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Terrorism and WP:NOTNEWS

Over the past year or so there have been a larger than usual number of terror attacks in Israel. Although more common than they might have been in the past (which was still somewhat regular), the request becomes which ones are notable and which ones are not. I waited to avoid posting this here until after Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Murder of Reuven Shmerling closed to avoid it appearing that there was canvassing occurring, however like most of these recent nominations it ended with no consensus. My thought in taking it here is perhaps we can open up the lines of discussion on the topic and potential revise the policy to better show how to treat these sort of instances.

The line quoted in this recent event routine news reporting on things like announcements, sports, or celebrities is not a sufficient basis for inclusion in the encyclopedia is obviously vague for a reason. TheGracefulSlick believes that terrorist events, such as the AfD above fall into the "like" those listed. Myself, Greenbörg, Shrike, Millionsandbillions and E.M.Gregory expressed our disagreement in there. I do not believe there is anything routine about a terror attack, regardless of how often then occur, however others disagree.

Other arguments brought forward include items such as WP:RAPID/WP:BREAKING and WP:RECENT. However, I think if we can come to a conclusion on the NOTNEWS issue, the others will fall into place. Therefore, I am asking here, where the neutral third parties with interest in the topic would be, to weigh in. Thanks - GalatzTalk 16:12, 27 October 2017 (UTC)

  • Galatz, if you are going to start this off right, quote the whole sentence. It's: For example, routine news reporting on things like announcements, sports, or celebrities is not a sufficient basis for inclusion in the encyclopedia, meaning there are more and they do not have to be explicitly related to those given. Also, you should probably ping more people from the other side of the argument; you only pinged me yet you alerted four other editors who inherently vote keep on those AFDs.TheGracefulSlick (talk) 16:50, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
Actually I have only occasionally taken part in these AfD's, partly because it is almost always wasted time. The second an event has been (even speculatively) linked to terrorism, there are usually enough editors to ensure 'no consensus'. Personally, I cannot see why possible terrorist events are inherently more important than any other events, nor why having an article about every -relatively- minor event aids understanding of the whole phenomenon. If you wanted to know why or how IRA members behaved as they did for 30 years, would reading the headlines of each event be the best way of conveying information? Pincrete (talk) 18:57, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
  • User:TheGracefulSlick has recently started two discussions on this topic at the Village Pump (she started then closed a discussion Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)#Small addition to WP:NOTNEWS then started an second discussion,Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)#WP:NOTNEWS (Part II); both of the discussions Slick started followed a well-attended discussion Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)#Straw poll on the current view of WP:NOT#NEWS. None of the Village Pump discussions seem at all likely to produce consensus.E.M.Gregory (talk) 17:13, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
  • These endless cycles of discussions over WP:NOTNEWS grow wearisome. Items covered in depth in global news are of global interest. The continuous, repeated attempts to stretch WP:NOTNEWS to limit the good-faith contributions of editors is harmful to the growth of the encyclopedia and drives away editors who are being useful. People need to stop using this small issue as a giant club to beat people with who often lack the experience here to defend themselves again. That's not its purpose. It should not exist to allow a small cadre of editors the ability to close off Wikipedia to people whose interests don't align with their own, and that's what these attempts are trying to do. If someone is trying to use a small town newspaper to write about their local florist, or post results from a little league baseball game, or something like that, that is the sort of thing NOTNEWS is supposed to head off. When multiple, world-wide, major journalism outlets are covering a story, it's past the realm of "routine". The extension of NOTNEWS from "don't write about some minor local issue just because it appears as a sentence in a newspaper" to "if it appears in the news, Wikipedia must never talk about it". Our only concern should be "can people verify this adequately" and "is this covered by enough sources" This constant elitism has GOT to stop. --Jayron32 17:27, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
  • I agree with Jayron concerning the repetitive efforts to tinker with this policy, and don't believe any tweaking of NOTNEWS is either possible or necessary to deal with articles on terrorist attacks. People who favor and oppose them will always have their reasons, and will find policies and guidelines to back their positions. Let's not tilt the playing field to favor one side or the other. As for terrorism, yes, some editors equate that with street crime and perhaps even auto accidents, but specious arguments can be found everywhere on Wikipedia but here is no point to revise sound and well-drafted policies as a result. Coretheapple (talk) 18:08, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
As for terrorism, yes, some editors equate that with street crime and perhaps even auto accidents. I've never known an editor to equate terrorism with either. It might help the discussion if the opinions of others who claim that not every 'terrorist', or 'speculated terrorist' event is inherently significant were not trivialised in this way. Not every murder or rape or accusation of rape deserves an article, but that does not make murder or rape as insignificant as an 'auto accident'. Pincrete (talk) 19:35, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
  • I was going to say something, but Jayron said it better. Wnt (talk) 15:48, 28 October 2017 (UTC)
  • There is no guideline or policy that deems "terrorism" or "terrorist attack" as notable. However, no matter how small the attack, some people try to define "terrorism" as inherently notable at AfD. As with any other event, at least several other factors (or more) on the WP:Notability (events) page, and the WP:N page need to be taken into consideration, not just that some government labeled it as terrorism. Of course, another option is to do an RFC that places "an act deemed terrorism by some government" as inherently notable on one of the SNGs (probably WP:Notability(events)). ---Steve Quinn (talk) 18:21, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
  • I disagree strongly with Jayron, if every event that can be verified has its own article, regardless of demonstrable lasting significance, WP becomes nothing more than a compilation of yesterdays headlines. If we equate depth of coverage with acreage of coverage (the number of news sources repeating the same story for a week or two), what are we? I know that in this topic area, there are hundreds of articles that have NEVER been updated, even major stories like the 2016 Nice attack don't get 'updated' (trials, reports, investigations? ). If it is 'elitism' to want info about terrorism (in UK, in Europe, etc) 'summarised' into a coherent narrative that distinguishes between events that - for one reason or another - have demonstrable 'significance' from those that are relatively trivial or routine, and a narrative that 'follows up' to record what happened after the global news cycle moved on - then I plead guilty. Throughout almost all my adult life, there has been terrorist activity in the UK, the idea that having a separate article on each incident that was, wholly, partly or speculatively linked to terrorism and that doing that was the most effective way of informing the reader about the subject is plain silly IMO. This topic area is rife with PoV-pushing, OR and BLP violations, if that doesn't matter to you or you think that there are enough editors to control it and/or that encouraging new editors to take part trumps any reputation we have for reliability and impartiality, by all means encourage unlimited NEWS stories. I want nothing to do with it and don't want to spend as much of my editing time as I have had to do 'cleaning up' this topic area. The more NEWS stories we do, the more of them are going to be crap IMO. Pincrete (talk) 18:43, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
  • A lot of complex issues here, but agreeing in principle on some points: "terrorism" has a legal meaning (at least in most countries, elevating a crime in how its prosecution proceeds), and a subjective meaning, which appears to be the situation in this specific case. Here on WP, we absolutely have to distinguish events being prosecuted as terrorism (eg treat these as true "terrorism" events) and those just being called that by the media or others (as it appears to be this case). However, as Steve Quinn notes, even a true "terrorism" event is not necessarily included if there's not much more than a brief burst of international coverage, per GNG/NEVENT. To this specific event, and the NOT line in question, I think we should consider things like "domestic crimes" (which the article in question does appear to be) the type of routine news we should avoid. This is specifically to disguinish the idea of true "terrorism" crimes from "domestic" ones; I would not consider a true "terrorism" crime to be routine, necessarily (albeit with events in the Middle East, there's some issues there). --MASEM (t) 18:47, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
    • @Masem: I am not sure if this changes your opinion or not, but Israel has an official designation for victims of terror. The government recognition does impact several things from aide to the family to the sentencing. Even the house owned by the person who committed the act getting demolished, regardless of the outcome of the trail. The case I referenced has been officially declared as a victim of terror. Additionally are you saying there is a difference if they are a Palestinian citizen committing the act on an Israeli citizen, since that wouldn't be domestic? Unfortunately with Israeli/Palestinian the lines are much fuzzier than other countries. - GalatzTalk 19:35, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
      • It should be identified that the gov't of Israel considers the case terrorism; it would be similar to how China views Falan Gong, for example. ("One mans terrorist is another man's freedom fighter"). There is this problem to a degree, but at least that when there is some official gov't designation, that passes a better objective bar than a random commentator going "this is clearly terrorism". --MASEM (t) 22:20, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
        Except that terrorism can be defined objectively by tactics. I.e., one might entirely support the political cause of Irish Republicanism while still decrying attacks by the Provos as terrorism. I'm skeptical that what a government says should factor into it; rather, what do the majority of the RS say about a particular incident (or group)?  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ >ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ<  22:48, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Nothing is going to be accomplished here but here is my opinion. Global acts of terrorism occur everyday yet some editors think there is some inherent notability of any incident even suspected of terrorism. Some editors do not seem to realize that widespread news coverage is routine for terror attacks, no matter how minor they are in comparison to actual, notable terror incidents. The encyclopedia therefore depends on historical significance and impact to a region or society for notability in these incidents. That is when some editors deliberately misrepresent sources or desperately search for a single namedrop in a news source to claim it is part of "a trend" or whatever; every terror attack is a part of "a trend" but notability isn't inherited. Worst still, editors create articles the day of the incident, claim WP:RAPID instinctually, and we are often left with an "article" that looks like a wannabe "journalist" wrote it. That is not what I imagined Wikipedia would become and that is why I try to uphold its policies as it intended.TheGracefulSlick (talk) 18:48, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Terrorism is not notable in and of itself. What is notable is events receiving SIGCOV and meeting GNG. What we repeatedly see at AfD is editors ignoring actual coverage and claiming the events should not be notable as they are like any other murder (note some murders pass GNG). Said editors should take this viewpoint and call the BBC, NYT, etc. - and until such time that coverage matches their own standards, cease making AfD arguements based on what they think coverage should be as opposed to what it actually is.Icewhiz (talk) 18:51, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
    • There's an element missing here, and that's the "enduring" part of significant coverage. An event that is in a news cycle for 2 days and then never talked about again, or at least with the same range of sources covering it, is not "enduring", and thus not notable. That's the issue in this specific case, there's no clear sign of enduring coverage. --MASEM (t) 19:17, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
      • As an AfD regular, a 2 day news cycle event gets easily deleted two weeks later. Many of the noms here are on events with enduring coverage - up hntil the nom and through the AfD itself. It is best to wait with a deletion nom until coverage has been dead for a while.Icewhiz (talk) 19:25, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
        • I agree with Icewhiz on this one. The case of in particular has a gag order on it. Its a bit hard to tell what news coverage will be once that is linked and once the trail comes out. That is why I stated in the AfD that I personally would not have created the article, but once it is created it becomes tricky to justify deleting it. - GalatzTalk 19:29, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
          • How is it tricky Galatz? You are both relying on a WP:CRYSTALBALL for notability. Right now the incident might be notable but are policies work with things we can actually verify. I can argue we should "wait and see" for almost anything because coverage in the future might make it notable. It isn't "best" to wait; it's best for editors to stop creating articles too soon on subjects with unclear/non-existent notability and for others to stop encouraging them at AFD with keep !votes supported by that "wait and see" mentality. Anyways, I thought this was about NOTNEWS as a whole? Or is this somehow a continuation of the AFD?TheGracefulSlick (talk) 20:05, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
            • I dont see wait and see as falling under WP:CRYSTAL. I am not saying it will 100% prove to be. You can definitively say though that all of the information is not currently known yet, since that is the point of a gag order. I think waiting and see is that point of WP:RAPID. - GalatzTalk 20:20, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
              • This line of thought is better probably discussed at the open WP:VPP about NOTNEWS in general. I'm just point out that in general, we want a reasonably long tail of sources to presume notability. --MASEM (t) 22:21, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
  • I've been concerned about the general trend to create articles for any criminal event that hits the news. I generally do not view Wikipedia as a repository for any such event that happens to be in the news, especially as many do not have any WP:LASTING notability. We are often too quick to parrot what is being said in the news, which can run afoul of WP:NOTNEWS and WP:V (see also the essay WP:DJTG). These events are indeed commonplace and, in my view, similar to other crimes. Doug Weller and I even went as far as to post on VPP about issues with terrorism-related articles (see this archived discussion). Sadly, there does not seem to be much interest in the community to hash out what should or should not be included for these types of events.
That said, I don't think we can claim all (or even most) of the terrorist events reported in the news should be excluded per NOTNEWS. Rather, I think it best to look at individual events and determine if they pass WP:NEVENT (including WP:LASTING) as well as WP:GNG. For me, if the news is reported on 3 continents, it's usually notable enough to has an article. Mass casualty events likely warrant inclusion as well. Events with multilateral responses should be considered as well. I do wish we could have a guideline that said something akin to "events with low notability should not be created until it is unambiguously clear that they have lasting notability". We should further ask ourselves, "if these event were not labeled terrorism, would it still be notable enough to warrant an article?" If you hesitate on the answer, consider waiting to create the article or create it in a draft or user space. EvergreenFir (talk) 20:06, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
How about covered in 5 continents despite zero significant injuries, which also apparently has lasting impact, ongoing coverage, in-depth-blah-blah, etc etc etc? Pincrete (talk) 22:48, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
Without digging into the sources and just going off memory of the event, I'd likely be a weak keep on that. EvergreenFir (talk) 00:26, 28 October 2017 (UTC)
@Pincrete: you are confusing coverage and casulties. The inept Buckingham swordman, an Uber driver who tried to attack Windsor castle but ended up at a pub with his nav app and went on to Buckingham... Likely will have lasting coverage (in addition to the copious current coverage) due to the Uber angle, the nav app, and yes well the whole sword bit. A sword attack in 2017.Icewhiz (talk) 07:25, 28 October 2017 (UTC)
I'm not confusing anything. I don't believe acreage of coverage (many sources repeating essentially the same story in a relatively short period) is synonymous with depth of coverage. How many times do we hear the 'this is bound to receive copious future coverage' argument? The truth is that the news cycle moves on and few events are revisited in any depth by media. Pincrete (talk) 08:15, 28 October 2017 (UTC)
Yep. It is the same policy-less argument. "Likely will have lasting coverage" (WP:CRYSTALBALLING), the same exact story is repeated in the news but that's somehow synonymous with in-depth coverage, and it is a part of some "trend". Apparently the Buckingham incident is related to an inept uber, sword-wielding trend. How convincing.TheGracefulSlick (talk) 14:42, 28 October 2017 (UTC)
WP:RAPID. I did not say trend (which seems unlikely as well as irrelevant to notability). I did say level of coverage.Icewhiz (talk) 19:55, 28 October 2017 (UTC)
And WP:EVENTCRIT says coverage -- even if it is widespread -- is not synonymous with inherent notability. How long does that half of WP:RAPID get to be applied while the other half -- do not rush to create articles -- continuously gets neglected? You claim more coverage will exist but with WP:NEXIST this should be disregarded as the guideline states: once an article's notability has been challenged, merely asserting that unspecified sources exist is seldom persuasive, especially if time passes and actual proof does not surface. What thing of any significance came from the incident? 2017's worst alleged terrorist? It is just another news piece that I will nominate for deletion and you will inherently !vote to keep Icewhiz even though deleting or at least selectively merging would be more beneficial to the encyclopedia. Note how I say "encyclopedia", not "directory for every suspected Islamist terror incident in Europe".TheGracefulSlick (talk) 20:47, 28 October 2017 (UTC)
  • This thread, like so many before it, seem to be confusing WP:Notable (what may have its own article) and WP:NOT#INDISCRIMINATE (what can be mentioned in an article, a much lower standard). All the Israel terrorist attacks are encyclopedia-worthy, they just don't all need to be stand-alone articles.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ >ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ<  21:30, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
    • This. I think there's similar articles on all the various bombings in Iran/Iraq from the recent wars there, for example. However, we should be sure this is a "true" terrorism attack to be included in such lists, not just because a random RS called it such. --MASEM (t) 22:13, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
    • I agree absolutely. I believe that events like this should be covered by more than a line in a table (if it's proven to actually be a terrorist attack), but not that we absolutely need a standalone newsy article that will almost certainly never get updated again after a few months. In this day and age of 24 hour news and social media PR, coverage in 5 continents and condolences by politicians don't tend to lend themselves to the interesting and well-fleshed-out articles they used to. Daß Wölf 04:11, 28 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Cover in detail. This does not necessarily require a separate article, but if multiple events are discussed in a single article, it should have a level of detail comparable to events with their own individual articles. The fundamental doctrinal error of the anti-Wikipedia people (and this is not too strong a term to use) is that they think that Wikipedia should "voluntarily" (under their urging) decide not to cover things that it can cover properly. I mean yes, there are topics we can't cover, because we can't get a decent amount of neutral information -- the unknown garage band an editor plays in, the woman mentioned in one news article one time, the lady mentioned only in the obituary in yesterday's paper. But when a terrorist event makes a big impact in the news, that's a very different situation. We can cover it. To say it has no "significant ongoing" coverage is just crystal ball gazing -- we know full well that if there is another terrorist attack in the same town in five years or ten years, that incident will get brought up again. So the way I see it it is significant and ongoing, inevitably. And above all--- some people forget here that someone WENT OUT AND DID THE WORK to get the article together. I ask you, when a person goes out and does neutral volunteer work to put together a dozen or more sources and write a cogent original text based explanation, what kind of asshole would want to destroy that? What kind of asshole would want to automate policy to destroy that over and over thousands and tens of thousands of times? What possible benefit is there to the encyclopedia to do that, to justify trashing a fellow editor's efforts? It just isn't right! Wnt (talk) 15:23, 29 October 2017 (UTC)

Idea for a compromise

The most contentious point of divergence here is whether these events should have their own articles, not whether they should be covered at all, so I propose we collate them as sections in a list article of some sort. The sections that end up too long after the buzz has died down can be spun out in their own articles. This way we will have less articles prematurely created and less incentive for users to pad the articles with condolence quotes and such to make them seem more notable. For example, see 2017 Atlantic hurricane season. Hurricane Katia was discussed in news even here, 9000 km away, and it doesn't have its own article. And it doesn't need one. Daß Wölf 00:13, 29 October 2017 (UTC)

  • It is a reasonable and fair compromise that I would support Daß Wölf but unfortunately it will never pass; there simply is no compromise that can be reached with the other side of the discussion. They need the trivial biographical information on the alleged terrorist, the "background" info that simply lists other notable (but unrelated) incidents or states a country is on "edge", and an impact section that is comprised of sources that mention the incident maybe in a sentence or as a part of a "trend". When you analyze these articles, 80% of it is window-dressing and the rest is actually about the incident. It all could be easily and orderly summarized, as you recommended, in a list. Many editors have proposed similar solutions during AFD and merge discussions but it is opposed by a sizable enough group who claim such a move would result in the loss of "valuable information". Hence why we have had too many "no consensus" outcomes on this topic.TheGracefulSlick (talk) 06:02, 29 October 2017 (UTC)
  • The length of material in some of these individual events is not appropriate for a list article. Collapsing an article that is a few pages in length to a 2 liners in a list is really equivalent to a deletion. These events generally meet WP:GNG and WP:EVENTCRIT - with copious coverage. What isn't clear on some of them (ignoring bad faith nominations of not recent events) is whether they will have a WP:LASTING effect - this isn't clear since they are recent and evaluating LASTING on a 1 month old event is difficult and requires CRYTALBALLING -- hence WP:RAPID is relevant.Icewhiz (talk) 06:59, 29 October 2017 (UTC)
What about Murder of Reuven Shmerling? Prima facie, it looks like a standard short article, but when you remove the repetitions and a few minor details, you're left with this:
This discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

On October 4, 2017, the day prior to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, Reuven Shmerling, 70, a Jewish businessman from Elkana, was found dead in an industrial zone of Kfar Qasim by his son, who searched for Shmerling after the latter was unable to be reached by phone. The police suspected that the murder was committed by one of his Arab employees. Initally they reported that the motive was probably a monetary dispute, but later deemed it a suspected terrorist attack. Two Palestinian suspects from Kabatiya, West Bank, Yousif Khaled Kmail (alt.: Yousef Kmeil) and Mohammed Zeyad Abu al-Rob (alt.: Mohammad Abu al-Rub), were arrested on October 8, and on October 15, Shmerling was officially declared a victim of terror. On October 6, Israeli Defence Forces searched the homes of both suspects, leading to protests in Kabatiya. On October 25, al-Rub's family was notified that their house is slated for demolition. Shmerling was a father of four and owned a coal business. His funeral was attended by 1,200 people, and condolences were expressed by many political figures, including both Israelis and Arabs.

I've removed the wife's name, the name of the news agency that reported the arrests, and the list of people who expressed condolences. Even this is already 30% shorter than the Hurricane Katia entry. How is this material not best suited for a list article? Daß Wölf 17:50, 29 October 2017 (UTC)
Wikinews is infested by policies. For example, Wikinews articles are supposed to be "finished" at a certain point and locked against further editing, which is obviously contrary to the encyclopedia article model that assumes, most likely correctly, that kibbles and bits about the JFK assassination will be coming out millennia from now. Also, Wikinews demands much too much from the first editor to get an article over a threshold. The more policies a project has, the more likely your work is going to be thrown away; in other words, the more policies a project has, the more it sucks. Since policies are the one thing on Wikipedia that deletionists never line up to take out, no matter how badly written and counterproductive they are (WP:NOT being a case in point) the only way to delay the day when both Wikipedia and Wikinews suck too bad to use at all is to try to delay the lobbying against news and half a dozen other categories of coverage that goes on nonstop here. Wnt (talk) 15:10, 29 October 2017 (UTC)
  • One recent AfD nomination, is at least two-thirds speculation, mostly by journalists, so I dispute Icewhiz's point as to the volume of sound factual info - in many instances - it is little more than a para. It is ironical to me that 'film articles' will often list as few as 4 or 5 reviews, whilst this 'terrorism' incident is deemed to need about a dozen journalists' speculations. In this instance, most of the speculations are valueless, since relevant expertise is not demonstrated and all of the speculations tend to be in a particular direction (is it ISIS? We don't know but it could be). We don't write-up comments about Mozart Sonatas written by minor journalists who can't read music but, in this topic area, the equivalent is precisely what we are often doing. I always had thought that 'LASTING' impact was meant to be demonstrated before keeping an article. Time and time again, it is being argued in this topic area that the ABSENCE of lasting impact has to be demonstrated before deletion. The compromise suggestion made above is what SHOULD happen, it won't get support though - these minor events are already anyhow being added to umpteen lists in addition to the main article. More lists sometimes than there are editors watching this topic area. Pincrete (talk) 14:34, 29 October 2017 (UTC)
    The 2014 Dijon incident is discussed in journal articles as late as 2017 as well as being given as an example of a vehicle ramming attack in subsequent attacks in 2017 - so there is a lasting impact. Whether it was or was not terrorism is immaterial to notability - coverage is.Icewhiz (talk) 14:42, 29 October 2017 (UTC)
    But importantly, there's a different between just be name-dropped, and actual continued coverage. That's what WP:N/WP:NEVENT requires. --MASEM (t) 14:52, 29 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Like I said above, these editors would never let such a fair and reasonable compromise pass. It benefits the encyclopedia but that is not their number one concern. It is the loss of "useful information" (dang I was one word off): the trivia, the speculation taken from one POV, and a "trend" or "context" pieced together within multiple name-drops. I am almost fearful to nominate articles for deletion or propose a merge; by the time we reach a "no consensus", the article is left in a worse condition by editors who hastily throw in news sources to claim there is further coverage. So sadly, the only way we can achieve a positive change is by more editors like Masem participating at AFD to help end the deadlock we experience or admins must exert more confidence in ignoring moot arguments.TheGracefulSlick (talk) 16:29, 29 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Can't check the FT, but the Globe & Mail, NYtimes and NPR sources are namedrops, and provide no significant coverage of the event beyond noting it happened (eg if we were evaluating notability of a subject, they wouldn't qualify as they are not secondary to the event). --MASEM (t) 17:01, 29 October 2017 (UTC)
  • No, they are not mere "name drops," they are analyses of the Dijon attacks, variously as one of a group of attacks where the mental status of the attacker is in quesiton, one of a a gorups of car ramming attacks, one of a group of apparent copycat attacks. Several more analyses of this attack along similar lines are in the Dijon article.E.M.Gregory (talk) 18:19, 29 October 2017 (UTC)
  • The mention of the Dijon attack among other attacks as a type of pattern or specific type of attack does not make the Dijon attack notable, but lends to the pattern/type of attack being notable. (It's not transforming any elements of the Dijon attack into a novel view of that attack, only merely noting it falls within the pattern). Its lends more appropriate to include it in a list or a full article on these types of attacks rather than an article by itself. --MASEM (t) 18:32, 29 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Besides being more than just namedrops, continual references to this incident are exactly what generates a reader's interest in looking the referenced incident on Wikipedia. The BBC just mentioneed Dijon in 2014... Wwhat was that?Icewhiz (talk) 18:28, 29 October 2017 (UTC)
  • There is zero mandate that we be there to provide information on a news topic just because a reader is searching for it. We are not a newspaper, and readers coming here for news content are not coming here for the right purpose. But we can still use things like redirects to help provide search hits to the right list article or the like where the event may be listed as part of a larger notable topic. --MASEM (t) 18:32, 29 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Encyclopedias exist to look up topics. If an event is continually mentioned, it is an event likely to be looked up. This is evident in the page views of the Dijon 2014 incident that peak with subsequent car attacks.Icewhiz (talk) 18:37, 29 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Being useful to users is what we are here for. Of course hits validate the usefulness of a page. Speaking as a long-time user who started editing after years of relying on WP to know stuff I was curious about, I'd be ticked if I wanted to look up a TERRORIST ATTACK and all Wikipedia had was a lousy mention on a list.E.M.Gregory (talk) 20:39, 29 October 2017 (UTC)
  • To understand why this is a dysfunctional proposal, consider that the indictments have just been issued in teh Murder of Reuven Shmerling. According to the indictment, the two murderers plotted and carried out the murder to take "revenge" for the death of a specific Palestinian terrorist who died in a failed stabbing attack in the summer of 2015. It wold be useful to be able to link the Shmerling murder article to that attack because I imagine that I am not the only person who would like to know something about the terrorist these two terrorists wanted to avenge. Terrorist attacks often come back into the news cycle, for all sorts of reasons. And out users expect us to have articles on them (evdenced, as Icewhiz points out above, the the page hist the 2014 Dijon attack gets every time a terrorist rams a car into a cluster of pedestrians.E.M.Gregory (talk) 21:18, 29 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Support, since it's what I already suggested. I do not agree with Icewhiz that this isn't viable because a whole class of editors will never compromise. I think that verges on WP:ASPERSIONS. In point of fact, we have thousands and thousands of list articles, including of events, specifically because editors compromise and realize, collectively, that not everything worthy to be included in some form in the encyclopedia needs its own article. There is no reason this subject in particular will be magically different and somehow immune from the same reasoning.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ >ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ<  04:01, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
  • SMcCandlish I already expressed my support but I must ask, how would this be enforced? Do we open talk page discussions at the articles and decide if it is appropriate for a list? I have tried that on a few occasions and I am accused of "stealth deletion" tactics; it ends in "no consensus" like the AFDs. I guess my main concern is: how would we prevent this proposal from being more of the same? The same editors are still going to oppose any move whatsoever to convert incidents into lists, regardless of what is decided here.TheGracefulSlick (talk) 05:45, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
    WP:PM and, failing that, WP:AFD, probably. I think that's how we've dealt with all "forced" mergers, where the sensible community consensus is for listification, but a camp of topically-"invested" editors is resistant. Example: merging away the formerly large mass of independent articles on fictional characters not independently notable; and numerous non-notable, local, K–12 school articles into articles on school districts.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ >ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ<  07:41, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Daß proposes summarizing and including certain terror attacks on lists. The problem is that unfortunately this can't be done. Take, for instance, the 2017 Buckingham Palace attack article. An attempt was made to include a very brief summary of it on a list, the List of terrorist incidents in London, but two editors persistently deleted [1][2][3][4][5] the Buckingham Palace attack entry because «only suspected to be terrorism related, needs a court verdict to confirm it was». Observe the 3RR rule was not even followed. So, whenever attempts are made to summarize, other editors are on standby to simply memory-hole the whole entry. Unfortunately, experience shows that the proposal would result in the immediate and wholesale destruction of a very large quantity of valuable encyclopaedic content that has, in every case in the last few months, survived, through independent review, a persistent AfD campaign. XavierItzm (talk) 10:59, 30 October 2017 (UTC)

References

  1. ^ http://en.wiki.x.io/w/index.php?title=List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_London&type=revision&diff=800933444&oldid=800931106
  2. ^ http://en.wiki.x.io/w/index.php?title=List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_London&type=revision&diff=801005624&oldid=800987770
  3. ^ http://en.wiki.x.io/w/index.php?title=List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_London&type=revision&diff=799563962&oldid=799563286
  4. ^ http://en.wiki.x.io/w/index.php?title=List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_London&type=revision&diff=799211560&oldid=799211255
  5. ^ http://en.wiki.x.io/w/index.php?title=List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_London&type=revision&diff=798855624&oldid=798810656
    • What User:XavierItzm writes is very true. The most glaring example is Palestinian stone-throwing, where a rule exists that incidents where a stone thrown at a car killed the occupants or maimed them for life cannot be added to the page unless there is an article about them. The rule effectively forces the creation of such articles.E.M.Gregory (talk) 11:24, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
      Simple and obvious solutions: 1) change the list's inclusion criteria, by RfC if necessary, so it's not over-inclusive or over-exclusive. 2) Deal with revert-warriors at noticeboards.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ >ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ<  12:32, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
      Yes, but in some cases the revert warriors are correct (not always) in rejecting a notable incident in a list. For instance if the list is labelled terror, and there is doubt whether it was terror, plain murder, insanity, or an accident - multiple lists might reject such an item - even though the item itself might, due to actual coverage (possibly, depending on time elapses since the event, even LASTING), meet GNG and NEVENT. Keeping a notable event, meeting policy guidelines, standalone allows the coverage on wiki to grow without constant reversion and in the case of non-alert contra-reversion warriors loss of information.Icewhiz (talk) 12:41, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
So we have to have a separate article (inevitably conjecturing that the incident was the worst terrorist event since the year dot), because it actually doesn't meet objective criteria for inclusion in a list of terrorist events? Yes that makes enormous sense - if one ignores every RS, BLP, NPOV policy that WP has. We are here to record transient speculations are we? Pincrete (talk) 12:52, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
Hypothetically, if an airplane flies into a building and no one takes immediate responsibility, the event would be notable but not necessarily terrorist in nature (it might be speculated to be such, and speculation might evolve as it is investigated). And lest you say notable per WP:AIRCRASH the same would be true if a truck ran over a large bunch of people and we don't know yet why it happened. The criteria for notability of events is independent of whether they are or are not terrorist. Inclusion in a particular list - is usually dependent per a closed set of criteria - which in the case of a non-closed case could evolve and leading the event to bounce between list to list (e.g. we still do not know why Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 happened - we might know. Or we might think we know. etc.).Icewhiz (talk) 13:02, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
The notability for events is about enduring coverage, which cannot happen in the first 24-48 hrs of an event occurring. Granted, there are a few types of events that we have articles on immediately because we know that due to the nature of the event, there will be analysis of it : earthquakes, hurricanes, commercial aircraft disasters (regardless if terrorism was involved), etc. Most other events don't have this assured post-event coverage, including those that may be confirmed as terrorism, and in such case, per NEVENT, we should wait to learn what the event's context and larger importance is before inclusion on WP. But editors instead tend to rush in, against NOT#NEWS and other policies, to start articles immediately as something bad happens (arguing international coverage == notable, which is nowhere in our guidelines), and this ends us with dozens of useless reaction statements that pollute such articles. If editors could just wait 2-3 days before writing on events where enduring coverage is not clear, that would be a much better situation, as then it would be easier to slot those that aren't notable into such tables and lists. --MASEM (t) 13:29, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
When should Grenfell Tower fire have been created? In the news item on the main page. 2017 Finsbury Park attack? An event not notable for its body count (and to begin with, the fatality was possibly a heart attack victim (for a couple of weeks)) - but notable for its target (Muslims) - and yes, again on the main page. Many events are difficult to slot in 2-3 days. Some are even hard to slot at a month. There is little harm if a non-notable incident (due to lack of LASTING) is "live" on-wiki for a few months - nominating these close to the event is really a waste of everyones' time (and leads to crystallballing and assertions from all sides). Things would go much smoother at AfD if borderline events (not clear PROMO, SPAM, or really ROUTINE stuff) got nominated a year+ after the event.Icewhiz (talk) 13:45, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
The harm is that you get new editors, not aware of the intricacies of policy, creating new articles on any old event - I've seen articles about simple traffic accidents created as new items because of this. We also shouldn't be driven by trying to feature content on the main page through ITN through this; ITN is not a news ticker, but editors seem intent in pushing it in that direction. I've generally found that articles on events, massively edited in those first few days and written in a manner that doesn't fit an encyclopedia, rarely get the love and care needed in the long term to bring it to a quality article (keeping DEADLINE in mind).
In 'my' perfect world the solution is that news articles would live at Wikinews first on their creation, and when there was enough assurance they were notable, the appropriate content could be brought over into enwiki. That's not clearly happening nor expect us to every have consensus to do that, but we need better checks and balances on en.wiki's end so that news articles are reviewed within a fair and reasonable time after an event, recognizing that unlike most other topics which aren't necessarily fixed in time, we generally can judge the enduring coverage of an event easily by Google searches or the like. Give articles on news events 2-4 weeks from the event to show if the topic's enduring, and if its not, figure where to slot it in larger tables or list, or otherwise delete. --MASEM (t) 13:56, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
Wikinews is dead. It also isn't the best place for evolving coverage of an event (because news items are supposed to be closed). There are also advantages to updating events in real-time (something I've done, but on really clearly notable events). How about this one - a conditional future AfD - tag the event, and have the AfD itself run 9 months after the event (not article creating) start date (if placer doesn't remove the tag). For any event where RAPID is going to be called, this would typically resolve RAPID issues.Icewhiz (talk) 14:22, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
9 months is far too long. Most of the problematic articles in events can be determined within a few weeks (in the sense one can do a google news search, not necessarily by quality of the article). This "gate" idea should review what sources are in such offsite searches, not what is presently within the article, so we're not judging quality but potential based on if the topic is truly enduring. I do agree there are some events that easily are notable within a few hours of them happening and can bypass this.
However, this still isn't sufficient if we have editors arguing in the case of the examples give (the Dijon attack, etc. ) that the type of coverage and namedropping some years later equates to "notable". The same arguments would happen at those "gates" as they do not with AFD. I'm all for allowing new event articles to have at least some chance, but we have to recognize that as an encyclopedia and not a newspaper , we only want to keep event articles that have long-term influence, not just because they happened. As I mentioned before, we have to imagine that if we were starting these event articles 40 years later, all other sourcing being the same, would they really be notable? Most of the time, that answer is really no. That's the line between us being an encyclopedia and us just happening to cover widely-reported-on events. --MASEM (t) 14:35, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
Dijon 2014 is a clear case of disagreement between editors which would not be resolved by a gate. However many AfDs are run against newish events in which case this would be pertinent. An AfD on a 2-3 day old (or even 2 weeks) event which isn't clearly non-notable is usually pretty pointless and devolves into a philosophical crystal-balling discussion on why it will or will not be notable and what degree of continuing coverage will or will not emerge.Icewhiz (talk) 14:45, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
I agree its a point of contention and is a key example of the issue with how WP:N and WP:NEVENTS should be evaluated. The event is long and truly over, so we have 20/20 hindsight to evaluate the "enduring coverage" of it, but that leads to the argument of what enduring coverage actually is (see arguments above). I think, judging by all commenters so far, that if we didn't have the sources that came a few years later, the event likely would be fairly seen as non-notable per NEVENT. The argument now remains if those additional sources really are true enduring coverage or not. Until that type of question is resolved, there's little else to argue for this "gate" check.
What much of this comes down to is that editors that seem very interested in news events want special allowances that other topic areas do not have. Given that we are not a newspaper (and several recent polls show there's no consensus to change from how it is currently worded), we want news event articles to be approached as an encyclopedic manner, which demands more a long-term view written with good hindsight. Most news articles are being written based on crystal-balling that there will be enduring coverage, which we don't allow for any other topic. I understand the need to write these articles early in the event, so I can appreciate the desire to have this crystal balling at the start, but that needs to be checked in a reasonably short period after the event has tailed off, if we are going to be allowing these to be created as such. --MASEM (t) 15:53, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
Very interested in terrorist attacks perpetrated by brown people, to be precise. They don't care about regular stabbings or shootings. It is a very specific agenda here. It is not a specific dispute regarding NOTNEWS. AusLondonder (talk) 13:53, 31 October 2017 (UTC)

A different idea for a compromise: Provisional keep

A different idea for a compromise when an article on a crime, possible terrorist attack or other new event is started very RAPIDly, is the model I just found at 2014 Endeavour Hills stabbings. The article was started on 23 September 2014, the day of this stabbing attack on an Australian police station. Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/2014 Endeavour Hills stabbings was started on 26 September, it was brief, collegial, discussion and amicably closed after 7 days. What interests me in particular is the comment by User:Lankiveil :"Provisional Keep, I concur with the nominator that this will likely be forgotten in about three months once the news cycle has moved on, we'll probably be in a better position to gauge if this was just a flash in the pan WP:NOTNEWS case then." The response by article creator '''tAD''': "I have no problem with that. If nothing comes from the inevitable research by authorities into Haider, this will be little more than a man killed by authorities after attacking them" The AfD was closed as keep.
My suggestion is that we encourage the use of Provisional keep as an iVote in breaking news situations. In something like the Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/2017 Clovis library shooting, I can see taht I would have been totally comfortable writing something like, Provisional keep: Revisit in six months when we can assess WP:INDEPTH and WP:PERSISTENCE. E.M.Gregory (talk) 19:14, 30 October 2017 (UTC)

  • One thing I would like to see is avoiding using AFD on breaking news items until after a fixed period had passed (but allowing for CSD for bogus or other content-violations like BLP to happen as necessary), but with the understanding that all articles should be reviewed by a human editor, and if deemed non-notable, then send to AFD for a larger review/judgement call which may include merging into existing lists. Certain news items where the topic is clearly notable before the end of that period can be kicked out from the queue. In other words, we recognize editors are going to write news articles as they happen (its nearly impossible to stop this) but have a way to check there work after enough time, and only trigger the AFD after that time there are still questions. I would also agree that if the item is very much slow moving that takes months to develop, then allowing a "Provisional keep" to put that article back in this queue would be reasonable. The only thing is that I think the time period should be shorter, on the order of 2-3 months. --MASEM (t) 19:29, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Or editors could wait that same amount of time instead of churning out articles when they have no idea if the subject will have long-term significance. We could also userfy/draftify the articles until they have/if they have demonstrated long-term significance.TheGracefulSlick (talk) 19:53, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
  • I like the idea, but in your example it was forgotten about. Perhaps we need to create a category for such AfDs? If its a provisional keep in September 2017 its tagged with "Category:AfD Provisional keeps until February 2018" or something of the sort. While I understand Masem's point on the shorter period of time, it gets a little hairy with gag orders. I also agree with TheGracefulSlick's point about creating a draft for these, however you run into the issue of a new user creating the article, then what? A lot of these solution on stopping creating them are contingent upon them not being created anyway, which seems to be our biggest issue. - GalatzTalk 00:39, 31 October 2017 (UTC)
"A lot of these solution(s) on stopping creating them are contingent upon them not being created anyway, which seems to be our biggest issue" - second that! This proposal seems to turn policy on its head, we provisionally keep something until it demonstrably lacks long-term, in depth coverage or significance? Pincrete (talk) 08:00, 31 October 2017 (UTC)
I'm not sure this is actually a change in policy (how could you apply NOTNEWS for content that you don't know whether it will have long term impact?), and it definitely is a good idea. I see it as a direct application of WP:IMPERFECT. The idea that we *should not* have an article until we are sure of its enduring notability, seems backwards with the way we have always worked; and it is not in the spirit of the WP:EDITING policy. Our modus operandi has always been "write it dirty, and fix it fast".
The desire to wait till the dust is settled so we can make a proper scholastic work is tempting, but it dilapidates our largest strength: focusing the outbursts of attention from many editors, and direct them into shaping a first rough draft, to be polished later and made compliant with guidelines. This is how our first million articles were written, and it made us lots of good.
Conversely if we freeze article development at that point, and wait till the heat of the moment passes before we're in a position to start building a perfect article, only the overburdened regulars and the trolls with a stake in the topic will be left to work on the article for the long term. And we will have lost the readers that could have benefited of a curated selection of the best available sources at all times during the development of the event.
Yes, this way of working implies lots of clean-up after the fact, but that's why the deletionist mindset was an asset to the project; on the other hand, preventing content from ever being included has not worked as well, except for the very obvious vandalism. The best content in controversial topics appears when some editors try to push a point of view in, and the others push to take it out until only the very well supported facts have been distilled. Vetoes to content of a specific kind do not work as well as this adversarial back-and-forth. A systematic reminder to review articles that were created in this dirty way would be our best option.
But hey, if you want to work for a more reliable encyclopedia, with articles carefully compilled from the beginning by experts from well-researched and stable sources, I hear Citizendium is still up and running! Meanwhile here we've learned that we work best when we throw shit at the wall and see what sticks, doing the clean-up afterwards instead of . Our core policies of WP:NPOV and WP:CONSENSUS were designed to produce the best results under those circumstances. Diego (talk) 11:14, 31 October 2017 (UTC)
The GNG and the SNGs are geared towards demonstration of enduring notability, either by showing it is there (GNG), or the likelihood that already exists or will come to be by some criteria of merit that is enduring. News topics are the black sheep compared to this, and one of the reasons we have to recognize how a newspaper differs from an encyclopedia - the former is worried about the here and now, the latter about the long-term.
That said, the IMPERFECT idea still is necessary to consider, and since we can't stop creation of articles without becoming a closed wiki (for all purposes), we should be looking to find a process that "blesses" a article on a current event as having enough legs after a reasonable fair period to keep the article so it can be developed more, or otherwise slot those away into lists or deletion if it turns out to be a non-story. As long as we have WP:NOT#NEWS (and very recent polls and RFC show there's no consensus to change/improve/remove it) we need a method of transforming content written as a newspaper into content written for an encyclopedia. --MASEM (t) 13:34, 31 October 2017 (UTC)
That attitude is the problem. "Blesses". Goodness. Wikipedia editors do not need the blessing of other Wikipedia editors to improve Wikipedia. If it demonstratedly meets WP:42 it doesn't need prior approval, doesn't need premission, doesn't need review. Processes already exist to deal with inappropriate articles, and community consensus is fine here. These proposals all suffer from the same flaw, which is preventing editors from doing work based on one's own criteria of what work is valid or is not valid. Instead, let people create stuff. If there's a problem with an article, we can have discussions (AFD, for example). But we need to stop trying to interfere with editors trying to be helpful. Stop the bad-faith stuff ahead of time, but the rest of this is not useful. --Jayron32 14:04, 31 October 2017 (UTC)
Maybe this is right, though I still think that some months out from a event and one can show that it only had a burst of coverage for a day or so and then never was talked about again (a quick check from google news), that we shouldn't be keeping the article. That still leaves the question of why there's conflict at the AFD for the topics in the OP, and this might come down more to establishing the difference between the burst of news and reactions that happen from an event (which are not contributors towards notability), and the enduring significant coverage from secondary sources that we'd expect after an event to demonstrate notability. --MASEM (t) 15:18, 31 October 2017 (UTC)
I think User:Jayron pegs it. WP:42. 'nuff said.E.M.Gregory (talk) 15:36, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

Suggestion: inclusion criteria for developing stories

As a follow-up to the above discussion, let me float this wording:

  • “Suspected terrorist attacks are not presumed notable for stand-alone articles unless at least one victim dies. The events that do not meet this threshold may be included on appropriate lists.”

This provision would apply to coverage of current event, where the WP:LASTING impact is unknown. The restriction, if implemented, would not apply to historic events. Likewise, it would not apply to events where terrorism-related charges have already been brought. Even though this sounds crass, it may give us some sort of a “hard bottom” to base the inclusion criteria on for developing stories. Is this something that's worth discussing? K.e.coffman (talk) 02:44, 4 November 2017 (UTC)

  • No. Just no. Quit trying to create policy that is aimed at preventing good-faith, referenced contributions. WP:42 is sufficient for stand alone articles, WP:V is sufficient for additions to existing articles. If Wikipedia is dying as people say it is, the reason that it would be dying would be behavior like this that attempts to stop people from good-faith non-promotional contributions. --Jayron32 03:13, 4 November 2017 (UTC)
  • Jayron32 you literally have had nothing productive to say during this whole discussion. Do you even understand why we need to refine policy? Too many articles have been created with WP:SYNTH and POV-pushing just so they appear notable to the untrained eye. Either say anything of worth to this discussion or let others do it for you.TheGracefulSlick (talk) 04:57, 4 November 2017 (UTC)
  • We DON'T need to refine policy here in the way you are proposing. We just need to trust existing processes to deal with this. Just because someone doesn't worshipfully agree with your premise doesn't mean the should be dismissed as having nothing worthwile to say. Your concerns are valid. Your solution is not the only possible solution, and I am arguing that this solution is harmful in ways you so not appear to be considering. "POV pushers" are less of a threat to Wikipedia's health than are entrenched editors who are willing to alienate potential new contributors in a vain attempt to "prevent" such POV-pushers from contributing. Perhaps the Parable of the Tares has some wisdom to add to this discussion "So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them." To wit: When you try to weed out your "POV pushers" by this method, you do more harm by also tearing out the good-faith new contributors. The objection I have is well thought out, and consistent. Your proposal is not productive because its effect will be to drive away good-faith users while at the same time will have little effect on stopping POV-pushers, as you call them. --Jayron32 05:09, 4 November 2017 (UTC)
  • No. Just no. Quit trying to create policy that is aimed at preventing good-faith, referenced contributions. WP:42 is sufficient for stand alone articles, WP:V is sufficient for additions to existing articles. If Wikipedia is dying as people say it is, the reason that it would be dying would be behavior like this that attempts to stop people from good-faith non-promotional contributions. Exactly as User:Jayron32. writes.E.M.Gregory (talk) 10:27, 5 November 2017 (UTC)
  • Are you aware this isn't my proposal Jayron32? I have supported the idea for lists above but that is it. I just asked that you offer anything productive to this discussion instead of dismissing the several proposals presented here from both sides of the issue. Obviously, there is a problem and current policies are not giving us a clear solution. Clarifying policy on a topic that is a magnet for POV-pushing, synth, and BLP violations is a good reason to have a discussion. No one is driving good-faith editors away by offering solutions; unfortunately, a few of them -- the ones the clean up the mess -- have left this topic altogether because of all the disruptive editing that has gone unaddressed.TheGracefulSlick (talk) 20:26, 4 November 2017 (UTC)
  • User:Jayron32, above you characterised some of us as 'elitist' and capitalised that our 'elitism' HAD TO STOP. You also characterised all new article writing as being done by 'sincere' people who are "trying to be helpful", to contrast presumably with all us nasty, insincere, elitists who are actually doing the donkey work clearing up the PoV pushing, BLP violations, crap sourcing, coatracking and synth. You also claim that some of us are saying "if it appears in the news, Wikipedia must never talk about it", something which I have never heard any editor say or even imply. What is being asked for is some clarification - in a world of multiple online news sources - of what 'depth' of coverage actually means, when innumerable sources cover the same story for a day or two, adding their own 'spin' and 'speculation', without any evidence of actual traditional journalistic 'research'. This to me is simply 'acreage' of low value coverage, not depth or breadth (a variety of viewpoints). Simply saying "if it's verifiable it's OK" is the response of an ostrich IMO. It is a simple mathematical certainty that every (relatively trivial), sometimes tentatively, terror related article, needs a lot of effort to 'clean up'. The article will almost certainly not be updated, because only the 'hot-news' is ever widely reported, so we are left with a stub of yesterday's headlines and a good dose of instant comment and speculation from every online news source anywhere in the globe. SHOULD existing procedures be able to deal with this? Yes, obviously. DO they? No IMO, and the more NEWS stories we do, the worse the problem will get. You don't have an answer, I don't have an easy answer, no one has an easy answer, but the people who have recently expressed concern (about our coverage of terrorism and other 'hot' news), and tried to find an answer include Evergreen Fir and Doug Weller. If you don't think there IS a better answer, you could at least try being a tad less offensive to we poor "donkeys being led by lions", or should that be the other way around? Pincrete (talk) 22:43, 4 November 2017 (UTC)

Comment Some modification of this would be required, such as the addition of the word "normally" as a minimum. A 'hard and fast rule' would not be workable since there are very notable 'foiled' attempts or non-fatal incidents. I also wonder if this might be counter-productive since this could be interpreted as "any attack with one death can have an article". The "where terrorism-related charges have already been brought" is also problematic, since in the UK certainly, it is not uncommon for someone initially to be charged with the most serious offence which could conceivably be brought, and then have the charges reduced, I would not be surprised if this happens with 2017 Finsbury Park attack, or 2017 Buckingham Palace incident, one to attempted murder, one to "threatening behaviour", as in both cases terrorist intent may be very hard to prove. The underlying problem IMO is that we seem to be no closer to resolving how/why/in what way WP is NOTNEWS and how that should be applied in this topic area. Pincrete (talk) 19:41, 4 November 2017 (UTC)

  • Oppose. Victim count has little to do with notability. Most 1 kill events will not be notable in present day Iraq. They might be notable in more peaceful locales. Notability does not hinge on body count, but rather on in depth and continuing coverage that is driven by other factors (trends, identity of victims, or such quirks such as using an Uber driver failing to navigate to Windsor castle, driving to Buckingham palace, and attempting to draw a 4 foot sword in 2017).Icewhiz (talk) 19:53, 4 November 2017 (UTC) Corrected per comment below. Yes, a sword. That's the reason this whole thing was covered internationally - the "terror" is incidental to the bizarre particulars (but the bizzare can be notable, e.g. Phineas Gage)..Icewhiz (talk) 22:14, 4 November 2017 (UTC)
He didn't 'use' a sword, he 'reached for' a sword (and was sprayed immediately if I remember properly), if we are going to base 'notability' on 'quirks', that's even sillier than 'body count'. Has any source ever written more than half a sentence about the sword? Otherwise I agree with you. Pincrete (talk) 22:02, 4 November 2017 (UTC)
Were getting a bit off track but Icewhiz are you really comparing an incompetent sword-reaching (not wielding) uber driver to a landmark medical case still studied today? Seriously? Sensationalism has bitten you good.TheGracefulSlick (talk) 01:06, 5 November 2017 (UTC)
Surely Gage is much more notable, yet the coverage of for Gage is mainly due to non-medical reasons (just as in sword equipped Uber driver - the grounds for coverage are not terror). I'll one-up a Jack Churchill at you - he wouldn't have passed notability without coverage from the whole "bagpipe, longbow, and broadsword" angle. Both are more notable than the Uber sword-drawer at present, of course.Icewhiz (talk) 06:21, 5 November 2017 (UTC)
I think all contributors are agreed that 'body count' is probably not a viable guideline. However since TGS did not open the thread and has not opened any section of it, it's difficult to see how she can be forum-shopping. Also, while you happily throw around accusations of PoV to her and me, you rarely identify what that supposed PoV is. I disagree strongly with you about whether innumerable 'stubs' is the most coherent and effective way of informing the reader about terrorism in Europe (I rarely venture outside European subjects), whether this provides context. Apart from that, I don't even know what our PoV supposedly is. Pincrete (talk) 13:01, 5 November 2017 (UTC)
  • E.M.Gregory do you want to retract your false accusations? I did not open this thread nor did I even make a proposal. This just looks like an attempt to throw more mud at me. And I'll bite, what PoV am I supposedly pushing? For whatever reason, it certainly isn't to further this conversation or better the encyclopedia.TheGracefulSlick (talk) 15:17, 5 November 2017 (UTC)

WP:NOTINDISCRIMIATEAWARDS or WP:NOTTROPHYCABINET

Go through some company pages in AfC, like Draft:3D_Repo#Awards_and_nominations, or like here and you'll find that quite a few have lists of indiscriminate awards that these companies have got. As well as sometimes being WP:UNDUE, Wikipedia is not a trophy cabinet. I want to incite some discussion about whether there should be a policy directly relating to this problem, or if something indirectly covers this sort of matter. I think it would be helpful to have some sort of direct mention about this type of content though as part of NOTINDISCRIMIATE. My name isnotdave (talk/contribs) 11:01, 8 November 2017 (UTC)

If the award or agency giving the awards are notable (for legitimate reasons), there's almost no reason not to include the award among the list for those that got it, as long as it can be sourced. I have seen shady business awards (for example, you'll have to go back through G2A but there at one point were some random business awards, sourced, but non-notable for any reason so were removed.) --MASEM (t) 15:34, 10 November 2017 (UTC)
My focus is more indiscriminate lists of random awards that might not have a Wikipedia article for example, which is not the greatest way to set the bar for notability, but it is a start. My name isnotdave (talk/contribs) 15:40, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

Revert

A user added a WP:NOTMENU link to the Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not policy page (diff) and created a redirect at Wikipedia:Not menu, but no explicit rationale was provided in the edit summary for why this was performed. As such, this is entirely ambiguous, and could refer to the contents of any article that contains any mention of foods that companies or organizations purvey. Furthermore, this change to the policy page should be performed after a consensus is formed to do so, rather than unilaterally. North America1000 06:58, 6 November 2017 (UTC)

You are invited to join the RfD at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2017 November 6.—Bagumba (talk) 08:03, 6 November 2017 (UTC)

For now I have gone through and reverted any edits made under this policy (only 8-9 I believe). The user has removed content from easily 100 restaurant articles. I do not have time to see if these are valid or not. You are welcome to revert my reverts and site actual policy for it, but I did not think anything should be removed based on making up a policy unilaterally. - GalatzTalk 15:28, 6 November 2017 (UTC)

As I said at the related RfD, adding restaurant menu cruft is alerady covered by WP:NOT#INDISCRIMINATE and WP:NOT#ADVERT (as well as WP:SPAM and often WP:COI, while some other interpretation of "menu", like badly writing a software article as a catalogue of the app's menu items, is covered by WP:NOT#MANUAL. So, it's likely that the removals are good. We just don't need a new policy line-item for a rare problem that a single editor can clean up.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ >ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ<  17:27, 6 November 2017 (UTC)
I agree. But if someone were to write "fixed a typo" and deleted a menu listing, I would revert it and say that the edit didn't match the description, regardless of the validity. To me this is the same thing. - GalatzTalk 17:49, 6 November 2017 (UTC)
I would too, and would leave them a warning in user talk about using misleading edit summaries, a form of WP:DE. Then I'd go back and re-remove the menu crap as promo/trivia, with a correct edit summary.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ >ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ<  20:59, 6 November 2017 (UTC)

The RfD has been relisted at Wikipedia:Redirects_for_discussion/Log/2017_November_16#Wikipedia:Not_menu Your input is welcome if you have yet to participate. Regards.—Bagumba (talk) 15:27, 17 November 2017 (UTC)

NOT#MENU

  • I would support including "Not menu" into the page; it's related to "Not advert" / "Not indisriminate" but it would not hurt to call it out. Sample: :*"Each of these breweries has a menu that features a selection of American-style cuisine including pizza and burgers, steaks, salads and desserts. Each region (and sometimes, each store) has its own selection of beers and beer logos. It is rare to find two beers of the same name or taste in two different stores!" Etc. [1].
We might as well add this to the guideline. K.e.coffman (talk) 01:40, 7 November 2017 (UTC)
  • Oppose – Key points about the foods and fare that companies and food manufacturers create and purvey should not be wiped entirely from articles. Conversely, I also understand that articles do not need to go into great intricate detail covering every foodstuff a company/organization is involved in. These types of matters in articles should be judged on a case-by-case basis, rather than by the ambiguous ten-character phrase, wp:notmenu. North America1000 10:57, 7 November 2017 (UTC)
  • I also disagree with the inclusion. Its too tough to say because certain things are going to be different. Like McDonald's kosher vs non-kosher locations in Israel could be considered under a NOTMENU. Referring to differences relating to beef in India would also need to be removed. Half the content on Big Mac would have to be removed. I think this is something that needs to stay with editors judgment. - GalatzTalk 17:43, 7 November 2017 (UTC)
  • Support. We are not a restaurant menu, nor a listing for various products. I don't think this redirect was highly needed, but it doesn't hurt. It would help if we could see examples of problematic content that were removed as 'menu-like' though. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 09:51, 8 November 2017 (UTC)
    • If you think we need to see such examples to evaluate the intent and impact of such a rule, why do you support it in absence of that evidence?  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ >ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ<  11:03, 8 November 2017 (UTC)
  • Oppose as redundant; see my comments above this unnecessary !voting section for details.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ >ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ<  11:03, 8 November 2017 (UTC)
  • Comment We fall somewhere in between. If we are talking a notable restaurant, we're likely going to mention the general types of foods, and if they have a signature dish they are notable for, that will be included, but we obviously don't need their menu. If we are talking a food manufacturer, a list of their major products but not every variety or packing type. There's a level of resolution here that we should be careful with. --MASEM (t) 14:27, 8 November 2017 (UTC)
  • Support as this goes hand in hand with WP: Indiscriminate and WP:Trivia, two things we established early on. SwisterTwister talk 23:20, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not a place to complain about your school

consensus is this is redundant and not needed. --Jayron32 15:34, 17 November 2017 (UTC)

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

I have seen many edits from who I assume are students complaining about their school. I would remond that we add this to what Wikipedia is not.LakesideMiners (talk) 15:17, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

Diffs? My name isnotdave (talk/contribs) 15:26, 10 November 2017 (UTC)
Hard to say without an example, but it sounds like it already violates tons of policies, not sure one specifically is needed for this. If its kids they would probably not even look at policies first anyway. - GalatzTalk 15:28, 10 November 2017 (UTC)
Irregardless of where this might be, it's covered under ideas like WP:NOT#SOAPBOX or WP:NOT#SOCIALNETWORK. --MASEM (t) 15:30, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

(one)DIF FOR EVERYONE [2] Lakeside Out!-LakesideMiners 18:16, 16 November 2017 (UTC)

It looks like there's a clear consensus against this proposal, as it's covered by other policy. Stickee (talk) 09:36, 17 November 2017 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

WP:CRYSTAL

Should “weapons to be used in World War III” be linked as it is for other links in that section? 165.91.12.115 (talk) 18:52, 20 November 2017 (UTC)

Wikipedia is NOT Fake News

WP:DENY
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
OP is a block-evading, forum-shopping, harassing editor. - The Bushranger One ping only 11:16, 21 November 2017 (UTC)

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Needs to be added; some editors need reminding. 209.140.43.55 (talk) 09:31, 21 November 2017 (UTC)

Already covered by WP:V, WP:RS, WP:NOR, WP:HOAX, WP:SOAPBOX, WP:FRINGE, etc., etc.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ >ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ<  09:33, 21 November 2017 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Proposal: Wikipedia is not an issue database or bug tracker.

And I define this as articles that just contain sections listing problems regarding a product without any additional commentary. Even with reliable sourcing, "issue sections" need to demonstrate that the items that they list have long-lasting notability and significance. Short-term bugs should be assumed to lack notability unless they have signifigant coverage in article text or a lasting impact on reception, i.e. IOS_11#Problems, Bendgate, etc.

Is this good logic? ViperSnake151  Talk  20:33, 25 November 2017 (UTC)

This doesn't come up frequently enough to be a policy matter, and is already within the reach of WP:NOT#HOWTO and WP:NOT#INDISCRIMINATE. PS: "Lack notability" means "can't have their own stand-alone articles"; WP:Notability has nothing to do with what can be included in an article on a broader topic (aside from stand-alone list articles with list inclusion criteria that require an already extant WP article on each entry and thus presumptive notability).  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ >ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ<  20:56, 25 November 2017 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not a JOKE

You will not find false information on any of our pages. Many people put random false information (i.e. HUMANS ARE GOLD), such activities are not tolerated and are fixed immediately. Wikipedia is a project to share information, not to make one laugh for a few seconds. If you find any activity, please report fast.— Preceding unsigned comment added by HareKrishna108 (talk • contribs) 22:00, 26 November 2017 (UTC)

Why did the chicken cross the road? In the best panto tradition - Oh yes it is... Chaheel Riens (talk) 22:50, 26 November 2017 (UTC)
To the extent this might be a serious proposal, this is already addressed by our policies in general. If it's required to cite reliable sources and no do original research, and if it's explicit that WP is an encyclopedia, then this automatically precludes joke content in mainspace. NOT already covers this at WP:NOTFACEBOOK: "Humorous pages that refer to Wikipedia in some way may be created in an appropriate namespace" (i.e. "WP:" or "User:"). The closest we get is covered at Wikipedia:April Fools.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ >ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ<  06:44, 2 December 2017 (UTC)

Format clock

WP:NOTDIRECTORY The guide uses the phrase format clocks. Does anyone know what one is? Is it technical jargon for something more common? Is it about a device called a "format-clock" or is it concerning "the formatting of clocks"? --RAN (talk) 02:14, 10 December 2017 (UTC)

(Fixed erroneous link. GermanJoe (talk) 02:39, 10 December 2017 (UTC))
For example, see [3]. In order to co-ordinate the handoffs between the different content sources that are being broadcast, the precise timing of events has to be scheduled and shared. isaacl (talk) 03:20, 10 December 2017 (UTC)
Here's an article with more details: [4]. "Broadcast clock" seems to be the more conventional term. isaacl (talk) 04:27, 10 December 2017 (UTC)
Ahhh, now it makes sense, thanks! An interesting format for showing a schedule. --RAN (talk) 04:49, 10 December 2017 (UTC)

While we don't include format or broadcast clocks as part of an article, an article about this is clearly missing! So I started it. Feel free to expand. -- P 1 9 9  ✉ 20:00, 19 December 2017 (UTC)

EPrivacy Regulation (European Union)

Do you consider EPrivacy Regulation (European Union) is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia? It is an exact copy of this EU document but is not a copivio because the EU permits reproduction of its pages as long as the reuse is attributed, which is the case here. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 14:08, 24 December 2017 (UTC)

It is better suited at Wikisource. Our article should be summarizing key points, and document its history and reaction. --Masem (t) 16:15, 24 December 2017 (UTC)
Thanks, that is what I thought. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 21:00, 24 December 2017 (UTC)

Wikipedia is Not a Laboratory

Bumping thread for 30 days. : Noyster (talk), 10:13, 4 December 2017 (UTC)

Some of you have probably already seen this: 

http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/IncidentArchive965#Single_purpose_account_for_mass_adding_articles_by_a_number_of_PhD_students_for_paid_experiment_on_Wikipedia

I think that, although outrage is justified, much of the anger misses the point, because the phrase "paid editing" is being thrown around as if it says what is wrong with this sort of experiment. The real problem, in my view, is not that there was "paid editing". It is that Wikipedia was being used as a laboratory, as a guinea pig, as an experiment. The purpose of Wikipedia is to summarize existing knowledge (as reported by reliable sources), not to try to generate new knowledge by experimentation. We need a paragraph in this policy to that effect, which should conclude that editors who are using Wikipedia in any way for experimentation (as opposed to the summarizing of existing knowledge) may be banned. Some forms of experimental behavior, such as a breaching experiment in vandalism, are already forbidden, but other types of experiments are also not proper uses of Wikipedia or of the privilege of editing Wikipedia. I will draft a paragraph, but would appreciate any input in the next 24 to 72 hours. Robert McClenon (talk) 02:39, 5 October 2017 (UTC)

I'd like to mention:
  • Read-only experiments are difficult to detect and may be used using new edit or pages logs, API and SQL read-only queries, those are probably very common and does not require any editing (by the ones who run it). Some of these projects led to enhanced vandalism detection like ORES, etc. Others may have controversial implications like interaction analysis but can be done transparently and silently without our knowledge.
  • There are a number of experiments done in good faith to increase the quality of the project or the experience of editors, editor retention, etc. (not necessitating controversial editing). An example of a recent one is Bobo.03's WikiProject editor recommendations (i.e. results of my participation to his project: Special:Permalink/803552104#Recommending_new_editors_to_your_WP_Skepticism).
But I agree that some experiment types could be considered exploitative and possibly contravening policies. I would just like to make sure that such examples are taken into account if drafting a text. Thanks, —PaleoNeonate – 03:07, 5 October 2017 (UTC)
WP:BEANS. Bright☀ 09:40, 5 October 2017 (UTC)
User:BrightR - The beans were already stuffed up the child's nose. That essay has to do with forbidding bad things that no one has yet done. Robert McClenon (talk) 09:51, 5 October 2017 (UTC)
if no one has done them, do we need to make a new rule? I would have thought that any problems with research would fall under existing policies. - Bilby (talk) 10:10, 5 October 2017 (UTC)
User:Bilby - It was already done. Most experiments are already clearly against policies and guidelines, but this looks on its face to be here to contribute, and the harm is real but unobvious. Robert McClenon (talk) 02:31, 6 October 2017 (UTC)
We ... should conclude that editors who are using Wikipedia in any way for experimentation ... may be banned. Why? Editors who persistently cause harm can be already be banned for the harm they're causing. Why should experimentation per se be grounds for banning? Adrian J. Hunter(talk•contribs) 10:32, 5 October 2017 (UTC)
User:Adrian J. Hunter - It isn't experimentation as such that needs to be forbidden, but using Wikipedia in order to conduct any experiment that is either undisclosed or has a purpose unrelated to the actual improvement of Wikipedia. Good point as to the need for clarification. Robert McClenon (talk) 02:31, 6 October 2017 (UTC)
  • I could be fine with this, as long as it anchors squarely back to WP:POINT. In other words, there are a number of experiments that are allowed on Wikipedia because they don't affect the way it functions, and a number of experiments that are allowed to affect the way Wikipedia functions (e.g., WP:ACTRIAL) with the goal of improving the project, but materially affecting the project in order to further a research goal not directly related to improving the encyclopedia constitutes disruption for the purpose of proving a point, even if that point is off-wiki. GMGtalk 10:45, 5 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Support per Andrew Davidson. A) what happened fifteen years ago is irrelevant (OSE, eh?), and B) controlled experiments are fine, but WP should not be an unconscious and unaware guinea-pig, and C) we only encourage internal trials for the benefit of the encyclopaedia: as far as individual editors are concerned, we work off community consensus and reliable sources. Neither of which allow for external sociologies with non-centrally defined parameters or criteria. Cheers, — fortunavelut luna 12:01, 5 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Support Given that people routine ignore the "WP is not reliable" disclaimer and use info from WP to justify lots of things, any "experiments" that are introducing potentially bad material is harmful to WP's reputation. I can see the value of WP being a great petri dish to study wisdom of the masses in a blind study, but we're too "live" to be used for those experiments. --MASEM (t) 13:51, 5 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Support. Agree with proposal and users Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi and Masem. We should clearly state that that sort of experimentation is unacceptable (although on the other hand, it may be somewhat pointless, because I don't think SPA's set up for this purpose will care much about being banned). -- P 1 9 9  ✉ 15:49, 5 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Oppose if only because nothing has been proposed yet. I do agree with Robert Mc that this is not about paid editing. Experiments, as noted below, come in many flavors and there would need to be a clear distinction on what is to be banned. Finally, this is about an experiment where the university researchers intended to add material that would improve Wikipedia that was written by experts. We should encourage material written by experts and University researchers where ever possible. You may disagree on the results, but anything meant to discourage experts and researchers would be very bad IMHO. Smallbones(smalltalk) 17:25, 5 October 2017 (UTC)
True. As User:GreenMeansGo, all of the Supports and Opposes are jumping the gun because there is no text to !vote on yet. As I noted above, experiments that are specifically intended as experiments in improving the encyclopedia are usually good. It is the use of Wikipedia for purposes other than Wikipedia that is improper experimentation. Such experimentation may violate the ethics of the use of human subjects, but we don't have a policy about ethical use of human subjects because we didn't think we were human subjects, but human volunteers. Robert McClenon (talk) 02:31, 6 October 2017 (UTC)
If an "experiment" adds useful content to Wikipedia I don't see how it's objectionable. So therefore I would oppose a blanket rule that deals with the motives for an article, and can be exploited in bad faith as "Idontlikeit" excuse. As you say, it depends on how this is worded. There is nothing to support at the moment. Coretheapple (talk) 16:47, 6 October 2017 (UTC)
Yeah... I'm not totally sure why folks started spazzing out and throwing down supports and opposes in the first place, as if that's the only way we do things. At least to me, this was pretty clearly a discussion about a proposal and not a formal proposal, at least not yet. GMGtalk 17:35, 5 October 2017 (UTC)
  • support adding something like this and yes it should be called WP:NOTLABORATORY. Wikipedia is like a natural resource. If you want to do to research at the Grand Canyon you cannot just roll in there with your jack hammer and start digging big holes and hauling out rocks. But with our open nature we are vulnerable to exactly that sort of thing. The problem isn't with taking away stuff or forever marring something (not with our digital content). What they stole was volunteer time; in addition they added shitty content that violated many of our content policies, and never talked to us -- not before, not during, and not after. We need a very clear policy that abusing editing privileges this way is unacceptable and that people need to get consensus to do this kind of thing beforehand. Jytdog (talk) 18:02, 5 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Opposed per Smallbones, unless it can be demonstrated that existing policies are insufficient. Coretheapple (talk) 19:53, 5 October 2017 (UTC),
  • Would support something But would need to see the proposal. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 08:14, 6 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Support prohibition of invasive experiments. - known issue and against the purpose of wikipedia. Experiments and test edits annoy regular wikipedians mightily and waste their time. Staszek Lem (talk) 19:53, 6 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Support. This is not the first such case and surely won't be the last. I'm not going to quibble over exact wording, since that'll get "perfected" over time. We do need to address this, and the proposal is good enough to work with.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ >ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ<  21:41, 6 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Oppose as unnecessary. I believe this is already covered in WP:BADIDEA on this page: "In general, 'that is a terrible idea' is always sufficient grounds to avoid doing something, provided there is a good reason that the idea is terrible." I don't believe that the additional codification is necessary. K.e.coffman (talk) 03:57, 8 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Oppose as proposed, per Adrian J. Hunter's comments below: this would prohibit helpful experiments that improve Wikipedia, like the study improving geographic articles to see their impact in tourism; or neutral experiments that we don't know in advance whether they'll improve Wikipedia or not, like allowing students to do focused (good faith, constructive) editing of articles in the classroom. The focus of a guideline like this should be whether an action is disruptive, not that it's experimental.
If the experiment has the possiblity to improve Wikipedia as a side-effect, why should we care that the motivations of the people doing the improvement is to conduct an experiment? I would support a section explaining when an experiment is likely to become disruptive, but it shouldn't extend to all experimental activity. In fact, allowing experiments that require improving Wikipedia as part of their methodology may be a very interesting way to drive participation in the project, and it would be silly to ban it.
I would handle experiments like we do with bots: you require community approval before running them, but we can allow them if we agree that they may be benefitial, even if there's a small chance that something might go awry. Diego (talk) 12:00, 9 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Oppose as initially proposed, largely per Adrian J. Hunter's comments below. It might be sensible to request notification to us, although I expect this would compromise many studies. The policy would probably not actually stop such research, but it would reduce communication between WP and researchers. We should certainly insist all "research editing" fully follows our policies, 5 pillars etc, and I don't object to a policy saying so. But not an outright ban on "adding content in order to study its effect on editors or readers". Possibly we could establish a research liason committee. When I was asked to do a peer review of a paper on WP by 2 rather distinguished scientists who should have known better, it was immediately clear that their methodology was fatally hamstrung by their not actually knowing much about how WP works. Ongoing drafting seems to headed in the right direction. Johnbod (talk) 15:25, 9 October 2017 (UTC)

Discussion of "not a laboratory" proposal

This is a tricky thing. I think we need to make a distinction between research that observes what happens in WP vs. research that involves surveying users (not messing with content) vs research that intervenes in WP and sees what happens. The first shouldn't bother anybody (and is done all the time); the second can get into spammy territory and abuse of Talk pages but doesn't harm content, but the third is problematic on a couple of levels: (a) editors can become research subjects without their informed consent and b) content might be generated that has nothing to do with the serving the mission of WP. Some examples of each bucket include:

There was another recent "intervention"-y kind in the last year or so but I cannot find it... -- Jytdog (talk) 16:39, 5 October 2017 (UTC)

Yes! The "anthropology" work the class was doing was discusssed here. Thank you! Jytdog (talk) 23:49, 5 October 2017 (UTC)


Some points of wording I would see to include:

  • We do not want researchers to add content to mainspace (and any other space?) that would not normally be added by any other well-intentioned editor that conforms to WP's content policies. Eg, adding purposeful hoaxes to see how far those fly is completely unwelcomed. But adding well-sourced content on a notable topic that just doesn't happen to have an article is less of a problem. (Hence why we tolerate college class "improve a WP article" assignments.)
  • We do not want researches to try to sway editors. You can ask editors to participate in a survey or interview them, but attempting to alter behavior ala the "edelweiss" award listed above, that's a problem.
  • COI has to be emphasized. It is not a problem that funded research that involves editing WP is bad, it is only when the the targets of that editing have clear ties to the agency providing the funding.
  • Any such research approaches should be announced and approved to an appropriate venue. If for some reason there is a need to keep the research "secret" ( ala a blind test) from normal editors, we should request them announce and get confirmation via the ORTS, and tag affected articles with that ticket (which they don't need to spell out anything, but a OTRS member would be able to confirm the "research" was accepted via ORTS.) --MASEM (t) 20:46, 6 October 2017 (UTC)
    • And i would add - "editors participating in a research project are obligated to follow the same content and behavioral policies and guidelines as all editors; this includes engaging with the editing community." or the like. The Carolineneil account clearly was under the misapprehension that they could just do as they pleased under the false notion that "this is an experiment using WP so get out of my way". Jytdog (talk) 21:03, 6 October 2017 (UTC)
      • Yes, that was a point I think I was thinking about but forgot to include. If there are multiple editor accounts involved in a valid research project, there needs to be at least one person that is going to take responsibility for them all, if those other accounts do not appear to otherwise take such actions. Obviously this is getting past what would be at NOT, but it should be a framework to be followed. --MASEM (t) 21:25, 6 October 2017 (UTC)
        • Seems like we're getting awfully close to calling for a WP:IRB. GMGtalk 21:34, 6 October 2017 (UTC)
          • Not with so much formality but in that vein. I think we want to 1) have awareness of any research that requires the research team to edit WP in some way to conduct the research, even if the awareness needs to be kept to a limited number of people and 2) have enough of an idea of what the edits will do on WP to make sure it doesn't mess up en.wiki's goals. We won't have a way to force academics to follow this, but we will be a lot more lenient and understanding of mistakes if these are done upfront. --MASEM (t) 22:14, 6 October 2017 (UTC)


drafting

While many observational studies are conducted on Wikipedia, Wikipedia is not a laboratory. Breaching experiments done in order to make a point are not acceptable, nor is adding content in order to study its effect on editors or readers. The editing community actively maintains content and anything that is added to WP will end up absorbing volunteer effort; volunteer time is the lifeblood of Wikipedia and abusing this resource for purposes outside of the mission of Wikipedia is not acceptable. Experiments involving the editing community require informed consent of the editing community in order to be ethical. People who edit Wikipedia in order to conduct experiments are not exempt from Wikipedia's content and behavioral policies and guidelines, and need to follow community norms for interacting with other editors to discuss behavior or content. If experimenting editors are paid for their work in Wikipedia they must disclose that per the WP:PAID policy, and if they are not paid they still should disclose any outside interest that is driving their activity in Wikipedia, per the WP:COI guideline. See also Wikipedia:Research and Wikipedia:Research recruitment as well as m:Research:Index

thoughts? Jytdog (talk) 06:11, 8 October 2017 (UTC)

I'm concerned that the anger that's understandably been generated by one recent poorly-conducted experiment is driving unwarranted negativity about experiments in general. Perhaps I can counter with a couple of more positive examples:
  • In this experiment (see Signpost report), a random selection of articles on tourist destinations was improved, and it was found that tourism to those destinations increased. Some articles were improved, no articles were made worse, no bias was introduced, and we learned something about Wikipedia's impact. Seems like win-win all round, yet this would be prohibited under "nor is adding content in order to study its effect on editors or readers."
  • Suppose I want to know which of two welcome templates is superior. I decide to alternate between the two templates as I welcome my next hundred new users, then go back and look at whether one is better at promoting continued engagement. Seems harmless and useful, yet based on the proposed wording, it would be unethical for me to do this unless I first obtained informed consent. Seems like an unnecessary hurdle.
I appreciate that we might clarify that researchers are expected to adhere to the usual P&G, including WP:POINT, WP:PAID and WP:COI. But I think "Wikipedia is not a laboratory" needlessly discourages the best tool we have for learning about ourselves and the project. Adrian J. Hunter(talk•contribs) 08:22, 8 October 2017 (UTC)
I certainly would not agree with trying to ban "adding content in order to study its effect on editors or readers", so long as this is done in accordance with the 5 pillars etc. The Finnish paper on Spanish tourism is a good example. But why were all contributions to the Dutch WP reverted? Poor Dutch perhaps? Johnbod (talk) 11:54, 8 October 2017 (UTC)
The Dutch translator translated non-free text from highly promotional tourist brochures. See here. Adrian J. Hunter(talk•contribs) 14:23, 8 October 2017 (UTC)
So content was added to four WPs using tourism brochures as sources .... and the authors claim to show that this kind of promotional editing makes people buy more. Everybody in the paid editing editing ecosystems must be delighted and now has a "scientific" paper they can wave at clients. Nice job screwing the WMF movement by "proving" that promotional editing can "stick" and can lead to higher sales. ARGH. Jytdog (talk) 16:30, 8 October 2017 (UTC)
Negative, that problem was limited to the Dutch Wikipedia edits, which were all reverted. Content in the other three Wikipedias was translated from the English and Spanish Wikipedias. Adrian J. Hunter(talk•contribs) 20:59, 8 October 2017 (UTC)
As I understand it they used the same content and same sources everywhere. So you will need to prove your "negative". Jytdog (talk) 21:03, 8 October 2017 (UTC)
Copied from the signpost comments:
And on the German Wikipedia (edits included [5], [6], [7], [8]), there was some milder pushback regarding e.g. lack of references, travel guide language, and unencyclopedic illustrations, to which one of the researchers responded, stating later that there had been an attempt to address the issues. See de:Benutzer_Diskussion:Oltau/Archiv/2014#Spanischkurs and de:Benutzer_Diskussion:Mefk81#Spanischkurs. Regards, Tbayer (WMF) (talk) 22:06, 6 August 2017 (UTC) Jytdog (talk) 21:06, 8 October 2017 (UTC)
Translating one of those diffs: The central coast is characterized by its long and wide beaches of golden sand and the famous and spectacular dunes of Maspalomas, as well as salty water ponds and a palm tree oasis. Jytdog (talk) 21:11, 8 October 2017 (UTC)
I'm just going by the paper, which says, "Added text was translated mostly from the corresponding Spanish or English language Wikipedia pages." It also says that 93% of the added text was still there at the beginning of the year following treatment (I presume that excludes the Dutch additions), so it can't have been too bad. You're right that there were a few issues on the German Wikipedia, but the experiment expanded 120 articles. I know of no non-automated process that could generate that much expansion without a few issues. You'd get vastly more problems if 120 articles had been expanded organically. Adrian J. Hunter(talk•contribs) 03:13, 9 October 2017 (UTC)
Adrian, come on. If you are going to take the word of inexperienced editors, that their work complies with WP policies and guidelines, I have a bridge to sell you. (and i think you already know that many accomplished academics arrive at WP and demonstrate quickly that they have no idea how this place actually works). And expansion for expansion's sake (much less with bad content) is nobody's ideal of a good thing. You appear to be sticking to your guns even after you have been given direct evidence that the content they added was really bad and this is just weird.... Please don't keep advocating for this badly done research project that has harmed what we do on at least two levels. Maybe this comes from an instinct to protect other academics... I don't know what is going on with you but what you are doing and writing here is weird. Jytdog (talk) 16:51, 9 October 2017 (UTC)
You quoted that there was "some milder pushback" on the German Wikipedia and provided four problematic diffs. This is not compelling evidence that the bulk of the expansion to 120 articles across the French, German and Italian Wikipedias was, considered in aggregate, "really bad". On the contrary, the reported persistence of 93% of the content is evidence that it was judged acceptable by other Wikipedians. Have you found other evidence I'm unaware of? Adrian J. Hunter(talk•contribs) 05:35, 10 October 2017 (UTC)
You have made it clear that you are committed to doing no work to examine what happened but rather to taking these authors at their word, and that you will continue "defending" on that sole basis. That is not a discussion that is worth my time. Jytdog (talk) 10:59, 10 October 2017 (UTC)
The "milder pushback" comment came from the Signpost discussion, not the published paper. In any case, that this particular study didn't follow our guidelines doesn't invalidate the results (that expanded Wikipedia articles are correlated to increased tourism, so the articles have influence in our readers), and it doesn't prevent that other similar studies could follow our content guidelines more closely and therefore improve the encyclopedia while performing their experiment. Diego (talk) 11:56, 10 October 2017 (UTC)
Moreover the conversations show that they got most of the content from the Spanish Wikipedia itself (so many of the errors were made because such content was live, and had not been removed from that project), and that they engaged in constructive discussion, trying to learn and amend their failures. So I fail to see how this is any more disruptive than a pack of wilful newcomers being given a task to expand a topic - which is something that the WMF encourages. Diego (talk) 12:12, 10 October 2017 (UTC)
The study was flawed in several ways. Most importantly it was correlational only and correlation is not causation. The study was also not blinded so there is a huge risk of confirmation bias in the experimental design. "Proving" that promotional editing pays, is so damaging to us, and so useful to the paid editing ecosystem that sells the very idea that it is essential to use Wikipedia for promotion - that if you don't have a shiny Wikipedia page you are losing business. So, so damaging. That you fail to see the damage, is something I can only try to correct.
And again these researchers did not edit WP with the aim of improving Wikipedia. They came here to "test" their hypothesis - they needed to get content to "stick" in order to do their shitty experiment. Same as the chemistry editor. They did not give a flying fuck about Wikipedia or its mission. They used Wikipedia. Abused it, actually. Jytdog (talk) 12:33, 10 October 2017 (UTC)
This was a translation activity between the different language projects of content we already had included, it's nowhere similar to promotional paid editing.
They came here to "test" their hypothesis - they needed to get content to "stick" in order to do their shitty experiment. Same as the chemistry editor. I've asked before, if this has the potential to improve the project, how is it a bad thing, and why should we care about the editor's motivations to improve the project? I fail to see how this is damage, because to fail to advance a coherent argument and merely present us with some indignant doom-predicting warnings.
They did not give a flying fuck about Wikipedia or its mission. They used Wikipedia. And you haven't answered my main question. How was what these people do any different in this respect to a bunch of students editing Wikipedia to complete their class assignments, which is considered good for the project? Diego (talk) 12:52, 10 October 2017 (UTC)
User:Diego Moya - "How was ... this ... different from a bunch of students editing Wikipedia to complete their class assignments, which is considered good for the project?" Students editing Wikipedia to complete their class assignments is not always good for the project. Often such assignments are very problematical. Does that answer your question? Class assignments are only good under precise terms, which, unfortunately, in my experience, are often not met, so that class assignments should not be considered good. Is there another question? Robert McClenon (talk) 00:34, 19 October 2017 (UTC)
And yet, the community hasn't banned student class assignments but merely offer guidance on doing them well, and a mayor player -the WMF- actively encourages them, so we consider that the benefits (expanding the encyclopedia and training new editors) may outweight the problems. So there's really no substantial difference that merits treating the two phenomena differently. Yes, this answers the question. Diego (talk) 09:15, 19 October 2017 (UTC)
First, the WMF is assuming, in my opinion incorrectly, that the class assignments may result in improvement of the encyclopedia. In my opinion, they often do not. (The ones that I am aware of did not.) Second, the experiments in question are not intended to improve the encyclopedia or its use. Robert McClenon (talk) 00:48, 20 October 2017 (UTC)

Students in the education program also come to Wikipedia with a COI. They often (not always) behave exactly like paid editors do and like these people did. Students have written to me: "Stop changing my edits! My teacher needs to see this so I can get graded!" You can change "teacher" to "client" and "graded" to "paid" and everything is the same. It is about serving an external interest for the editor. Same thing with these "researchers" - "I need to get these edits to stick so the experiment will "work"."

COI is what it is. We cannot eliminate it but it needs to be managed.

(and btw the education program is not widely loved. it is more or less tolerated. kind of like paid editing is, but with less revulsion with regard to motivation but perhaps more discomfort with regard to the burden it puts on the volunteer community to clean up after them and to deal with them.) Jytdog (talk) 13:14, 10 October 2017 (UTC)

Ok, we then agree that this needs to be managed. This leaves us a lot of leeway in how to manage it, though, besides the total ban proposed by this thread. In fact the draft proposed below by Robert McClenon and GreenMeansGo seems much more nuanced and practical, allowing experimentation in a controlled way. Diego (talk) 14:49, 10 October 2017 (UTC)
Both the original version and the version that is said to propose a total ban were actually nuanced, but there was a lot of reacting to an unseen draft and then to a first draft. The current version is better, but no one was ever proposing a total ban on experiments. What was being proposed was a total ban on undisclosed experiments, and that is still being proposed. At least, it is my intent that undisclosed experiments be banned. Robert McClenon (talk) 23:02, 17 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Some drafting is going on at User:Robert McClenon/NOTLAB. Jytdog (talk) 16:37, 8 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Maaaybee bringing this down to a slightly more cordial level, anyway you look at it, if it's research involving human subjects (editors), then it needs to be held to a higher standard of oversight, as it is in every corner of academia. Maybe their review boards are giving it the go, because they don't understand the impact on human subjects, and all they see is an an online encyclopedia, but they're wrong. At the very least, the community should be given the opportunity to review such research, and determine that it's harmless, rather than being a free public lab rat, and trying to clean up any mess after the fact. I'm not saying all such research is harmful, or that any particular design is; all I'm saying is that it should be the community, not self-interested researchers, with anybody's guess what level of understanding of the project, who get to make that decision. GMGtalk 12:50, 10 October 2017 (UTC)
  • Yes, that seems the way to follow; informed consent is a golden rule for all ethical experimentation. The best proposal so far is that by user Johnbod to create the figure of a community liaison for experiments, that researchers should contact with to ensure they know the right procedures. Diego (talk) 12:58, 10 October 2017 (UTC)
I've gone back and forth about what the appropriate forum might be, and I can't come to any strong position other than it depends. In some cases, a WikiProject discussion might be perfectly appropriate for designs with very limited scope. For example, I don't see why a user survey among WikiProject Medicine participants, regarding interpretation of MEDRS, should need to go farther than WikiProject Medicine for approval. However, a very broad design may need to go to Village Pump or AN for approval, and if someone brought a topic up in a forum that was too narrow for the scope of the design (like a WikiProject), it would be up to participants there to escalate the proposal to a higher level of oversight, by, for example, moving the ongoing discussion to a broader forum, or posting a notification in a broader forum regarding the ongoing discussion.
But I think the important thing is that there is a clear expectation set out that prior approval of some kind is expected for any design that a reasonable editor could construe as invasive or disruptive. GMGtalk 13:10, 10 October 2017 (UTC)
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