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I've encountered the same issue when I attempted to attach a "citation needed" tag to a statement that was blatantly false. The maintainer's excuse for revertin

by gatmne 9y ago

I've encountered the same issue when I attempted to attach a "citation needed" tag to a statement that was blatantly false. The maintainer's excuse for reverting the change was that such a tag did not belong on such a highly visible entry. These are people with whom you simply can't reason. Any argument you provide will be shot down with the absurdest of reasons. Personally, I'm glad this happened to me. Like you, that experience cemented the unreliability of wikipedia in my mind.

jsjohnst 9y ago
Had a similar experience with an organization I cofounded. An editor claimed it had to be bogus, that there was no way Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft, NASA, and the Worldbank would ever all coloborate on a social good project. Eventually we prevailed, but the article had to be insanely over cited to the point I feel it’s hard to read now and after the experience I’ve not felt it was worth it to encourage folks to maintain it.
- mseebach 9y ago
  I mean this in the politest possible way, I have no reason not to believe you, but all of your examples, GGP and down, would benefit immensely from a link to the contested revisions.
  - jsjohnst 9y ago
    > but all of your examples, GGP and down, would benefit immensely from a link to the contested revisions. I apologize, but I’m a little unclear on what you’re asking for. Let me know and I’m happy to provide.
    - saghm 9y ago
      I think they just mean to post a link that points to the change you tried to make (and the subsequent ones). I think Wikipedia keeps a record of all the changes?
      - jsjohnst 9y ago
        > I think Wikipedia keeps a record of all the changes? Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be the case, specifically with talk pages where the history of the discussion with the editor who deemed it a “hoax” was, but you can see some remnants of it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Random_Hacks_of_Kindness&offset=20101206193426&action=history https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Random_Hacks_of_K... I wasn’t the one who made the edits to the page itself, but I was involved in collecting the links to prove it wasn’t a “hoax” and helping make the case to the editor who refused to believe it was true.

by gatmne 9y ago

jsjohnst 9y ago

Had a similar experience with an organization I cofounded. An editor claimed it had to be bogus, that there was no way Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft, NASA, and the Worldbank would ever all coloborate on a social good project. Eventually we prevailed, but the article had to be insanely over cited to the point I feel it’s hard to read now and after the experience I’ve not felt it was worth it to encourage folks to maintain it.

mseebach 9y ago
I mean this in the politest possible way, I have no reason not to believe you, but all of your examples, GGP and down, would benefit immensely from a link to the contested revisions.
- jsjohnst 9y ago
  > but all of your examples, GGP and down, would benefit immensely from a link to the contested revisions. I apologize, but I’m a little unclear on what you’re asking for. Let me know and I’m happy to provide.
  - saghm 9y ago
    I think they just mean to post a link that points to the change you tried to make (and the subsequent ones). I think Wikipedia keeps a record of all the changes?
    - jsjohnst 9y ago
      > I think Wikipedia keeps a record of all the changes? Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be the case, specifically with talk pages where the history of the discussion with the editor who deemed it a “hoax” was, but you can see some remnants of it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Random_Hacks_of_Kindness&offset=20101206193426&action=history https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Random_Hacks_of_K... I wasn’t the one who made the edits to the page itself, but I was involved in collecting the links to prove it wasn’t a “hoax” and helping make the case to the editor who refused to believe it was true.