Wikipedia:Conspiracy theory

Summary of debate on appropriateness of "conspiracy theory" in a title

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Pro

Insert pro argument here

Against

Conspiracy theory is an ambiguous phrase that discredits some articles or subjects on Wikipedia through the use of the phrase's secondary loaded definition. Wikipedia defines Conspiracy theory secondarily as connoting that a subject is unworthy of being taken seriously, which is the anti-thesis of an encyclopedia and is especially not appropriate in a title. As such, "conspiracy theory" and related ambiguous or not simply stated titles should be fixed (when used to describe another subject). Even when an article is literally about people conspiring the phrase "conspiracy theory" is still used to discredit some articles but not others by the secondary definition. On Wikipedia talk pages the phrase has been used to discredit articles and is therefore provably not neutral. Some articles on Wikipedia also group together all "alternative theories" inside "conspiracy theory" titled articles. If something is a factually citable alternative theory it is not a conspiracy theory because "conspiracy theory" can be ambiguous and non-neutral since it has two definitions which are needlessly commingled.

Relatedly, "conspiracy theory", "conspiracy claims" and "misinformation and rumor" titled articles all violate the "simply stated" title policy. Some examples include 9/11 domestic conspiracy theory, AIDS conspiracy theories, 9/11 conspiracy theories while the arguably equally dubious Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda article's title is simply stated.