Talk:Flat Earth

Skip to table of contents

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Flat Earth article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9: 28 days

The subject of this article is controversial and content may be in dispute. When updating the article, be bold, but not reckless. Feel free to try to improve the article, but don't take it personally if your changes are reversed; instead, come here to the talk page to discuss them. Content must be written from a neutral point of view. Include citations when adding content and consider tagging or removing unsourced information.

The contentious topics procedure applies to this page. This page is related to pseudoscience and fringe science, which has been designated as a contentious topic.

Editors who repeatedly or seriously fail to adhere to the purpose of Wikipedia, any expected standards of behaviour, or any normal editorial process may be blocked or restricted by an administrator. Editors are advised to familiarise themselves with the contentious topics procedures before editing this page.

Arbitration Ruling on the Treatment of Pseudoscience

In December of 2006 the Arbitration Committee ruled on guidelines for the presentation of topics as pseudoscience in Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Pseudoscience. The final decision was as follows:

Neutral point of view as applied to science: Wikipedia:Neutral point of view, a fundamental policy, requires fair representation of significant alternatives to scientific orthodoxy. Significant alternatives, in this case, refers to legitimate scientific disagreement, as opposed to pseudoscience.
Serious encyclopedias: Serious and respected encyclopedias and reference works are generally expected to provide overviews of scientific topics that are in line with respected scientific thought. Wikipedia aspires to be such a respected work.
Obvious pseudoscience: Theories which, while purporting to be scientific, are obviously bogus, such as Time Cube, may be so labeled and categorized as such without more justification.
Generally considered pseudoscience: Theories which have a following, such as astrology, but which are generally considered pseudoscience by the scientific community may properly contain that information and may be categorized as pseudoscience.
Questionable science: Theories which have a substantial following, such as psychoanalysis, but which some critics allege to be pseudoscience, may contain information to that effect, but generally should not be so characterized.
Alternative theoretical formulations: Alternative theoretical formulations which have a following within the scientific community are not pseudoscience, but part of the scientific process.

Flat Earth was one of the Philosophy and religion good articles, but it has been removed from the list. There are suggestions below for improving the article to meet the good article criteria. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
September 20, 2006	Good article nominee	Listed
October 23, 2006	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
September 9, 2009	Good article reassessment	Delisted

Current status: Delisted good article

This level-5 vital article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

History of Science High‑importance

	History of science portal This article is part of the History of Science WikiProject, an attempt to improve and organize the history of science content on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. You can also help with the History of Science Collaboration of the Month.History of ScienceWikipedia:WikiProject History of ScienceTemplate:WikiProject History of Sciencehistory of science
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Bible High‑importance

	Bible portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Bible, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the Bible on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.BibleWikipedia:WikiProject BibleTemplate:WikiProject BibleBible
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Skepticism Mid‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Skepticism, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of science, pseudoscience, pseudohistory and skepticism related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.SkepticismWikipedia:WikiProject SkepticismTemplate:WikiProject SkepticismSkepticism
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Geography Low‑importance

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Geography, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of geography on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.GeographyWikipedia:WikiProject GeographyTemplate:WikiProject Geographygeography

Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

WikiProject Geography To-do list:

Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

Article requests : See Requested articles/Social sciences/Geography, cities, regions and named places and Missing articles about Locations
Assess : Tag related article talk pages with {{WikiProject Geography}}. To help assess the quality and importance of geography articles, please see: Unassessed geography articles and Unknown-importance geography articles.
Cleanup : See Geography articles needing attention
Deletion sorting : Listed at Geographic related deletion discussions
Geographical coordinates : See Articles missing geocoordinate data by country
Infobox : See Geography articles needing infoboxes
Map : See Wikipedia requested maps
Notability : See Geography articles with topics of unclear notability
Photo : See Wikipedia requested photographs of places
Stubs : See Geography stubs

Ancient Near East High‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Ancient Near East, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of ancient Near East–related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Ancient Near EastWikipedia:WikiProject Ancient Near EastTemplate:WikiProject Ancient Near EastAncient Near East
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Alternative views High‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Alternative views, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of significant alternative views in every field, from the sciences to the humanities. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion.Alternative viewsWikipedia:WikiProject Alternative viewsTemplate:WikiProject Alternative viewsAlternative views
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

This article has been mentioned by a media organization:

Hava Mendelle (February 17, 2024). "Wikipedia: how safe is crowdsourcing the truth?". Spectator Australia. Retrieved February 17, 2024. Take the following examples, an article on Flat Earth and an article on the Weaponisation of antisemitism. ... The former reads more neutral and factual where whereas the latter reads like an argumentative essay.

Proposed changes

hello, I suggest changing "More recently, flat earth theory has seen an increase in popularity" to "Since the 2010s, flat earth theory has seen an increase in popularity". it's a clarification that seems necessary to me for the article to be timeless. the two articles cited as sources for the resurgence of this theory date from the 2010s.

I would also like to propose the following change: change "only 82% of 18 to 24 year old respondents agreed with the statement "I have always believed the world is round"." to "only 82% of 18 to 24 year old American respondents agreed with the statement "I have always believed the world is round".". the study was carried out only on Americans: https://today.yougov.com/society/articles/20510-most-flat-earthers-consider-themselves-religious

I would have liked to make these changes myself but my account is not auto-confirmed. GloBoy93 (talk) 18:52, 29 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Done. Strebe (talk) 23:26, 29 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Fake facts

early muslim scholars were the defenders of spherical earth concept. Abu Rayhan al-Biruni (AD 973–1048)The 11th century Persian mathematician used simple trigonometric results to estimate the radius and circumference of the Earth. His estimate has been quoted as 6,340 km, which is within 1% of the mean radius of 6,371 km. 2001:6A8:5E0:926:882B:A6EF:199E:24D8 (talk) 11:32, 30 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Any reliable source that would back up your claim? A09|(talk) 12:14, 30 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

the article mentioned that early muslims believed earth was flat

okay according to Ibn Al-Munadi born in 869AD

All muslims schoolers believe in spherical earth

Majmu' Fatawa - Ibn Taymiyyah vol 25 p195 that all muslim schoolers believe that earth is spehrical

also Ibn Al Munadi is from the Hanbali school who doesnt accept Greek cosmology or anything from them 46.248.207.62 (talk) 23:37, 6 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The article already states, several times, that some Muslim scholars accepted the spherical model starting in the 9th century, so why are you going on about “fake facts”? Strebe (talk) 22:04, 31 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

"starting in the 9th century,"

Which means before 9th century they believed Earth is flar which isnt true

Ibn Taymiyya

Ali b. Ahmad Ibn Hazm

Ibn Al Munadi

mentioned that all muslim schoolers believe in spherical Earth and while this is debatable

it means that alot of them believe in that before the 9 century 46.248.207.62 (talk) 23:42, 6 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The statement is sourced. Does the source say something different? Ramos1990 (talk) 00:26, 7 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

None of the people you list precede the 9th century, assuming that your “Munadi” is actually “Muradi” and that the scholars I looked up are the same ones you are talking about. Strebe (talk) 02:23, 7 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

In popular culture

https://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Anthem_(novella) In this book the government enforces flat earth theory 2001:8003:7498:6C01:348F:F41A:7392:23FD (talk) 05:15, 17 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The significance of the portrayal would have to be commented on from a reliable source in order to be material for the article. Strebe (talk) 08:08, 17 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This is not correct.

"By the early period of the Christian Church, the spherical view was widely held, with some notable exceptions. In contrast, ancient Chinese scholars consistently describe the Earth as flat, and this perception remained unchanged until their encounters with Jesuit missionaries in the 17th century"

Where does the source ever mention this. This seems like a reach. Christianity clearly upheld the idea of a flat Earth at the very least until the 10th century. Where does the source even support this claim? 2409:40E2:11E6:CBAB:D46:48E1:C3A6:E032 (talk) 18:13, 26 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The citation is for the Chinese claim. The early Christian church matter is discussed and cited at the start of Flat Earth#Early Christian Church. Strebe (talk) 18:23, 26 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Earth

@Strebe: Not objecting to your revert because I don't feel strongly about it (Earth, the Earth, same thing), but FYI this entire article including the first sentence says "the Earth". Yue🌙 02:21, 4 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]