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	Homeopathy has been listed as one of the good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.
Article milestones Date Process Result September 14, 2006 Good article nominee Not listed September 27, 2007 Good article nominee Listed
Current status: Good article

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On 14 September 2007, Homeopathy was linked from Slashdot, a high-traffic website. (Traffic) All prior and subsequent edits to the article are noted in its revision history.

Archives

Talk:Homeopathy/Archive 1 Talk:Homeopathy/Archive 2 Talk:Homeopathy/Archive 3 Talk:Homeopathy/Archive 4 Talk:Homeopathy/Archive 5 Talk:Homeopathy/Archive 6 Talk:Homeopathy/Archive 7 Talk:Homeopathy/Archive 8 Talk:Homeopathy/Archive 9 Talk:Homeopathy/Archive 10 Talk:Homeopathy/Archive 11 Talk:Homeopathy/Archive 12 Talk:Homeopathy/Archive 13 Talk:Homeopathy/Archive 14 Talk:Homeopathy/Archive 15 Talk:Homeopathy/Archive 16 Talk:Homeopathy/Archive 17 Talk:Homeopathy/Archive 18

My thoughts on this article

(Copied from the GA review)

In the context of alternative medicine articles, almost all of which are simply awful, homeopathy stands as a rare example of an article that actually attempts to do it well.

Is it perfect? No. It's awkward in a couple points, and, yes, it wouldn't be unreasonable to be a bit more critical here and there. Could it be better? Yes. But it deserves more praise than it's getting from people who haven't participated in the process, and don't know what a long haul it is.

Does it violate WP:NPOV, WP:WEIGHT, and WP:FRINGE? When Wikidudeman asked me, I said "Technically, yes". But that, perhaps, is not nuanced enough for here.

Homeopathy violates basic principles of science, and so comes under the guidelines for pseudoscience and fringe views. The article does contain a fair bit of justified criticism - while describing miasms, and dilution and succussion, we do break to mention the problems with these ideas. Is it criticised enough? No, some of the criticism - notably of the high dilutions - is not particularly well-written, and more criticism of other homeopathic concepts wouldn't be inappropriate. The section on "Concepts", and, to a lesser extent, the other history sections, are probably the worst offenders: Hahnemann's ideas are presented as if they were true, and criticism is absent. This is a fairly easy trap to slip into when writing about how someone came about their views when your primary reference is their writings. But it's still not good.

Again, however, I'd like to point out that it's better, in this respect, than pretty much any other alternative medicine article. If we want to make it better, we are going to have to be willing and ready to get some people very, very angry at us.

As for the sources... Well, Hahnemann's writings are fairly omnipresent, but given alternative medicine and other fringe theories' well-documented resistance to change, this isn't as bad as it might sound. The sources could definitely use a little clean-up, formatting of sources is inconsistent, and source 35, "The Naturopathic School. NCNM. Retrieved on 2007-09-13." does not really support its sentence. Source 128, "Homeopathy in Malaysia. Whole Health Now Homeopathy. Retrieved on 2007-09-25." - is probably not reliable enough for what it's used for.

Should it be GA? Well, if compared to other alternative medicine articles, perhaps yes. On objective standards, perhaps no. In any case, let's not downplay the achievement of getting it this far. Alternative medicine articles are an uphill battle that Misplaced Pages has only just started to fight. Attacking the people that began the struggle is inappropriate. Adam Cuerden 18:08, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Well written. But, if we can make Intelligent design work, this should be easier. But I could be in denial. OrangeMarlin 18:15, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Hello - I saw this on the FTN. I've changed around one section (5.1) which seemed awkwardly worded. Still, it certainly looks like a good startthis article looks good, especially compared with some of the other alternative medicine articles. Hal peridol 02:38, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

I also think the Homeopathy article is well done. Maybe wordier than necessary. Here are a few specifics where I think it could be improved.

1) I think I can guess the meaning of "vehicle" in paragraph 2, but I should not have to.

2) I think the sentence starting “Although the ideas of homeopathy no longer form part of mainstream science...” is too long.

3) QUOTING: "It should be noted however that not all homeopaths advocated extremely high potencies. Many of the early homeopaths were originally doctors and generally tended to use lower potencies such as "3x" or "6x", rarely going beyond "12x". A good example of this approach is that of Dr. Richard Hughes, who dismissed the extremely high potencies as unnecessary. This was the dominant pattern in Europe throughout the 1820s to 1930s, but in America many practitioners developed and preferred the higher dilutions. This trend became especially exemplified by James Tyler Kent and dominated US homeopathy from the 1850s until its demise in the 1940s."

There are a bunch of vague references in these sentences. It is not clear if “This was the dominant” refers to high potency or low. Also: “this trend” refers to what? Finally, does its demise mean demise of homeopathy or demise of “this trend”?

4) “The first symptomatic index of the homeopathic materia medica was arranged by Hahnemann. Soon after, one of his students Clemens von Bönninghausen, created the Therapautic Pocket Book, another homeopathic repertory. The first such Homeopathic Repertory was Dr. George Jahr's Repertory, published in 1835 in German and then again in 1838 in English and edited by Dr. Constantine Hering. This version was less focused on disease categories and would be the forerunner to Kent's later works. It consisted of three large volumes. Such Repertories increased in size and detail as time progressed.”

It would be less confusing if the first Homeopathic Repertory was mentioned first.

5) The paragraph “Medical and scientific analysis” and the next one “higher dilutions” say the same thing in part.

I believe that the first paragraph is kind of a summary. I didn't think it was too repetitive. OrangeMarlin 03:26, 4 October 2007 (UTC) - I'll read it again. Wanderer57

6) The editors of the Canada and Mexico articles will be surprised to find they are now part of Australia. Wanderer57 02:48, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

You obviously weren't keeping up with the news. Australia invaded Canada last week. They defended themselves with hockey sticks, but alas, it was quick. It was so quick you might have missed it. OrangeMarlin 03:23, 4 October 2007 (UTC) - I gotta get away from the computer more. Wanderer57

My two cents

Homeopathy (also homœopathy or homoeopathy; from the Greek, ὅμοιος, hómoios, "similar" + πάθος, páthos, "suffering" or "disease") is a form of alternative medicine with metaphysical underpinnings, first elaborated in the eighteenth century, widely popular in the nineteenth century, decreasingly popular in the twentieth century, and still maintaining a following today, though among just a small minority. It has been widely and vigorously criticized by scientists as baseless and ineffective.

Homeopathy is based on a vitalist philosophy, which sees the underlying causes of sickness as imbalances in a hypothetical vital force. The remedies are formulated to "treat like with like": substances are chosen which, in large quantities, would cause symptoms similar to those of a presenting illness, but are then administered in extremely diluted form. In fact, in many common homeopathic dilutions no molecules of the original substance are likely to remain, a fact which is central to criticism of the tradition by physical and biological scientists.

Homeopathy was first conceived in the late 18th century by German physician Samuel Hahnemann, who noted some similarity of the symptoms created by giving undiluted cinchona bark extract to healthy individuals, to those of malaria (which the bark was conventionally used to treat). Hahnemann concluded that, to be effective, a drug must produce the same sorts of symptoms in healthy individuals as those experienced by the patient with the illness that the drug is supposed to treat. From this reasoning, a series of substances were selected whose administration created symptoms in patients similar to those they were suffering from. The original substance is then repeatedly diluted, and, at each stage of the dilution, the solution is shaken. Finished homeopathic remedies contain few or even no molecules of the original substance, but homeopaths contend that the shaking causes an imprint (or "memory") of the diluted substance upon the vehicle (the diluting water or alcohol itself). Proponents of homeopathy claim that homeopathic treatments can harmonize and re-balance a theorized vital force in the body, thus restoring health.

Claims for the medical efficacy of homeopathic treatments, however, have been roundly rejected as unsupported by the collected weight of scientific and clinical studies. Homeopathic philosophy has been characterized as strikingly at odds with the laws of chemistry and physics, since it postulates that extreme dilution actually makes drugs more powerful (by enhancing, homeopaths believe, their "spirit-like medicinal powers"). Scientists have asserted that there is no evidence of water or alcohol retaining any sort of imprint of a substance that was once dissolved in it, and that any positive effects of homeopathic treatments must be due simply to the placebo effect. Furthermore, some health advocates have accused homeopathic practitioners of giving false hope to patients who might otherwise seek conventional treatments that have withstood testing by the scientific method. Many have pointed to meta-analyses which — they contend — confirm the fact that any benefits of the medicine are due to the placebo effect; they have criticized apparently positive studies of homeopathy as being flawed in design. These findings, they say — along with the common practice of homeopaths to proscribe their patients from receiving conventional medical treatments for a given malady while being treated for it with homeopathy — argue for labeling homeopathy as a brand of quackery whose use might ultimately even endanger the patient's health.

Friarslantern 20:46, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

This is a straw man description of homeopathy. Whig 20:59, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

Explain! This statement makes no sense to me. Friarslantern 21:04, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

• The paragraphs are too short and I see no reason for their formulation. Why is the first one split from the second one?
• The "widely popular in the nineteenth century, decreasingly popular in the twentieth century, and still maintaining a following today" part doesn't read like an encyclopedia. It's part of the first sentence which is way too long.
• The entire lead is difficult to read. If I didn't understand what Homeopathy was then I would probably not know much more after reading that lead.
• Many of the statements aren't referenced. Due to the conflicts, everything must be properly referenced.
• Not many people are actually disputing the lead except until just recently and I don't see how this formulation would solve those specific disputes. Wikidudeman 23:14, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

This LEAD is much much too long and has way too much detail. I also think it does not succinctly describe the main points. --Filll 23:50, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

OK here is a new version of it. Short, I think, and to the point, and neutral. I'm working on it at User:Friarslantern/HomeoIntroDraft.

Friarslantern 01:26, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

I like this version much better. It seems to be fair. I am still reading about homeopathy in order to better understand it, so I cannot vouch for its accuracy in all parts. Whig 08:23, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

Outside view: Homeopathy and neutrality

It seems there are three actual separate issues confused above.

• The description of homeopathy is one thing. There are descriptions of how homeopathists see it, and descriptions of how scientists see it, and so on. These are all descriptions. A description of homeopathy is going to draw on multiple views. It will describe what it is, and its concepts, structures and processes and so on, but without saying any given item is "true" or "not true" on either side. It describes.

• However, when it comes to the validation and verification aspects of homeopathy, then the main view is science, since scientific testing methodologies carry significantly more weight than other methodologies. In this area, one has to reflect the balance that the bulk of reliable sources on testing of homeopathy are those conducted by scientists.

• Likewise discussion of the theoretical basis of homeopathy is also predominantly the realm of science, which has a very good uunderstanding how molecules and reactions work. The reliable sources for theoretical underpinnings and comments on its "making sense" are predominantly going to be scientific ones. Alternative views how the world works may be notable, but are given less weight in this question.

In this manner, we can construct an article that fairly reflects both sides of a debate, with due weight.

Hope that helps.

FT2 16:44, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

I agree. Of course I've been saying this for months. The article currently reflects this. Wikidudeman 17:11, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

Wikidudeman, I am new to editing this article, but I do not agree with you that the article is anywhere near NPOV at present. That there is an obvious NPOV dispute cannot be unknown to you. Your defensive statements that the article is presently wonderful are not helpful. Whig 18:07, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

Format lead please

The lead has excessive white-space and most articles I'm aware of don't have that. Could someone please get rid of the extra whitespace Separating paragraphs in the lead? Thanks. Wikidudeman 17:10, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

What would be needed to fix this article

We have a bad situation here. We have two or three POV warriors that want frantically to describe Homeopathy according to some narrow criteria associated with "true believers". There are occasional other pro-homeopathy editors who visit and fight to change the view of the article. This is so annoying I would almost be ready to advocate deleting the article and blocking any efforts to create a new one in its place.

This pro-homeopathy view is contrary to all of science and medicine, which are the fields which Misplaced Pages must agree with, according to its design. If editors want a pro-homeopathy article, they will have to leave Misplaced Pages because Misplaced Pages is not the place for this kind of article. It is against the very structure of Misplaced Pages, and has no place here.

A reasonable homeopathy article will have some description of the method and its history, and have a substantial measure of material that demonstrates it is pure bunk, hoakum, quackery, dishonest nonsense and unscientific claptrap. All the way through it. In the LEAD. In the body. All the way through. Lots of links to studies that show homeopathy is unmitigated crap. So if your vision is something other than this, perhaps you do not belong here.--Filll 19:00, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

1. ^ "Similia similibus curentur (Like cures like)". Creighton University Department of Pharmacology. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
2. ^ Cite error: The named reference nccamnih was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
3. ^ Cite error: The named reference homhist1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
4. ^ Cite error: The named reference nhspseudo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
5. ^ Cite error: The named reference amapseudo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
6. ^ Cite error: The named reference pmid11416076 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
7. Altunç U, Pittler MH, Ernst E (2007). "Homeopathy for childhood and adolescence ailments: systematic review of randomized clinical trials". Mayo Clin Proc. 82 (1): 69–75. PMID 17285788.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
8. Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann's "Organon Of Medicine" translated by Dudgeon Fifth Edition § 269
9. ^ Cite error: The named reference pmid16125589 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
10. ^ Cite error: The named reference pmid9243229 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
11. ^ Cite error: The named reference pmid8554846 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
12. ^ Cite error: The named reference pmid11316508 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
13. ^ Cite error: The named reference pmid8255290 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
14. ^ Cite error: The named reference pmid1376282 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
15. Altunç U, Pittler MH, Ernst E (2007). "Homeopathy for childhood and adolescence ailments: systematic review of randomized clinical trials". Mayo Clin Proc. 82 (1): 69–75. PMID 17285788.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
16. Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann's "Organon Of Medicine" translated by Dudgeon Fifth Edition § 269

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