User:Jnestorius
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Joesty Nestorius, at your service.
Also playing at commons:User:Jnestorius
Dealing with controversy
[edit]Try to satisfy the following requirements, in descending order of importance:
- Do not say anything that is not true
- This does not preclude initial simplifications and approximations clearly flagged as such and corrected later in an article.
- Do not omit anything important
- This may be a temptation to forestall controversy, editwars, etc; but "don't mention the war" is bad advice for an encyclopedia.
- Distinguish between "Controversy about Foo" and "Foo"
- Do not allow the former to overwhelm the latter. Depending on the particular case, the controversy may better be either confined to its own section/subarticle or else interspersed through the article .
- Is there even a controversy?
- There may be a difference of opinion with no engagement between advocates of each opinion. Or there may be polite debate. Or they may be vitriolic or violent conflict.
- Avoid annoying partisans
- Avoid hot-button words and phrases likely to annoy partisans of one side of the controversy: Avoiding using a term does not mean avoiding mentioning it.
- Avoid annoying neutrals
- Avoid long-winded circumlocutions, hedges, or terms of art; litanies of "on the one hand...on the other hand..."