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I think it is pretty clear that not everyone is equally biased or that every bias is equally bad or good. It does not seem like a useful question unless you pla
by JamisonM 13y ago
I think it is pretty clear that not everyone is equally biased or that every bias is equally bad or good. It does not seem like a useful question unless you plan on engaging in a lengthy exercise it justifying Wikipedia from first-principles or something.
I would ask this question instead: Is the editorial environment of Wikipedia specifically a place where the worst biases can flourish? Subtle edits over a long period of time from a malicious actor are one thing, but the same from someone who is simply oblivious to their bias on a set of topics is quite another. If the answer is yes, how in the heck can it be fixed?
- glenra 13y agoThe answer is yes, Wikipedia is specifically a place where the worst biases can flourish. It only takes a couple of cranks to keep the biases in, and there are more than enough cranks around. I don't know that it can be fixed. The good news, though, is that there's enough transparency to in most cases make it clear to the careful observer what's going on. On any politically-sensitive topic, the experienced wikipedia user eventually learns that you need to check the talk page and see what points of view are being deliberately and actively excluded from the main page. Checking the page history helps too - bad pages tend to have a lot of reverts with angry check-in comments.