Conservapedia talk:How Conservapedia Differs from Wikipedia

General questions

I think you meant authoritative support, but I won't correct it, it's your doc. So are you still going to say your site is neutral?--AmesG 17:29, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

Good point. Thanks. I corrected it.--Aschlafly 17:37, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

I would really like to know more about this "authoritative" source. What counts as "journalist opinion" vs. "reporting of facts" this is particularly important in regards to issues being raised at on this talk page. Tmtoulouse 17:34, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

A big flaw in Wikipedia's system is that it treats journalist's opinions as authorities. They aren't. In a court of law, such attempts would be laughable.--Aschlafly 17:37, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

Does this mean that Creationwiki is not considered authoritative? --Mtur 17:38, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

So if an article written by a journalist is quoted and its merely reporting events "such and such happened" "this was said by this person" then the source is fine? Tmtoulouse 17:39, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

Sure, that's fine. But Wikipedia improperly converts a journalist's biased opinion into a factual assertion.--Aschlafly 18:06, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

Point 5 should be clarified so that it doesn't clash with "always cite sources" and "must be true and verifiable". Original Research can get out of hand very quickly, I think. --Sid 3050 17:46, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

Correct, in the hands of a responsible editor original research can add synthesis of ideas that would otherwise be impossible to include, and can be valuable. The reason it is shunned on Wikipedia though is that you wind up getting every crank out there with a new "unified theory of everything" or a high school algebraic solution to Fermat's Last Theorm that is being repressed by the establishment claiming a right to publish it here. Tmtoulouse 17:48, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

My issue exactly. I'm not THAT much of a fan of the OR rule myself, but I can understand why it's there and thus support it in general. --Sid 3050 17:50, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

Original work can be labeled as such. There is no reason for Wikipedia to censor it, except to enforce its liberal view of the world.--Aschlafly 18:07, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

Point 1 is baseless criticism of Wikipedia. The statement "We do not allow gossip, just as a real encyclopedia avoids it" implies that Wikipedia allows gossip, which it does not. I propose that this difference be removed from the list. --Charliemc86 17:01, 21 March 2007 (CST)

You can't be serious. Are you? Numerous entries in Wikipedia have gossip that would never appear in a real encyclopedia. We have several examples in Bias in Wikipedia but that is only the tip of the iceberg.--Aschlafly 18:04, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

I'm not here to dispute the fact that gossip exists on Wikipedia. The differences page implies that it is allowed or encouraged, which it is not. A careful reading of the rules for editing on Wikipedia clearly excludes gossip from the set of valid information sources. --Charliemc86 17:12, 21 March 2007 (CST)

7. We do not allow liberal censorship of conservative facts... - Do you allow conservative censorship of liberal facts? This isn't clear. --JamesK 18:04, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

No, we don't.--Aschlafly 18:05, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

Thanks, I think that should be explicitly stated then. --JamesK 18:14, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

Yes JamesK. Conservative censorship is allowed, as evidenced by this page: Alger Hiss. The fact that the accuracy of the released Soviet documents is disputed, and that a key FBI witness committed perjury while testifying that a typewriter cannot be used for forgery is completely ignored in this account. --Charliemc86 17:09, 21 March 2007 (CST)