3 ms·

Can't wait for the specific examples

by thiht 9mo ago

jyscao 9mo ago
What for? To start a flame war? No one is going to get convinced one way or the other. Which was why I just wanted to point out that while I think Wikipedia is a net good overall, it is not without blemishes.
- chairhairair 9mo ago
  > Makes claim. > Is asked for evidence. > Refuses. Brilliant work. These kinds of posts should be bannable.
  - jyscao 9mo ago
    If you do not know of a single Wikipedia article that you judge to be politically biased, then that says more about you and your gullibility than it does about me.
    - chairhairair 9mo ago
      The point is not that Wikipedia is completely unbiased. That's an obvious impossibility - for any encyclopedia. The point is that accusations of "noticeable bias on any topic that has political implications" is the kind of accusation made by someone simply trying to sow distrust in information, writ large. It's increasingly common. Being asked for an example or two isn't weird.
lysace 9mo ago
This kind of bias is a statistical measure; typically you can't prove or disprove it using a single sample. It's about larger patterns, which things are talked about and (crucially) which are not. How much attention is given to things and not.
- thiht 9mo ago
  Ok, can’t wait for specific examples illustrating the larger patterns
  - lysace 9mo ago
    Eh... this is a joke comment, right?
    - thiht 9mo ago
      I don’t know, is the "Wikipedia is left biased but I can’t produce a single piece of evidence" rhetoric a joke?
      - BoingBoomTschak 9mo ago
        BuzzFeed, Salon and PinkNews being used as reliable sources should be everything you need to know about WP. Or read some of the more critical viewpoints against the Wikipedia editor bureaucracy (that shields itself with a laughable "Anybody can edit Wikipedia! We don't exist! Don't look at the man behind the curtain") like https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/reliable-sources-how-wikipedia-admin https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/reliable-sources-how-wik... Small aside, it's a fun coincidence I (finally!) saw Brazil for the first time a week ago...
        thiht 9mo ago
        Again, can you find articles using some of these "unreliable" sources (I don’t know Salon or PinkNews, and I know that BuzzFeed News actually had pretty good articles back then) to promote biased content? Just looking at the front page of PinkNews, the content appears sourced and factual. A media being oriented (LGBT in this case) doesn’t necessarily mean it’s biased or lying. Taking this article as an example[1], I see no reason why it shouldn’t be used as a Wikipedia source. [1]: https://www.thepinknews.com/2026/01/16/trump-eliminates-rape-protections-for-trans-people-in-ice-facilities-and-prisons/ https://www.thepinknews.com/2026/01/16/trump-eliminates-rape...
jaydz 9mo ago
So many parroting the same "bias" line here, yet not a single example has been linked.
- nailer 9mo ago
  There’s about fourteen or so in other threads. I posted a couple: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46632023 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46632023

Can't wait for the specific examples

by thiht 9mo ago

Can't wait for the specific examples

What for? To start a flame war? No one is going to get convinced one way or the other. Which was why I just wanted to point out that while I think Wikipedia is a net good overall, it is not without blemishes.

chairhairair 9mo ago
> Makes claim. > Is asked for evidence. > Refuses. Brilliant work. These kinds of posts should be bannable.
- jyscao 9mo ago
  If you do not know of a single Wikipedia article that you judge to be politically biased, then that says more about you and your gullibility than it does about me.
  - chairhairair 9mo ago
    The point is not that Wikipedia is completely unbiased. That's an obvious impossibility - for any encyclopedia. The point is that accusations of "noticeable bias on any topic that has political implications" is the kind of accusation made by someone simply trying to sow distrust in information, writ large. It's increasingly common. Being asked for an example or two isn't weird.

lysace 9mo ago

This kind of bias is a statistical measure; typically you can't prove or disprove it using a single sample. It's about larger patterns, which things are talked about and (crucially) which are not. How much attention is given to things and not.

thiht 9mo ago
Ok, can’t wait for specific examples illustrating the larger patterns
- lysace 9mo ago
  Eh... this is a joke comment, right?
  - thiht 9mo ago
    I don’t know, is the "Wikipedia is left biased but I can’t produce a single piece of evidence" rhetoric a joke?
    - BoingBoomTschak 9mo ago
      BuzzFeed, Salon and PinkNews being used as reliable sources should be everything you need to know about WP. Or read some of the more critical viewpoints against the Wikipedia editor bureaucracy (that shields itself with a laughable "Anybody can edit Wikipedia! We don't exist! Don't look at the man behind the curtain") like https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/reliable-sources-how-wikipedia-admin https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/reliable-sources-how-wik... Small aside, it's a fun coincidence I (finally!) saw Brazil for the first time a week ago...
      - thiht 9mo ago
        Again, can you find articles using some of these "unreliable" sources (I don’t know Salon or PinkNews, and I know that BuzzFeed News actually had pretty good articles back then) to promote biased content? Just looking at the front page of PinkNews, the content appears sourced and factual. A media being oriented (LGBT in this case) doesn’t necessarily mean it’s biased or lying. Taking this article as an example[1], I see no reason why it shouldn’t be used as a Wikipedia source. [1]: https://www.thepinknews.com/2026/01/16/trump-eliminates-rape-protections-for-trans-people-in-ice-facilities-and-prisons/ https://www.thepinknews.com/2026/01/16/trump-eliminates-rape...

jaydz 9mo ago

So many parroting the same "bias" line here, yet not a single example has been linked.

nailer 9mo ago
There’s about fourteen or so in other threads. I posted a couple: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46632023 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46632023