk) 22:36, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

Weasel redirects to a specific section on the page which does not cover much of weasel. It is true there are elements of weasel covered in "statement characterisation" and other places in the page. This makes it much less usable than at present and carries little gain. Why should established editors and admins have to relearn where everything is in this rather odd rearrangement? Now we need a second window open to track where policy has gone to now if we are to work on improving the project and change in policy is hugely destructive to the community for this reason. At least put all of weasel back together where a redirect points to it. And don't call it vague attribution per well established consensus. --BozMo talk 22:46, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

Oppose too - I certainly didn't see this proposal. It seems pointless. Don't do it William M. Connolley (talk) 21:05, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

Why, exactly, shouldn't we? Many points have been raised for "doing it." A vacuous oppose at this late date defines pointless.—DCGeist (talk) 21:07, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

Oppose - Misplaced Pages:WEASEL and Misplaced Pages:PEA are well developed articles and will not be made better by merging. To the contrary, merging will make it harder advise new editors because the topics will have to be summarized to make the merged article a reasonable size. Strong oppose. Q Science (talk) 21:48, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

Oppose I opposed the proposed merger of WP:PEACOCK here (MOS talk, March 28). PEACOCK needs to be on its own because it is often used to alert editors in general, or a particular editor, that some text has peacock problems. Linking to a section within a larger style guide is just not sufficiently helpful. See links to peacock from pages and links from user talk pages. Similarly, I see no benefit from the other proposed merges: merging would lead to compromises in the text (helpful explanations and examples would be removed as too much detail), and someone being directed to PEACOCK or WEASEL would find too much distraction. Johnuniq (talk) 01:14, 23 April 2010 (UTC)

Miscellaneous comments

1. Intro -- The better version is at Misplaced Pages:Words to avoid. That is intro is more focused on POV issues; this intro gives too much emphasis to style.
2. Statement characterizations -- I don't see how insist, protest, contend, or feel are perceived as better than other words in that section.
3. Expressions of doubt or support
   1. Alleged and accused should be used when wrongdoing is alleged but not definitive, such as with people on trial for crimes.
   2. So-called should not be used to mean commonly named. The same meaning can be indicated with called, for example.
   3. However and although are not loaded. They are normally used just as transitions between contrasting points.
4. Negative labels -- I changed this (in two instances) from labels, because words are labels, whether the meaning is good, bad or neutral.
   1. I disagree that terrorist "should not be used as unqualified labels in the voice of the article."

      One man's terrorist and all that. Where would you have Nelson Mandela, Bobby Sands or Che Guevara Gnevin (talk) 07:58, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

      Or Paul Watson. There are continual fights about Sea Shepherd, with some people using the invalid short cut "Sea Shepherd is eco-terrorist" & "eco-terrorism is terrorism" => "Sea Shepherd is terrorist". This ignores that the term "eco-terrorism" was coined for political reasons as a term that sounds like terrorism but which in many definitions applies to banalities such as beating up your neighbours for playing loud music in the middle of the night. Hans Adler 08:34, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

   2. Controversial is more likely to indicate just that something is controversial than it is to promote contentiousness.
   3. I doubt affair promotes "a contentious point of view."
5. Editorializing
   1. Actually can be useful to contrast perception with reality. In noncontroversial matters, this should not be discouraged.
   2. Fundamentally and essentially are not inherently problematic. Their use in noncontroversial matters should not be discouraged.
6. Vague attributions -- This section should be clarified to refer to unsupported attributions or something similar. The expressions are not inherently bad. The problem is only in not following the expressions with examples.

   Not sure what your saying here Gnevin (talk) 07:58, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

7. Euphemisms and clichés
   1. Organizations for disabled people have varying views about euphemisms. Let's leave their views off the page.

      Surely the NFB is a reliable source? Gnevin (talk) 07:58, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

   2. Visually impaired is not a euphemism. It describes both people who are blind and people who have other vision problems, such as near-sightedness.

      The section says if the person is blind say so. It doesn't say you can't use Visually impaired for others Gnevin (talk) 07:58, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

   3. Hard of hearing is not a euphemism; nor does it describe people who are deaf. Hard of hearing describes hearing problems of lesser magnitude than deafness.

      The section says if the person is deaf say so. It doesn't say you can't use Hard of hearing for others Gnevin (talk) 07:58, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

   4. Some examples to consider including are collateral damage and ethnic cleansing.

      No issue adding them Gnevin (talk) 07:58, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

   5. Cliches don't fit with the rest of this page, which is mainly about NPOV. If cliches are going to be listed here, we might as include redundant phrases. And so forth.

   Is there a MOS for redundant phrases? Gnevin (talk) 07:58, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

8. Profanity -- A smallish matter, but there are differences between profanity, obscenity and vulgarity. Of the three, vulgarity is probably the broadest. Maurreen (talk) 05:17, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

   The MOS is at WP:PROFANE so we used profanity rather than vulgarity

This is still very much are proposal, if you can, I'd suggest be bold and fix some of these issues. Gnevin (talk) 07:47, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

It would be wise not to make any potentially controversial changes at this time. A merge of guidelines can easily be shot down if some editors get the impression that unwanted changes to what the guidelines say are part of the deal.

As to "affair" not promoting a contentious point of view – does that mean I can refer to this section as the "Maurreen affair"? (This is of course just an absurd example to show what the use of "affair" does.) Hans Adler 08:41, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Comment - As far as #1 is concerned: this is meant as part of the Manual of Style (AFAIK), therefore style is the issue addressed rather than content, per se. OTOH, perhaps this page should be a general guideline given that most of these terms can be used to create POV statements, as pointed out in the lead: "or that suggest Misplaced Pages subscribes to a particular point of view". "Style", in this sense, goes some way beyond the mere appearance of an article on the page, e.g. layout of sections, usage of templates, or capitalisation of particular words. We seem to be discussing semantic meaning as well as stylistic points, in other words, e.g. "terrorist means x to some and y to others". Then again, maybe advising the use of better phrasing to avoid vagueness and ambiguity is a point of style? I have a similar conundrum with the Music MoS's, BTW... --Jubilee♫clipman 17:03, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Big and bold!

The lines as they are currently are as big as the section headers underwhich they reside, and are easily just as bold, suggesting that they are each as important as their subject. That hardly makes for an "effective presentation": I'm certain that our message here is that all such words are inappropriate (and not just these specific examples). I'll also make an appeal that consists more of opinion: It just looks worse with the h3 and the boxes in such proximity. As a set of examples, compare the following:

An h3 heading:

Birds, and the bees, and the flowers, and the trees

Big and bolded: Birds, and the bees, and the flowers, and the trees

Big, only: Birds, and the bees, and the flowers, and the trees

Bold, only: Birds, and the bees, and the flowers, and the trees

No formatting: Birds, and the bees, and the flowers, and the trees

Now, I see the appeal in the emphasis. But bold and big is too much here. And now that I see the comparison of big to bold and big, I'd have to say I'd remove my support to have the messages use big at all. Bold is enough weight to get the message across. --Izno (talk) 22:50, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Euphemisms

We now have: "Contributors should be aware that euphemisms for disabilities and disabled persons are often rejected by organizations representing those directly affected. The National Federation of the Blind opposes terms such as visually impaired and sightless in favor of the straightforward, neutral blind; similarly, the group argues that there is no need to substitute awkward circumlocutions such as people with blindness for the plain phrase blind people. It may be accurate to describe someone as hard of hearing, but if the person is actually deaf, just say so."

The main problem is that the first sentence is misleading. Views about euphemisms and circomlocutions vary more than is suggested here.

The (U.S.) National Center on Disability & Journalism has a style guide that includes: "It is best to use language that refers to the person first and the disability second. For example: “The writer, who has a disability” as opposed to “The disabled writer.” More examples: ,

The second problem is that "visually impaired" and "hard of hearing" should not be conflated with euphemisms. "Visually impaired" is a general description that can include any visual impairment, such as near-sightedness. "Hard of hearing" correctly describes hearing problems that are less than deafness.

Here are some examples of real euphemisms:

• "Special needs".
• "Challenged" or "fill-in-the-blank-challenged."
• "(Disease) survivor" instead of "victim" or "patient".
• "Developmentally disabled" instead of "mentally retarded."
• The shift from "crippled" to "handicapped" to "disabled" (and for some people, "differently abled"). Maurreen (talk) 10:15, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

These are just some loosely-medical-related euphemisms. We probably could explore a number of other areas. Maurreen (talk) 10:27, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Hell. Honestly, on the evidence you present, I think the National Center on Disability & Journalism doesn't have a dang clue about good English. In many cases, it is entirely irrelevant if writer X has a disability; this is an encyclopedia—if it's irrelevant, we don't mention it. If it is relevant, we express it as concisely and directly as possible. To heck with the National Center. Ultimately, what we want to get at here is preferring, say, "the law mandated accommodations for blind people" to "the law mandated accommodations for people with blindness". That's how the National Federation of the Blind rolls, and that's direct, concise, nonjudgmental, better prose.—DCGeist (talk) 10:50, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

I'll try to clarify. I'm not supporting euphemisms or circumlocutions. My main point is that views about them vary.

To say "euphemisms for disabilities and disabled persons are often rejected by organizations representing those directly affected" is misleading if we don't also indicate that euphemisms for disabilities and disabled persons are often supported by organizations representing those directly affected.

But there's no need for either.

Let's be concise and drop any mention of the NFB or similar organizations. Maurreen (talk) 15:56, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Are, in fact, euphemisms for disabilities and disabled persons "often supported" by organizations representing those directly affected? The National Center on Disability & Journalism is certainly no such organization. It's a small operation at the Arizona State University J-school with a full-time staff comprising two grad students and a fabulously grandiose name. The National Federation of the Blind, the authority currently adduced, is an actual national organization of blind people, with a claimed membership of over 50,000. A search on Google News for 2005–9 for the latter gives 3,040 hits. For the former? Zero. There's no comparison here.—DCGeist (talk) 17:15, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

I've given three sources to your one. I'll work on more supporting material. In the meantime ... (Maurreen (talk) 04:12, 19 April 2010 (UTC) Forgot sig earlier)

I'm sorry I didn't notice the other two. I believe that I've demonstrated that, for our purposes, the National Federation of the Blind is an authoritative, notable source and that the National Center on Disability & Journalism is not. Can you provide supporting evidence that the (awful, terrible, ridiculously PC counsel of) ADA National Network Coordination, Outreach and Research Center at Virginia Commonwealth University and the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities are authoritative, notable sources worthy of consideration as we assess the content of our style guideline?—DCGeist (talk) 08:22, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

Disability groups supporting euphemisms

More than 30 organizations, listed here, have supported "Rosa's Law, a bill to eliminate the terms "mental retardation" and "mentally retarded" in U.S. law. The bill calls for replacing those terms with “intellectual disability” and “individual with an intellectual disability”.

The organizations include Easter Seals and the American Association of People with Disabilities. Maurreen (talk) 04:12, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Hmm. My Webster's does mark retarded as "sometimes offensive". And governmental prose is so benighted anyway, this hardly feels like a direct attack on the English language.—DCGeist (talk) 04:38, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

I see that you've adjusted the section, and I agree with the spirit. Thanks. Maurreen (talk) 07:46, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

We need better examples of euphemisms

The page now uses a couple of examples that aren't necessarily euphemisms: "visually impaired" and "hard of hearing". As I've said before, these have meaning distinct from any real or perceived euphemisms.

These should be replaced. One option would be to use "mentally challenged." Maurreen (talk) 07:41, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

The section makes perfectly clear that hard of hearing is fine when accurate, and not fine when a euphemism for deaf. That's a very useful distinction to make. The National Federation of the Blind makes a precisely parallel point about the use of visually impaired ("undesirable when used to avoid the word blind, and acceptable only to the extent ... reasonably employed to distinguish between those having a certain amount of eyesight and those having none"). Let me say, right here, !God !bless you National Federation of the Blind, for your pride, your power, and your love of that great gift we share, the English language.

Mentally challenged would be a fine addition to the roster of euphemisms to avoid. What do you suggest we offer as the preferred term(s)? Sincerely (and, obviously, passionately), Dan.—DCGeist (talk) 08:22, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

You don't want to replace, and I'd prefer to keep this list short, so ... :)

I just tweaked the "blind" part. Maybe that will be OK for both of us for now. Maurreen (talk) 08:45, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

On reflection, mentally challenged/X would clearly be a more useful example than hard of hearing/deaf, which essentially duplicates visually impaired/blind. But what do you think X should be?—DCGeist (talk) 00:16, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

"X" could be "mentally retarded". But some people will probably object to that.

There's also "gay"/"homosexual", which would also likely engender objection. Maurreen (talk) 04:19, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

How about your (disease) survivor/victim, patient idea?—DCGeist (talk) 04:38, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, that's good. Maurreen (talk) 04:44, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Just as I'm thinking on it. Do you actually see survivor being used for people who are currently victims or patients? If so, y'know, "great". But if it's largely used for people who have recovered from a disease, then—though it's still namby-pamby English—it's not an ideal example. Just checking, as I realized I don't know. As an alternative, if we want one, I thought of living with (disease)/has (disease).—DCGeist (talk) 05:26, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Those are fine, too. Maurreen (talk) 07:28, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Query about the opening section ("say")

A contentious point of view may be implied by using loaded synonyms for the verb to say. For example, to write that X noted, reported, or observed something can imply that X was correct to note, report, or observe it. Revealed, pointed out, exposed, and surmised carry similar dangers. Stated usually expresses no point of view; according to can be used in the same way.

X claimed should generally be avoided, because it raises a question of the truth of X's claim, particularly after a factual statement, for example, "Jones came under fire for his use of racial slurs, but in a statement yesterday, he claimed he was not a racist."

Admit, confess, and deny should be used judiciously, particularly of living persons, because they can convey guilt. For example, "Supervisors said they had heard about the incident" is better than "Supervisors confessed they had heard about the incident", which suggests that their response was blameworthy.

OK, as a science writer, I'm thinking of the data-reporting context, but maybe there are wider implications. My question is: are there not two types of "loading" in the examples provided? The first is whether the verb involves an internalised process: "X noted, observed, surmised" are internal processes. But "reported" seems entirely different: it's an external and often verifiable communication with the outside world (whether orally or in writing), like "stated". One can "report" something neutrally or in a POV way, just as one can "state" it, but the word doesn't seem to carry WP's pre-judgement per se—acceptability in WP text depends on the context and the wording.

There's another class of "say" words here: "revealed", "pointed out" and "exposed" all carry a sense of narrative judgement (i.e., WP's judgement) in reverse, as it were: X "revealed" something conveys the sense that the fact was there in the first place, in the narrator's opinion; WP asks the reader to assume the existence of a fact that was initially unrevealed, and "collaborates" in the text with X, who formally expressed it. There lies danger, of course. So do "admit", "confess" and "deny", and especially "claim", but I think they should all be treated together, rather than a separate para for "claim". These words are not by default internalised, as the first group are.

I can't help feeling that it's an oversimplification at the moment. Are my hunches right? If so, is there a way of neatly and succinctly reorganising and explaining these two quite different dangers underlying the exemplified "say" words without blowing out the brief packaging style that is so attractive about the page?

Finally, is it worth making a one-sentence distinction between the reporting of data, scientific results, etc., and the more directly socially constructed contexts surrounding BLPs? Tony (talk) 12:00, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

I agree in general. I think several items on the page are fine in noncontroversial matters. Maurreen (talk) 15:14, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

I've made a major edit to that section; please check it and let me know here if there are problems, or make improvements to it directly. Tony (talk) 12:54, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

I wonder if "noted, observed or surmised can give credence to an internalised and unverifiable process within that person's mind" will leave readers scratching their heads. I gather the concern is that the first two convey the sense that the person took special care, and the third conveys the sense that the person arrived at a notion based on scanty evidence. Whether I've understood correctly or not, I think it would help to spell out—briefly, of course—the nature of the process(es) to which we want to avoid giving credence.—DCGeist (talk) 16:34, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

This is hard: I will have another go, taking your comment into account. I may not succeed. Tony (talk) 11:01, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Nicely said. I wasn't left scratching my head, and found it elegant, but I think a lot of readers would be. I wonder if find could be added to the group Revealed, pointed out, exposed. It is problematic in the same way. Postpostmod (talk) 23:09, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

I took a crack at it, Tony. Don't hesitate to revert if what I did was too reductive. (Ppm, I added "find" in the preceding edit). Best, Dan.—DCGeist (talk) 03:37, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

As I reflect on it further (while reading a good science book), I'm wondering how much of a problem surmise really is. Perhaps we're working from different definitions, but if surmise means "to form a notion of from scanty evidence" (as my Webster's says) than surely that is (roughly) verifiable in many cases. It's possible to know how much evidence/data a scientist had when she surmised something. Maybe there's a connotation I'm not familiar with?—DCGeist (talk) 12:20, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

I suggest "surmise" should be retained, and is really no different from the others (remembering that this is not a blacklist). In many cases it may indeed be verifiable, but we need to be sure it is before using the word, or we will introduce bias by hinting at speculation. PL290 (talk) 13:00, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

OK, took another shot. I'm still not totally convinced, though. This resides under the rubric of "loaded synonyms for the verb to say", but surely surmised isn't "loaded" as are noted and observed, which are more suggestive of a value judgment...—DCGeist (talk) 13:11, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

Or then again, perhaps the fact that "surmise" only has one connotation disqualifies it here. Using it when no inference or speculation occurred is simply a lie. That blatancy puts it in a different category from a word that might merely hint at something allowed by one of its connotations. PL290 (talk) 14:10, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

Rationalizing the page title

The following is the text of a thread I just began on Misplaced Pages Talk:Manual of Style. As it bears on the titling of this page, I'm including it here as well:

Rationalizing MoS page titles

For a while, I'd been glancing over at our template that runs along the right-hand side of the page, thinking, "Gee, the distinction between the twenty-odd pages that appear under the "Manual" header and the twenty-odd pages that appear under the "Guidelines" header seems pretty damn arbitrary." It finally dawned on me—I can be slow—that this was a result of the different titling paradigms that had been applied to the different pages.

Of the 24 pages listed under "Guidelines", Misplaced Pages:Accessibility, Misplaced Pages:Captions, Misplaced Pages:Lead section, Misplaced Pages:Linking, Misplaced Pages:Make technical articles understandable, and Misplaced Pages:Trivia sections are bannered as part of the Manual of Style (as is one loaner, Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Military history/Style guide). If they are part of the MoS, should their titles not be adjusted accordingly? Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (accessibility), Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (captions), and so forth...

The distinction raises other questions: By what logic is Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (infoboxes) an MoS subpage, but Misplaced Pages:Tables and Misplaced Pages:Lists are not? (For that matter, why is Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (anime- and manga-related articles) under "Manual" in the template, but Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (road junction lists) under "Culture"?)

The conclusion I draw from this confusion is that the system is badly in need of rationalization. Either:

(1) Every style guideline page should be titled as a Manual of Style subpage.

or:

(2) A clear system needs to be established for determining (a) which style guideline pages will be titled as MoS subpages and bannered as part of the MoS and (b) which style guideline pages will be titled as standalone guidelines (and if they have MoS banners, lose them in exchange for the existing generic style guideline banner, or perhaps a new one we create).

It looks like we will soon be admitting Misplaced Pages:Words to watch to the style guideline pantheon. Let's start by getting this new entry right. Should it be retitled Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (words to watch)?—DCGeist (talk) 03:28, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

I think so. Editors need a clear structure, and inconsistent page names is not helping. This will mean moving the pages judged to be appropriate for MoS status. Do we need an RfC at WT:MOS? Tony (talk) 03:47, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Probably a good idea. At the moment, I don't have a strong preference between the basic approaches (1) and (2) I outlined above. Should we put that question to the participants in an RFC? Or should we simply present one or the other, if you have a clear preference?—DCGeist (talk) 08:35, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Overall title

Food for thought, as long as we're retitling things -- "style guide" is more concise than "manual of style". Maurreen (talk) 12:22, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

• "Style guide": this initially struck me as too radical a change, but why not? Maurreen has a point here: it's not only more concise, it's clearer. Misplaced Pages:Style guide.
• Parentheses: this worries me. The principle aimed for is sound, but parentheses have more than one use. Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (words to watch) risks losing clarity that "words to watch" is a section or topic title (rather than, say, an explanation of what "Manual of Style" means). A colon is hovering before my eyes, but the Misplaced Pages: prefix (I assume) necessitates one, and having two is (I assume) unacceptable to some? Perhaps we can come up with alternative renderings? Say, Words to watch (style guide section), or Misplaced Pages:Style guide. Section: Words to watch. Those can probably be bettered, but may serve to stimulate further discussion. PL290 (talk) 15:17, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia_talk:Manual_of_Style#Rationalizing_MoS_page_titles is moving the other way. Gnevin (talk) 16:07, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes. I thought it would helpful to launch the thread here as well, given that this page is about to be anointed as part of the MoS, but it's probably best we centralize the rationalization discussion on the main MoS Talk page, where Gnevin has tagged the parallel thread as an RFC. So we have everyone's thoughts on the general issue at that centralized spot, I'll copy Tony's, Mo's, and PL290's comments above to it. Gnevin, your point below is specific to this page, and probably deserves its own header. Feel free to change it is as you see fit...—DCGeist (talk) 16:21, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

Profanity 2

Apart from the line With the discussion of words as words the limited exception, nonquoted article prose should not use foul language. being counter to the core system we agreed to trial this sentence makes no sense and is already covered by But material that would be considered vulgar or obscene by typical Misplaced Pages readers should be used if and only if its omission would cause the article to be less informative, relevant, or accurate, and no equally suitable alternative is available Gnevin (talk) 07:57, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

(1) It is not counter to the core system. If the core system is to work, it requires a certain amount of flexibility. The more pages you wish to transclude the core into, the more flexibility you have to accept. Flexibility was already built into the design with the ability to substitute words or phrases in the transcludable core depending on the target page. You must also recognize that the core alone will not always express everything that needs to be expressed about the topic on each target page, so an additional line or two may be warranted. If you can not accept that degree of flexibility, I guarantee you that your concept will fail and fail quickly.

(2) No, "With the discussion of words as words the limited exception, nonquoted article prose should not use foul language" is not satisfactorily covered by the preceding sentence. It is necessary to (a) point out the significant exception and (b) clarify the bottom-line distinction between quoted and nonquoted prose—that's called serving our readers. There is some conceptual redundancy, but it is there because you continue to insist on transcluding the Profanity/offensive material core into this page despite my repeated attempts to explain to you that it is not the most natural fit, as that is essentially a content guideline and this is a style guideline.

I have accepted the continuing transclusion, despite my concerns. If you continue to resist the additional sentence, I am quite ready to work toward terminating the trial I initiated.—DCGeist (talk) 08:25, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Can you at least fix With the discussion of words as words the limited exception? Gnevin (talk) 08:39, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

It's not broken.—DCGeist (talk) 08:45, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

MS word flags it's as poor grammar and it makes no sense to me . What does words as words mean? Gnevin (talk) 08:53, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Gnevin, I can imagine, for example, a need to use "foul" or "obscene" language in WP narrative to comment on a quotation. Tony (talk) 10:56, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

So can I ,to paraphrase the first sentence. You should use profanity when, if by not using it you would lower the quality of the article . The second line says nonquoted article prose should not use foul language. which means Fuck is in violation of W2W Gnevin (talk) 11:30, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

I can see a reason to mention swear words in non-quoted text, but where and why would you actually use them? ― ___A._di_M. (formerly Army1987) 12:26, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the link,how is the new version? Gnevin (talk) 12:47, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Looks good. ― ___A._di_M. (formerly Army1987) 14:08, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Why do we need Except where words themselves are the topic, nonquoted article prose should not use foul language. we have should be used if and only if its omission would cause the article to be less informativeGnevin (talk) 17:54, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

End of core test

I'm ending the test of Gnevin's concept of transcludable "core"s that was initiated on the sandbox version of this page on April 8. Aside from myself, the concept has attracted no discernible concept.

After working with the system—even after it was adjusted following discussion in MoS Talk—its inveterate flaws have become evident and I am now opposed to it as well.

• The system, per Gnevin's insistence, lacks adequate flexibility to address the needs of multiple target pages, and thus produces poor results in terms of content.
• It makes normal editing unnecessarily difficult.
• The adjustment I referred to has made the system less stable, and more prone to producing major problems on target pages such as this if the core cording is imperfect in any way.
• There is no ready way for editors of the master page (i.e., the core's source) to see where the core is transcluded and thus to know if their edits to the core are producing beneficial or detrimental results on those target pages.

The concept was worth testing, but it has failed. I've restored the Offensive language the inline text for ready editing.—DCGeist (talk) 16:26, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Really and I'm ending your ending . I suggest WP:TEA for you Gnevin (talk) 17:23, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

This test was the one thing I objected to in this page's otherwise cheering development. I had always believed that it is a foundational ethic of Misplaced Pages that it is an open system. Not perfectly open--what is?--but very open. The rampant, kudzu-like growth of transcluded templates for tables and tags and whatnot has subtly undermined that spirit. But transcluding narrative text should have absolutely no place here. The ability to freely edit and improve text is the foundation of Misplaced Pages--not the ability to edit text if you can find where it actually exists through some game of hopscotch. Sure, this is a guideline page and not an article page, so the content itself is not central to our mission--but the principle is. Exceptional circumstances aside, if a reader sees text, they should be able to edit that text. Period. The needless easter egg hunt demanded by this concept was a mockery of how Misplaced Pages is meant to work. DocKino (talk) 17:32, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Yeah because templates are just so hard to edit. It's a click away, how that changes wiki to a closed system is beyond me, yet you've somehow managed to figure how this editing nightmare Gnevin (talk) 17:40, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Easy for you or me, sure. But Misplaced Pages isn't about just you and me. It's about anyone in the world who wants to contribute. Remember? DocKino (talk) 17:46, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes, so they edit the main page like the 1000's of templates they've encountered on every article they've ever edited. You'd have to look hard to find one article with no templates. Anyway clearly DG wants his wording and isn't willing to give this idea time even though discussion on this page had CONGnevin (talk) 17:49, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, where's this consensus? A. di M. writing "looks good" does not constitute consensus for your position. It also appears that Dan changed the wording to satisfy your objection to the "words as words" as phrase. Guess what, it's perfectly good English. If you're learning the language from MS Word, no wonder you're having such problems. DocKino (talk) 18:00, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Be civil ,if you can do that I will reply to the rest of your post Gnevin (talk) 18:02, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Apparently you disagree that the system "makes normal editing unnecessarily difficult". I gather you see no difference between templates that accumulate nonnarrative generic information, data fields, or link farms, and yours template, which incorporates what looks like normal narrative text that can be edited immediately, but in fact can not. OK. We have very different positions on that. Settled. Please respond to the other three points raised by DCGeist above. DocKino (talk) 18:29, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Crossover question

I've been watching the development of this page with great interest--it's a vast improvement over what's come before, not only "Words to avoid" but "Peacock" and "Weasel", as well.

The question I have is how this page is meant to relate to the primary Manual of Style page, and what amount of repetition there should be between the two. Right now, there are two subsection of the Manual that more or less cross over with the content and/or concept of this page: Misplaced Pages:MoS#Contested vocabulary and Misplaced Pages:MoS#Instructional and presumptuous language. The former seems to glance at the neologism problem (words "that are not widely accepted"); it also suggests that a section on "words and phrases that give the impression of straining for formality" should be considered for this page. The latter clearly echoes both "Statement characterizations" and "Editorializing" here. It seems odd to mirror just two (or three, if you count neologisms) of this page's sections in the Manual. All or none is the stylish choice, right?

Thanks again for all the hard work that's gone in to what is now a very useful page. DocKino (talk) 16:59, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Text of offensive language section

The concluding sentence, "Except where words themselves are the topic, nonquoted article prose should not use foul language" seems very useful to me. It offers clear guidance on two related points very efficiently, just as a style guideline should. In the context of the brief section, it also makes clear that our perspective on vulgar and obscene words is different depending on whether or not we are dealing with a quotation. That's important. Mysteriously, Gnevin seems appalled by this sentence. DocKino (talk) 17:55, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Play the ball . I just don't see why if we say in the sentence before to paraphrase only use vulgar and obscene words if not using it would harm the article . Surely an article vulgar and obscene words is a case where its omission would cause the article to be less informative, relevant, or accurate, and no equally suitable alternative is available Gnevin (talk) 17:58, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but your inability to communicate clearly in the English language makes it impossible to respond to this. DocKino (talk) 18:02, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Then leave the discussion or stop being rude and ask me to rephrase or clarify a point . I've no problem in doing so. No one else has had to resort to being ignorant on the rare occasion they've had an issue understanding me Gnevin (talk) 18:05, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Gnevin has recast the sentence "Misplaced Pages does not censor quotations" to read "Misplaced Pages does not censor quotations and words". There are two problems here: First, it simply reads as poor, redundant prose. Gnevin means to refer to the fact that we don't alter curse words by substituting symbols for letters, but that is fully covered in the main Manual page. There is no need for this awkward repetition here. Second, in fact Misplaced Pages does exercise a degree of self-censorship: editors' freedom to add foul language to articles outside of quotations is severely restricted in practice, as the final sentence of the text makes clear. Gnevin's addition of "words" to the earlier sentence muddies this point. DocKino (talk) 18:18, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

It was "Misplaced Pages does not censor quotations or words" but sure don't let that get in the way. Everything is fully covered in the main Manual page. With or words the last sentence is more redundant than it currently is. Gnevin (talk) 18:27, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Difficult to be sure whether that answers the point about the redundancy of specifying both words and quotations. And the same issue is ongoing at WP:PROFANITY. I don't understand. Gnevin, why do you want both "words" and "quotations"? PL290 (talk) 18:30, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Because adding or words allows for the usage in articles like Fuck. Its allows for words in that article that are offensive but the omission would cause the article to be less informative, relevant, or accurate, and no equally suitable alternative is available. Where as quotations on it's own limits it to " X said fuck off to the Police officer" Gnevin (talk) 18:35, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, "or words", not "and words". That does not alter in the slightest the two points I raised: it results in an awkward, repetitive sentence and it muddies the final point, which is otherwise quite clear. I assume you were being sarcastic when you wrote "Everything is fully covered in the main Manual page". Well, the main Manual page is focused on different aspects of style than this page does. This page focuses on word choice; that page focuses on how to present the words chosen. The issue you seem to be concerned with--of how curse words are visually represented--falls within the orbit of presentation, rather than word choice. DocKino (talk) 18:40, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

If your a programmer like me or and and make a major difference and I'm concerned with articles like Fuck not how words like Fuck are visually represented Gnevin (talk) 18:45, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

I did a little programming back in the day. I appreciate what a major difference there is between or and and in programming. But this isn't programming. It seems to me that the current language of the section makes unmistakable that we offer protection for articles like the one you're concerned about: where "words themselves are the topic", the use of foul language is acceptable. "Misplaced Pages does not censor...words" doesn't make that point nearly as effectively, I think. PL, if you're still here, you see this any differently? DocKino (talk) 19:02, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

No, I concur. In the case of WP:PROFANITY, the phrase in question is, "However, words, quotations and images that can be considered offensive should not be included unless they are treated in an encyclopedic manner." In that example, the word "quotations" is redundant, as another editor pointed out, but his correction was reverted. I've restored it. In the current case, the issue of redundancy is the same, but the phraseology is different: here, I concur that the current wording is preferable, while I would also go further and suggest a third choice, namely, to reproduce the standard phrase associated with the linked policy element, "Misplaced Pages is not censored". I will propose to make that change presently unless there are objections. PL290 (talk) 19:51, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

PL, I like that as a simple strong sentence. But I think we do, here, in this guideline, need to articulate the difference between how we handle vulgar/obscene words in quotations vs. regular text. Consider--if you'll excuse me--the word shit. Here, laboriously, is the difference;

When part of a quotation, shit should be included if and only if its omission would cause the article to be less informative, relevant, or accurate, and no equally suitable alternative to including it in the quotation is available.

Where not part of a quotation, shit should be included if and only if the word shit is the topic of discussion (and omission of the discussion would cause...etc.)

The current text gets at that distinction. I'm certainly in favor of the shift to "Misplaced Pages is not censored" as long as we edit elsewhere in the section to make sure the distinction is clear to users. DocKino (talk) 20:15, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Including information about offensive material is part of Misplaced Pages's encyclopedic mission. Misplaced Pages does not censor words. However, language that would be considered vulgar or obscene by typical Misplaced Pages readers should be used if and only if its omission would cause the article to be less informative, relevant, or accurate, and no equally suitable alternative is available. Whats wrong with this?

As explained numerous times already, it does not do nearly as good a job in offering the clear guidance on "words to watch" that we expect from this style guideline. DocKino (talk) 19:02, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Quotes contain words so quotes are covered equally as well by this phrasing as the current phrase Gnevin (talk) 19:08, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

No, in practical terms, they are not "covered equally as well". Your proposed phrasing is much less clear on several counts, as described above. As a style guideline, this needs to go beyond simply reiterating the principles of our content policy. DocKino (talk) 19:14, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Including information about offensive material is part of Misplaced Pages's encyclopedic mission. Misplaced Pages does not censor, quotations should appear as in the original source. When not quoting, language that would be considered offensive by typical Misplaced Pages readers should be used if and only if its omission would cause the article to be less informative, relevant, or accurate, and no equally suitable alternative is available such as where offensive words themselves are the topic.

1. My suggestion, it explains what to Misplaced Pages does not censor means in practice
2. Removes the hanging bit about words
3. Clarifies offensive words in the bit words themselves are the topic.
4. Uses offensive in all cases but I'm open to anything once its constant
5. Moves nonquoted article prose should not use foul language into the bodyGnevin (talk) 20:34, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

The current text clearly has the support of PL290, DCGeist, and myself. PL and I have clearly demonstrated our readiness to further improve it (see above), but it is fine as is. Thank you for presenting your proposal here.

Yes, we should focus to the degree possible on what "Misplaced Pages does not censor" means in practice. Taking into consideration PL's observation about the policy above; the couple of worthy turns of phrase you've offered above; and the need to clarify that it is "vulgar or obscene" words that this "Words to watch" guideline is specifically addressing (the triple use of "offensive" proposed above is both unattractive and makes the text less clear than it could be), I propose this:

Including information about offensive material is part of Misplaced Pages's encyclopedic mission. Misplaced Pages is not censored. Quoted words should appear as in the original source. However, language that would be considered vulgar or obscene by typical Misplaced Pages readers should be used if and only if its omission would cause the article to be less informative, relevant, or accurate, and no equally suitable alternative is available. Outside of quotations, foul language should not be used except where offensive words themselves are the topic.

DocKino (talk) 20:51, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

I like it with the exception that foul language should be offensive words or vice versa. Gnevin (talk) 20:56, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Good, we're close then. I don't believe duplicating either "foul language" or "offensive words" would make the passage any clearer; it would only make it sound a bit clunkier. Let's see what PL's take is. DocKino (talk) 21:05, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Looks close. How about Outside of quotations, offensive words should not be used except where they are themselves the topic. PL290 (talk) 21:15, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

I realize I don't like the overbroad implications that result when "offensive" directly characterizes "words". Using your sentence structure, how about: "Outside of quotations, vulgar or obscene words should not be used except where they are themselves the topic". DocKino (talk) 21:25, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

I'm not sure why we are changing from offensive to vulgar or obscene and back again. Surely consistency would be better Gnevin (talk) 21:27, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Consistently using the same adjective over and over again is not better. Also, in this proposal we do not "go back again". We introduce with "offensive," which encapsulates the general concept we're addressing, which also relates to policy and content guidelines. And then we get more specific with "vulgar and obscene", which are the particular sorts of "words to watch" that this part of the style guideline is focused on. That's a natural, sensible shift from the relatively general to the relatively specific, both of which have their place. So:

Including information about offensive material is part of Misplaced Pages's encyclopedic mission. Misplaced Pages is not censored. Quoted words should appear as in the original source. However, language that would be considered vulgar or obscene by typical Misplaced Pages readers should be used if and only if its omission would cause the article to be less informative, relevant, or accurate, and no equally suitable alternative is available. Outside of quotations, vulgar or obscene words should not be used except where they are themselves the topic.

DocKino (talk) 21:39, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Go with it Gnevin (talk) 21:59, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Great. We made real progress here. It looks like PL has gone offline, so I'll make the change, and look forward to his reaction when he returns. DocKino (talk) 22:05, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes, that's good. PL290 (talk) 22:28, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Alternative title idea: Choice of words

Any support for Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (choice of words) Gnevin (talk) 14:13, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

Since the point of any title change is to provide consistency, I think a list of similar pages should be developed (it doesn't have to be exhaustive, but I gather that some editors have at least a partial plan of what to develop next, so some list should be possible). Considering a list of page topics should give valuable ideas for what name would be suitable here (and would form a basis for choosing names of other pages). Johnuniq (talk) 04:49, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

I suggested that myself earlier, when we were trying to better "words to avoid", but I think "words to watch" beats it hands down. PL290 (talk) 09:12, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

"Choice of words" is too broad for this page. Maurreen (talk) 12:31, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

Mission to include offensive material

As I noted at WT:Profanity#Purpose of this page, the Vulgarities and obscenities section is unfortunately worded. The text currently says Including information about offensive material is part of Misplaced Pages's encyclopedic mission. That wording incorrectly suggests that part of our mission is to seek out offensive material in order to document it. It should say that Misplaced Pages has a mission to document encyclopedic material, and information compliant with that mission is not omitted due to concerns about its offensiveness. Johnuniq (talk) 05:02, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

Content compliant with our mission is sometimes replaced with equivalently informative content due to concerns about offensiveness. For the master guideline page (Profanity→Offensive material), how about...

Information that serves Misplaced Pages's encyclopedic mission is not omitted simply because it may or does offend.

Or...

Information that serves Misplaced Pages's encyclopedic mission is not omitted merely because it is potentially or actually offensive.

On the other hand, for this page, well, the fact is that it is part of our mission to seek out and describe everything deserving of encyclopedic documentation. That includes some very filthy words with long, fascinating, edifying histories. And it is words that we are ultimately focused on right here in Words to watch. Seeking out the information that will someday raise each of the individual articles on the seven dirty words to Featured Article status is absolutely part of our mission. I see nothing in the current language quoted from this page that incorrectly suggests anything.—DCGeist (talk) 05:48, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

I prefer the second of your above options, however, after more thought I have reworded (diff) the section to show how I think the emphasis should be placed. I don't like the original because we don't have a mission, and the content policies we do have give no suggestion that our purpose is to document offensive material (we document suitable material regardless of whether it is offensive). Johnuniq (talk) 08:06, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

I have no problem conceptually with what you were getting at with your edit, but it doesn't work expressively. Most readers won't know what the "content policy" is and that first sentence has to be clearly, coherently meaningful on its own, without necessitating a jump to another page. Care to give it another shot?—DocKino (talk) 08:16, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

Actually, on a second look, I have several problems. I was just focused on the first sentence, which is what you talked about. But the rest of your edit messed up several points that PL, Gnevin, and I went through great pains to nail down. I won't repeat them all here--you can easily access the thread a short distance above. You seem concerned that the wording of our style guideline will offer encouragement to those wanting to inundate the encyclopedia with naughty stuff. i imagine anyone with that predilection doesn't need encouragement, and certainly won't be searching out our style guidelines to find it. I've restored the language we arrived at above, with one major exception. With your concern in mind, I've essentially reversed the structure of the first sentence (and reworded it a bit along your lines) to reduce the threat you perceive. I'm not sure the guidance is improved by this change, but it won't hurt to look at it for a bit. DocKino (talk) 08:38, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

I like what you all have arrived at here (including PL290's final "tweaklet".) It ties to policy and principle in an effective way, while providing the clear guidance we expect from Words to watch. Very strong section now.—DCGeist (talk) 17:45, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

Technical words used for colloquial meaning

Several words that have very specific meanings in studies of religion have different meanings in less formal contexts, e.g. fundamentalism and mythology. Misplaced Pages articles about religious topics should take care to use these words only in their formal senses in order to avoid causing unnecessary offence or misleading the reader. Conversely, editors should not avoid using terminology that has been established by the majority of the current reliable and note worthy sources on a topic out of sympathy for a particular point of view, or concern that readers may confuse the formal and informal meanings.

I think the passage above used to be in WP:NPOV, but got lost somewhere. Not sure whether it would fit into an existing section, or would be better in a new one. OrangeDog (τ • ε) 12:19, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

Go

Do we go ? We've near only one oppose. Should we start merging ? Or at least set a deadline? Gnevin (talk) 14:44, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

Set a deadline, let the community know and if the deadline passes without comment then go for it --Jubilee♫clipman 22:06, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

Weasel words poorly explained

I think WP:AWW is a common enough problem that it deserves its own page with a full explanation. What is on this page is (ironically) too vague. -- Kendrick7 23:05, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

1. "Resolution 93-01". National Federation of the Blind. July 9, 1993. Retrieved April 4, 2010.

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