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User:Alanyst/Essays/Article Bias

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I've recently observed some editors complaining about bias at certain articles or groups of articles. Joseph Smith, Jr. and the climate change articles that are a current focus of arbitration come to mind. These are my thoughts about the ways in which bias may appear in different dimensions of Wikipedia articles, and how they might be addressed.

Dimensions of Bias

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In what ways can bias enter an article?

  • The language of the article prose (weasel words, puffery, emotional or didactic speech, etc.)
  • The amount of prose devoted to certain points of view (WP:WEIGHT)
  • The (mis)representation in the article of what the sources say
  • The inclusion or exclusion of sources from the article, based on notability and/or reliability arguments
  • The POV inherent in the sources used in the article
  • The constraints imposed by Wikipedia policy