FloNight

File:Dvolbrch.jpg

Diplomacy consists of combining honesty and politeness. Both are objectively valuable moral principles. Be honest with me, but don't be mean to me. Don't misrepresent my views for your own political ends. And I'll treat you the same way.

From User:Jimbo Wales/Statement of principles

Hello! I live in Kentucky with my husband and two house cats. I have three children in college. Being a former obstetric nurse, with a strong interest in health and health policy, I plan to help edit articles on these topics.

• FloNight edit count 1000 on 01/31/2006; 2000 on 02/06/2006

• FloNight/Behind the scene

Picture of the day

Battle of Diamond Rock

Painting credit: Auguste Étienne François Mayer

• Archive
• More featured pictures

To do list

• Contact re: Richard Mentor Johnson article
  • User:Jengod

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Bluegrass music

List of women poets

Miscarriage

Richard Mentor Johnson

WikiProjects

• Wikipedia:WikiProject Clinical medicine
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Pedophilia Article Watch

My new pages

• A-D Brenda Cowan, Christopher Wolf, CIA leak grand jury investigation, David Hager, (major re-write); Debra Riggs Bonamici; Deputy Attorney General
• E-H Harvey J. Alter
• I-L Israel Hernandez; James Fleissner; Joseph Tate
• M-P Peter Zeidenberg
• R-U Reggie Walton; Robert McCallum, Jr.; Screening cultures; United States Deputy Attorney General
• V-Z

My medical pages

• A-L Group B Streptococcus,
• M-Z Perinatal Group B Streptococcal Disease

My Kentucky pages

• A-L Ashland Community and Technical College, Big Sandy Community and Technical College,
• M-Z Midway College

Pages I've worked on

• A-D Adam Levine (press aide), Carl Ford, Chad "Corntassel" Smith, Clara Barton, David McSweeney, David Westerfield,
• E-H Flagler College
• I-L James B. Comey, Jefferson Poland, Lauren Slater
• M-P Min Zhu, Mike Johanns, National Religious Broadcasters, Patricia Cornwell
• R-U
• V-Z WebEx, William A. Dembski

Medical pages I've worked on

• A-L Hepatitis C, Jackson Laboratory, Knockout mouse
• M-Z Pneumonia

Kentucky pages I've worked on

• A-L Ernie Fletcher, Kentucky
• M-Z Natural Bridge State Park (Kentucky), Richard Mentor Johnson, Union College (Kentucky), University of the Cumberlands

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FloNight's scratch pad

~Wikipedia:No original research is one of three content policies. The other two are Wikipedia:Neutral point of view and Wikipedia:Verifiability. The policies are complementary, jointly determining the type and quality of material that is acceptable in the main namespace. They should therefore not be interpreted in isolation from each other, and editors should try to familiarize themselves with all three. V, RS, NPOV~

~Articles in Wikipedia should refer to facts, assertions, theories, ideas, claims, opinions, and arguments that have been published by a reputable or credible publisher. The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth.

A good way to look at the distinction between verifiability and truth is with the following example. Suppose you are writing a Wikipedia entry on a famous physicist's Theory X. Theory X has been published in peer-reviewed journals and is therefore an appropriate subject for a Wikipedia article. However, in the course of writing the article, you meet the physicist, and over a beer, he tells you: "Actually, I think Theory X is a load of rubbish." Even though you have this from the author himself, you cannot include the fact that he said it in your Wikipedia entry.

Why not? Because it is not verifiable in a way that would satisfy the Wikipedia readership or other editors. The readers don't know who you are. You can't include your telephone number so that every reader in the world can call you directly for confirmation. And even if they could, why should they believe you?

For the information to be acceptable to Wikipedia, you would have to persuade a reputable news organization to publish your story first, which would then go through a process similar to peer review. It would be checked by a reporter, an editor, perhaps by a fact-checker, and if the story were problematic, it would be checked further by the lawyers and the editor-in-chief. These checks and balances exist to ensure that accurate and fair stories appear in the newspaper.

It is this fact-checking process that Wikipedia is not in a position to provide, which is why the no original research and verifiability policies are so important.

If the newspaper published the story, you could then include the information in your Wikipedia entry, citing the newspaper article as your source.

V, RS, NPOV, NOR~

~Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons~ You should document, in a non-partisan manner, what credible third party sources have published about the subject and, in some circumstances, what the subject may have published about themselves.

The writing style should be neutral, factual, and understated. There should not be any tone of either hagiography or hatchet job. Take care not to fall into either a sympathetic point of view or an advocacy journalism point of view.

There should be no hint of a gung-ho, publish-and-be-damned attitude. As editors, our writing may have real effects on real lives, and with that power comes responsibility. BLP~