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== Potential SYNTH violation on "video games considered the best" list article == | |||
== Myspace == | |||
The article on ] is set up to determine "games considered the best" by "The games listed here are included on at least six separate "best/greatest of all time" lists from different publications (inclusive of all time periods, platforms, and genres)". After a lengthy discussion on the talk page, I'm still convinced it fails ], specifically "{{gt|Do not combine material from multiple sources to state or imply a conclusion not explicitly stated by any of the sources}}" and ] ("{{gt|"Avoid original or arbitrary criteria that would synthesize a list that is not plainly verifiable in reliable sources.}}") While I think an article on acclaimed media to be interesting and valid, I feel that the approach taken applies arbitrary criteria ("had to appear on six lists") that is not widespread among any video game academia, criticism, or even fans to make to capture the subject on hand. Thoughts? ] (]) 00:16, 9 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
http://en.wikipedia.org/Myspace#New_Myspace the very last portion of this section contains a lot of original research and dubious sources for its citations. | |||
:There's certainly an argument that it's combining different claims in a way that's ] to create a "definitive" list. There's also an argument that all of those sources support "greatest" as required by ] and we're just requiring it to be heavily supported and represent the consensus among sources as required by ]. Either way, this has repeatedly been brought up and settled. This isn't the answer you want to hear, but at a certain point ] that most of the community feels the latter argument is stronger. If you're looking to fight OR, there are plenty of easier targets to sink your teeth into. ] (]) 00:58, 9 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
== treehouse attachment bolt == | |||
::I have no argument that this is a way to get some information to define "greatness". The issue is only applying a self-imposed rule that states "The games listed here are included on at least six separate "best/greatest of all time" lists" which does not seem congruent with ]'s "{{gt|Avoid original or arbitrary criteria}} that would synthesize a list that is not plainly verifiable in reliable sources.". The bigger issue is I do not understand how including only six items is acceptable with the "avoid original or arbitrary criteria". So I appreciate you chiming in {{ping|Thebiguglyalien}}, but your response does not address the problem I'm trying to bring up. ] (]) 20:05, 9 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
::: Are you interpreting the phrase "a list that is not plainly verifiable in reliable sources" to mean "reliable sources have to have described/written about standards for evaluating whether something belongs on a particular list". If so, in this case, that would require RSes to have written about why, how, or that people use being on six separate "all time best" lists to determine whether a video game is considered to belong on a "considered the best" list. I'm spelling this out because I'm not 100% sure myself how to interpret what "plainly verifiable in reliable sources" means as applied to this situation -- or what you think it means or how you are interpreting it.] (]) 03:08, 10 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
::::I'm totally aware I may be misinterpreting it. The content in the sources is definitely the items listed. But, there is no standard in any source to apply that we be a numeric ranking and I'm not sure that applying a rule that only selects a small amount of items is not applying "arbitrary criteria" as it makes us pick and choose what from the sources is valid and what is not. I apologize if any of this comes off as antagonistic, but I'm trying to clarify this {{ping|Novellasyes}}. If I'm misinterpreting, I think I might understand by an example of how this does not apply. ] (]) 06:29, 10 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
::::: I don't fully understand exactly what the phrase "a list that is not plainly verifiable in reliable sources" means and that's why I asked, and tried to express one possible interpretation of it. I wasn't trying to suggest that you don't understand it. ] (]) 13:17, 10 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
:::::::::Fair. Sorry misunderstood. Hopefully some others can chime in. ] (]) 13:53, 10 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
{{outdent|:::::::::}} | |||
My understanding of this list's approach is basically as follows: A game is theoretically eligible for inclusion on Misplaced Pages's list if a reliable source lists it as among the best or greatest games of all time. However, there are two drawbacks to including every game that has appeared even once on such a list: (1) it may be ] to describe a game as "considered the best" if only one source from a large pool of options does so, and (2) the Misplaced Pages list would rapidly balloon to an impractical ] if so many games were included. Thus, it seems like sensible practice to forestall those drawbacks by establishing a higher threshold than "appears at least once". To the best of my knowledge, reliable sources don't do "meta-analysis" of best-games lists that we could use to source "games must appear on X number of lists"—but we still need to choose ''some'' number to be the boundary, and so six seems as good as any. (As to whether it's SYNTH to set a higher threshold in the first place, I would say not. When it comes to the reception of media, there's plenty of precedent that it's acceptable to attribute an opinion to critics in the aggregate if references are supplied to show that several critics have expressed that view, and this list's threshold seems to extend from that same practice.) ] (] • ]) 16:32, 11 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
:Thank you for your response {{ping|ModernDayTrilobite}}. Would it not be more appropriate to follow ] (specifically {{gt|Long stand-alone list articles are split into subsequent pages alphabetically, numerically, or subtopically.}} to cover the latter issue? While I understand your point of view on six, more lists like this will be published, and I feel like adjusting the number to keep a list to be a balanced scale still becomes "iffy" at least per SYNTH rules, but if we separated the list out. I see you linked to some specific rules, but if you could quote which ones you are referring to, it would help me understand where you are coming from a bit more. ] (]) 17:53, 11 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
I have noticed that a few of the facts on the treehouse attachment bolt page, located at http://en.wikipedia.org/Treehouse_attachment_bolt, seem to contain some origional research. Specifically those that are linked to the 2nd reference. Both can be found at the end of the paragraphs in the history section. | |||
::How would this not just recreate the issue on a greater number of pages? If we split the list into subpages, WP:DUE would still apply, and would still likely create situations where, to determine what is due weight, editors require a game to be featured by "multiple" sources. Let's say multiple is taken to mean three--you've recreated the exact same arbitrary standard, according to you, just at a different place. I don't quite understand your sentence {{tqq|While I understand your point of view on six, more lists like this will be published, and I feel like adjusting the number to keep a list to be a balanced scale still becomes "iffy" at least per SYNTH rules, but if we separated the list out.}} Were you missing a final clause after "but if we separated the list out"? But yes, by and large, I think you need to take this six sources requirement as a requirement per DUE, not a violation of SYNTH. ] ''(]·])'' 18:12, 11 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
:::I mean, its a rule we are supposed to follow regardless of how it effects another rule for one. Second, to address ], i'd propose simply listing numerically the amount of lists found. This would give a reader a clearer point of view of how the game stands within publications. Currently, the list also features excessive data such game genre, publishers and "original system" which do not appear to be some sources regardless. ] (]) 18:17, 11 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
::::Well, I guess the other editors involved don't believe it violates a rule then. Or at minimum, we are trusting our readers to understand that we aren't saying "only when a game is called 'the best' by six separate publications does it then become Objectively True that the game is the best of all time". Your second point does not actually solve the issue of whether or not we include a game ''at all'' if, say, it has only been called "the best" by a single publication. I would argue that given the amount of sourcing we have on this issue, it is a clear violation of DUE weight to include, say, '']'' equal on a list to ''Ocarina of Time'' just because it was put on by Gamespot. Is that inclusion verifiable? Yes. Does that inclusion accurately represent the breadth of sourcing and discussion about either ''California Games'' itself or the general list of games considered the greatest ever? Clearly no. (Of course, according to the ''CG'' article it made it onto another list in 1996, but that opens up another can of worms about DUE--how should we value inclusion on a single list in 1996? Does that accurately represent the breadth of sourcing and discussion about ''California Games's'' legacy or the modern understanding of games considered the greatest ever? Again, I'd argue clearly no.) Based on these points about DUE, it seems that you ''have'' to increase the standard for sourcing, and that overwhelmingly outweighs some soft SYNTH concerns. ] ''(]·])'' 20:33, 11 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
:::::Yes sorry, I'm not saying any of my ideas are necessarily the way to go, I'm just spit balling. Trying to define greatness from appearing on an amount of lists is also problematic for the reasons you stated {{ping|Alyo}}. While I also have faith that readers can read the instructions, this would read like an article called List of horses then suddenly says within the lead its only a list of war horses because of list of horses would be too long or we couldn't apply weight for some breeds of horses over others. | |||
:::::That said, with horses, there are scientific standards you can apply, which is why the horse list is | |||
:::::The issue with our list here as you said, it multifold. Perhaps the no original research board is the wrong place to discuss this, The problem with making the lists rules more "strict" for weight can be expanded on similarly as does for film. They note that best-of lists, with various rules applied to them "negate the function of serious film reviewing and criticism" and that a best of poll describes nothing more than "the best American commercial narrative films viewed by 20 critics who seem primarily familiar with American commercial narrative films." This can be seen on the lists that applied various limiting rules. | |||
:::::''The Age'' says their list is based on " while GameSpot in 2000 included such games () The claim of it coming from the editorial staff is also faulty, as says their list is solicited opinions from game developers and "selected expert gamers". IGN said . Applying all of these as a balanced choice is misleading to audience when we just say "critics listed these as great" when we are not open that some games just are not applicable on terms that lists are static, and obviously become outdated, or even a contemporary one can't see the future. | |||
:::::With the above suggestion, while I see that it might be a good idea to make a stricter list to follow weight, I can't imagine anything that would make most people say that works because by definition, all the lists are talking about different things. Whether they apply unique rules, or are instantly dated to the static nature of magazines or years of lists. I'm not sure anything would satisfy it. ] (]) 23:47, 11 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
::::::Hmm, I think your horse example is a little flawed, because there's no bait-and-switch happening with the substance of this article. The video games on the list aren't called "the greatest" because they've reached an abstract standard on wikipedia. They're called "the greatest" because ''a source'' called them the greatest. This is exactly what the title of the article promises--we aren't presenting ''different'' content from what the title suggests, only a pared down version of the universe of possible options. The proper analogy is to ], which contains a list of leading Thoroughbred racehorses, but not ''all'' leading Thoroughbred racehorses. The undefeated horses section: "]" The ] arbitrarily stops around 60. The ] section says "The horses who were defeated but had ten or more consecutive race wins include..." ] only includes those above 10, probably just because humans are biased towards powers of ten. Every section in that article has a cut off point, and that cut off point was made by editors, not sources. No source said "only horses with 60 wins get to be considered a leading Thoroughbred", and so editors have substituted their best judgement while basing the substance of the article on the general idea that "most wins" is a valid metric for determining a "leading" racehorse. I see the same thing happening here: the topic is notable, individual entries exist under the topic, and the entries are suitably sourced. Editors just need to determine a cut off point--that isn't SYNTH. Last point: {{tqq|Applying all of these as a balanced choice is misleading to audience...}} may be true about the list, but ''the list is verifiable'', and our requirement is ]. If we tried to use our judgment to counter balance, as you point out yourself, that creates far more SYNTH/OR than we started with. The list may not ever be perfect, but the topic is notable and a consensus has been established that this is the way to cover it. ] ''(]·])'' 02:12, 12 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
:::::::You see, the Horse thing is a lot more "measurable". Its a sport, you get wins that are very basic measurable metric. I don't know about this subject, but its possible that its common to acknowledge ones that get a certain amount of wins in a season. Regardless, "wins" make more sense to count than something like best. | |||
:::::::Describing a creative work like a video game is not so simple. As you'll notice in those lists as well, they don't have a list of horses "voted the best" is not something a serious critic measures. For example, these quotes apply to film and music, but I feel like they are similar creative mediums we can compare. For example, this (about film to clarify) states best of lists "{{gt|negate the function of serious film reviewing and criticism}}" and that these lists "{{gt|"ignore major bodies of work which the critics are either unfamiliar with or are not interested in."}} While this interview with a few critics on ''NPR'' states lists are interesting to compare, they echo the statement about them having no real "weight" in artistic merit. They state that "when you're ranking things, that kind of adds another layer of, like, taking away from the art itself and trying to assign a specific meaning to this art that is hard to codify because it's art." or "We're often more kind of approaching these things anecdotally, talking about the stuff that really, really matters to us instead of kind of trying to collect a consensus around ranking the best." and "{{gt|how do you measure something that may be aesthetically grandiose in some ways versus something that's quieter and, like, try to put those up against each other? It's like - it's really hard, and it doesn't really make sense.}}" Gaming journalists echo the level of seriousness we should be taking to imply "best" for "best of lists". Hardcore Gaming 101 and Gaming Trends echoes this, stating "" and "{{gt|Nowadays “top X” articles on the internet tend to be seen as clickbait, hastily assembled list determined by some quick democratic polling of staff. the lists tend to be rather insular, usually based on whatever publication or forum assembled them}}" Similarly, HG101 also states their list starts with staffs favourites, and was built from there. The very fact we ignore the criticism on the validity of these lists to be simply taking that "they are the best" its impractical to use them as a form of measurement in terms of quality. | |||
:::::::So as you said Verifiabilty, not truth, True but we also have ] which states "{{gt|Criteria for inclusion should factor in encyclopedic and topical relevance, not just verifiable existence.}}" In this case, yes, these games do appear on "best of" lists, no question. But from the above quotations, is combining them, or even using them explicitly a serious and good way to calculate "best"? | |||
:::::::While I think its interesting to see lists on a unique topic, like, ''Super Mario 64'' "ahh, so the writers of the American company ] and the Japanese critics in ] or British magazine ''Empire'' all voted this game" but from the writing above, it seems to be implying that "if you take the list at face value, you are missing the point" as its a poor way to measure quality in terms of reach of what video games will reach different editors (''IGN'' will write more about popular video games (HG101 writer saying {{gt|"Rock Paper Shotgun, for example, has top 25/50 lists for many genres, but focuses only on games released on the PC. So reading about “best horror” games seems really strange when you’re omitting huge swathes of them, especially Japanese developed games. Similarly, computer RPGs and Japanese RPGs have such different fanbases that they’re almost entirely different genres, so there’s rarely any crossover on “best RPG” lists. IGN and other mainstream sites tend to focus on newer releases at the expense of gaming’s history."}} Not to mention, IGN has published 7 best of lists, and they are all currently used in the article. I think from the above, we can't make serious gamut for measuring or gauging some canon or critical consensus. | |||
:::::::Oh god I wrote an essay, I apologize {{ping|Alyo}}, but I think we're both making good points here and getting somewhere. ] (]) 03:46, 12 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
::::::::Haha no worries at all, it's an interesting topic. I don't have much more to add, because as I flagged above, I think your interpretation here isn't widely held and hypothetical discussions can only go so far without actionable steps. The only place I really disagree with you is in the framing of your sentence, {{tqq|But from the above quotations, is combining them, or even using them explicitly a serious and good way to calculate "best"?}} I don't think that we are calculating "best" by combining sources. I think we are ''summarizing'' the topic of "best games" by listing games that sources have explicitly called "the best". The combination of sources doesn't change the verifiability of sources making that claim. I can completely agree with broad critiques of "best of" lists as they appear in reliable sources, but the end result for our purposes is a valid source that calls something "the best". That's the WP:Verifiability, not truth point--saying "X is a GOAT game" is verifiable, even if you agree with critiques that make that statement not objectively "true". You say {{tqq|The very fact we ignore the criticism on the validity of these lists ... its impractical to use them as a form of measurement in terms of quality}}, but that issue is already presumed/accepted under WP's groundrules. Again, WP:Verifiability, not truth. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Don't think of this article topic as "Games that objectively ''are'' the best of all time". Imagine that the article is actually titled "Games that a certain subset of sources have subjectively described as the best of all time, using different metrics and criteria and with different backgrounds and expertise". Under WP's rules, that's what the article should be including, it's just a lot less pithy. ] ''(]·])'' 05:15, 12 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
:::::::::Would ] come into play? I feel like "People who read Misplaced Pages have different backgrounds, education and opinions. Make your article accessible and understandable for as many readers as possible." Because I think if we can state information from the sources below within the context of the list, it might help clarify issues. As the lists often discuss their own issues of "Best of" lists, I think this would ease any tensions editors or readers might have with the relatively flat opening. ] (]) 14:09, 12 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
{{outdent|:::::::::}} | |||
Your question about whether to adjust the lede section of the article is a good question to take to the article's talk page. For what it's worth, the lede in my view does a poor job explaining what a reader is going to find in the list itself.] (]) 15:55, 12 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
:Second^. I'm not sure that I would integrate commentary into the list itself, but the lead could certainly be expanded. ] ''(]·])'' 17:59, 12 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
== 99.41.173.202 - almost all edits refer to editor's own book of interpretations (not facts) == | |||
::No, definitely not into the list itself. Just in the lead or some subsection if necessary. ] (]) 06:33, 13 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
== Use of rabbinic law literature in article on a Jewish ritual == | |||
It appears that almost every edit made by user 99.41.173.202 (https://en.wikipedia.org/Special:Contributions/99.41.173.202) are references to (or excerpts or summaries from) his own self-published book, which contains his own interpretations of poems. (Either this user is referring to his own book, or the user is interested only in adding citations and summaries from that one book.) In spirit, if not in the letter, these edits seem to be in violation of multiple policies; instead of original research, the editor cites his own interpretations (not facts) from his own book, which comes to the same thing. Could an administrator possibly look into this? Thank you. | |||
I'm doing a GA review of the article on ], a Jewish ritual that has relatively little coverage in secondary journalistic or academic sources. | |||
Further detail: this user reverted an edit in which I removed a citation to his self-published book. I don't want to start an edit war, so I hope an admin might decide on what to do next. - ] (]) 15:24, 25 January 2014 (UTC) | |||
The article had relied largely on '''rabbinic law sources''', including standard codes of religious law. These are primary sources. Nonetheless, much of the usage might meet ], such as: reputably published, used for statements of fact, not interpreting the facts, not the basis for the entire article. Many of these sources are in Hebrew and not available in translation afaik. | |||
:I think that this should probably be dealt with at ], rather than here. From what I can gather, the author, Kenneth B. Newell, has some academic credibility, including a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, but the work itself seems not to have been the subject of any significant reviews, and the publisher, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, seems to be fairly non-selective in what it publishes. Accordingly, it certainly looks like undue promotion of the work, and it is difficult to believe that the IP doesn't have a conflict of interest. ] (]) 16:14, 25 January 2014 (UTC) | |||
::I left a block warning for the IP and invited him to reply here, but he has not edited for five days. Let me know if this editor resumes his activity without waiting to get consensus for his changes. ] (]) 17:43, 25 January 2014 (UTC) | |||
:::Thank you both. Since you've already taken some action, should I post something at ] or leave it alone? (And I'll come back here if he resumes editing.) - ] (]) 18:08, 25 January 2014 (UTC) | |||
::::Yes, this ''is'' more of a ] issue than a WP:NOR issue. The material ''is'' supported by previously published sources (no opinion on whether they are ''reliable'' published sources or not), and if any ''other'' editor had made the edits and cited those sources, we wouldn't deem it ''Original'' research. The information would not have originated with the editor who added it. What makes this an iffy case is that the editor who added the information is also the author of the source. WP:NOR does not really address this. I would certainly say that there is a greater ''likelihood'' of (perhaps unintended) OR in such a situation, but that does not necessarily mean the edits are automatically OR. It really depends on what the author/editor tries to say in our article, and how he/she says it. A lot depends on how closely he/she sticks to the cited published source. ] (]) 18:53, 25 January 2014 (UTC) | |||
:::::It is probable that this is a case of COI editing, but making charges of COI is usually tedious. It is simpler to view it as a case of promotional editing. Repeatedly adding material from a fixed source, so consistently that the goal appears to be promotion of the source, is blockable unless the editor will wait for consensus. ] (]) 19:40, 25 January 2014 (UTC) | |||
::::::Is it also relevant that all the added paragraphs are literary interpretations that merely reflect one person's point of view? There's no place in an encyclopedia for random interpretations introduced by individual editors as if they were posting their papers in Freshman English. It's certainly appropriate to include an encyclopedic report on existing interpretations, but WP surely is not a site in which anyone can post their personal interpretations of literary works. - ] (]) 23:15, 25 January 2014 (UTC) | |||
:::::::Not just anyone, no... but a published PhD? ''That's'' a bit different. That's not just a "random interpretation" by some nobody. There is at least a possibility that this guy qualifies as an expert. There are multiple policies and guidelines that ''might'' apply here (WP:UNDUE, WP:RS, WP:SELFPUBLISHED, etc.)... the question is ''whether'' they do or do not. Whenever we find someone citing their own works, we have to ask... if someone ''else'' had made the exact same edits, citing the same sources, would we consider the edits and citations problematic? (if so, why?... if not, why not?)... and then deal with them in that light. ] (]) 23:58, 25 January 2014 (UTC) | |||
::::::::If you look at the edits, I think you'll see that they would be problematic no matter who made them; they are interpretations of poems (in some cases, the only interpretations on the page) made by a single author. As far as I can tell, no one - and I mean no one - has cited this user's work (published by a vanity press - a press that you pay to distribute your work, not peer-reviewed) anywhere else, so the only citations for it are his own on WP. He even identifies them in his edit notes as "interpretations." Basically, he's using WP as a place to publish what he thinks about some poems. - ] (]) 02:31, 26 January 2014 (UTC) | |||
As a significant improvement, the article now makes extensive use of an article in the '''] (ET)''' -- about 25 citations. While the ET assumes an Orthodox Jewish standpoint, it is a highly regarded secondary source and aims to present a variety of (Orthodox) views. The ET is also in Hebrew (afaik there's an English translation but I don't have access). | |||
==]== | |||
Hi all, I would welcome editors looking at a sentence in the article ] that I believe is based on original research. | |||
The sentence in question is the following: | |||
Questions: | |||
{{!xt|The use of a company to manage the content of Misplaced Pages violates several Misplaced Pages rules, including the rule against asserting ownership of a page}}. | |||
# Are there any WP:RS objections to using '''Encyclopedia Talmudit''' extensively in this article? (There are sufficient other sources for notability, etc.) | |||
# Is it acceptable to use '''rabbinic law sources''', as long as the WP:PRIMARY conditions (above) are fulfilled? | |||
# Is it acceptable to use '''multiple citations''' for specific sentences, so the reader can see both the ET article as well as the specific rabbinic sources that the ET mentions? (I think this will be helpful to many readers.) | |||
Here's a question that's not about WP:RS, but related: For the rabbinic law sources, may Misplaced Pages citations rely on the standard format? Even in many academic texts, the citations do not mention the specific publisher or (re-)publication date of rabbinic sources. | |||
This was originally sourced to a secondary source, , which says something rather different: | |||
Thanks for your consideration and responsiveness. ] (]) 20:57, 12 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
:There is somewhere an essay or policy called WP:RELIGIOUSTEXT. I don't remember actually what it's called. (That's a redlink). But I'd say ET looks reliable and good to use, as long as you keep it in mind that it's an Orthodox source so it shouldn't be used to write about secular topics or, may be biased when it comes to Orthodox views of secularism or other opinions that might be stated as fact from an Orthodox POV. But bottom line should be reliable for facts that aren't controversial or political, and for analysis that goes beyond that of a primary source as long as caution is used for potential biases. ''']'''<span style="border:2px solid #073642;background:rgb(255,156,0);background:linear-gradient(90deg, rgba(255,156,0,1) 0%, rgba(147,0,255,1) 45%, rgba(4,123,134,1) 87%);">]</span> 21:04, 12 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
{{xt|Misplaced Pages has had a long, uneasy relationship with paid contributors. Many purists believe that a Misplaced Pages page’s subject, or anyone paid by that subject, has no business editing that page because his objectivity is compromised.}} | |||
::Thanks. So far I've found: ]. Not finding an essay or policy (though I vaguely remember one from long ago). Sounds like you answered my Q1 with support for ET use, which means the page can avoid this template. Any thoughts about q #3? ] (]) 21:19, 12 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
:::I agree that ]ing or adding multiple cites to support the analysis with the primary source is a good idea. ''']'''<span style="border:2px solid #073642;background:rgb(255,156,0);background:linear-gradient(90deg, rgba(255,156,0,1) 0%, rgba(147,0,255,1) 45%, rgba(4,123,134,1) 87%);">]</span> 21:23, 12 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
::], perhaps? Or ]? ] (]) 08:38, 13 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
:::Thanks for those links, @], but these rabbinic law sources are not scripture, so thankfully they've much less interpretive range and they're much easier to paraphrase factually. At this point, most key points based on such primary sources are backed up by ''Encyclopedia Talmudit''. It's true the article depends heavily on Hebrew sources, but that's allowable. I will do a spot check, for GA review, and there are many other Hebrew-reading editors who can correct mistakes, as with any WP article. // Belated @] ping. ] (]) 14:45, 13 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
== Edits to “Game Science” == | |||
Editors objected to my replacing the present wording with a sentence quoting the cited secondary source. {{u|Herostratus}} then to various primary sources, namely: | |||
Discussion regarding ] has grown into an intense deadlock where the other editor insists that I have not read their arguments. I would appreciate your comment at ]. ] (]) 18:50, 13 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
# | |||
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== Jackal (character) == | |||
The problem I see with this wording and primary sourcing is that Misplaced Pages has paid editors in good standing who work transparently to "manage" their clients' Misplaced Pages articles for them, in a way that is compliant with policy and does ''not'' violate ]. These paid editors act as talk page advocates for their clients, in a way that even Jimmy Wales welcomes. Jimmy Wales is for example quoted in Owens' article as saying, | |||
The article ] seems to consist almost entirely of OR. As of the {{oldid2|1263622722|most recent edit as I'm writing this}}, of the 10 references, 8 are to the original text, 1 is to an article about the movie, and only 1 article actually has any coverage of the character separate from the film/book (though even there it's not even the primary topic). I considered nominating it for deletion, but I paused as the article has existed since 2006. It's hard to differentiate coverage of the character from the film so I'm not sure what the relevant guidelines here would be and would appreciate any advice on how to proceed. This is purely speculative, but it's also possible that there may be some COI editing from the TV network given there is a new series out now about this character. {{oldid2|1263534172|An edit}} I made removing some content that was unsourced and pure OR speculation about the character {{oldid2|1263602067|was reverted}} by an IP with zero edits before that, which came across as very odd to me and reminiscent of confirmed cases of COI editing from studios I've seen previously on other film/TV articles. ] (] • ]) 19:05, 17 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
{{xt|“I am opposed to people who are paid advocates being allowed to edit in article space at all, and extremely supportive of paid advocates being given other helpful paths to assist in our work usefully and ethically."}} | |||
: There's a guideline for writing about novel plots: ]. I interpret that section to allow Wikipedians to forthrightly describe/state the plot of a novel without citing that out to external sources (other than the novel itself). In other words, it's not considered to be ] to do that. But you have to do it well (as described in that section). The plot summary in the ] could use improvement (and a lot of shortening) but that's a separate issue from whether it is ]. My two cents. ] (]) 22:19, 17 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
To me, the present article wording is apt to create the impression that this sort of arrangement is forbidden. In addition, one of the primary sources cited, ], contains the explicitly saying that paying someone to write an article about you in Misplaced Pages can be benign and unobjectionable: | |||
:It definitely shouldn't be written like this, but there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of articles with sourcing this bad. If OR is removed, then it's the responsibility of the person restoring it to provide a reliable source with it, so you're in the right to challenge their restoration. ] (]) 23:14, 17 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
:Plot summaries are meant to be concise, at the moment this is anything but concise. -- <small>LCU</small> ''']''' <small>''«]» °]°''</small> 14:01, 26 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
== SYNTH-edits at Team Seas == | |||
{{xt|The act of accepting money or rewards for editing Misplaced Pages is not always problematic. There may be benign examples of editors being paid – for example, a university asking you to write up its warts-and-all history. Another benign example is the reward board, a place where editors can post financial and other incentives: it is a transparent process, the goal of which is usually to raise articles to featured- or good-article status (but be wary of editors asking you to make edits that challenge your sense of neutrality). If you intend to participate in this kind of paid editing, transparency and neutrality are key. Editing in a way that biases the coverage of Misplaced Pages or that violates our core policies is not acceptable.}} | |||
There's an ongoing thread ] on a contested edit to the article. The in question adds the reported amount of marine debris that enters the ocean from a 2015 study (years before Team Seas), and writes out the connection that {{tq|This means that during the entire duration of the fundraiser, at least approximately 18,562,500,000 pounds (8,419,808,368 kg) of debris had entered the ocean (or about 61,875% more than what the fundraiser ended up removing).}} There is clear consensus of a ] violation, as it's inferring a conclusion not explicitly mentioned by the source (that the fundraiser is futile in the grand scheme of things). However, the owning editor has repeatedly argued against the consensus that the others have not adequately shown that it falls under SYNTH, and is assuming bad-faith, stating others are ] any true discussion or being dishonest. Would someone mind reviewing the thread and giving their input? --] (]) 22:28, 27 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
Isn't the WP:COI quote in the sourcing rather selective, to an extent that it amounts to a Wikipedian's interpretation of a primary source? And not only that, but an interpretation that directly contradicts statements in the secondary source (Owens), and parts of the primary source itself? This is exactly what ] forbids. | |||
:See also ] ] (]) 22:36, 27 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
As far as I am aware there is no policy anywhere on the English Misplaced Pages that says that a company cannot pay someone to manage their Misplaced Pages entry for them, at least in the sense of getting a paid advocate who is more familiar with Misplaced Pages policies and guidelines to fight their battles here for them, rather than having one of their own employees wading into a dispute here. | |||
:: Clearly SYNTH; also ] by this point. I've left ], which I hope will help resolve the situation. ] (]) 07:04, 29 December 2024 (UTC) {{nacc}} | |||
:::When challenged provide a direct quote from the source that supports the (amended) proposed edit, it was dismissed with "" They have completely failed to comply with verifiability policy. The discussion has gone endlessly with multiple editors it's SYNTH and the editor responding "I disagree" with increasing patronization. As shown with the above linked ANI, the editor will not ] on their own accord, so would another party kindly review and potentially close the thread? ] (]) 03:56, 30 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
== ] == | |||
I'm not sure how best to solve this. Discussions on the talk page have stalled. However, I feel certain that present status is not in line with ], and would welcome editors' comments on that aspect. | |||
Curious to hear opinions about this from editors who are more versed in what "synthesis" is and isn't on Misplaced Pages. I thought I knew but reading ] from top to bottom I'm not sure anymore. More details on article talk page.] (]) 11:09, 7 January 2025 (UTC) | |||
Disclosure: I am not a paid editor, never have been, never will be. I believe if paid editing is done in Misplaced Pages, it should be done transparently, with full disclosure, using registered paid-editor accounts that are flagged in edit histories, and with articles, too, flagged for readers if they contain such edits (as tens of thousands of Misplaced Pages articles currently do, without disclosure and transparency). --] <small><font color=" #FFBF00">]</font>]</small> 12:45, 1 February 2014 (UTC) | |||
:FWIW I don't think the sentence was ever ref'd to Owen. It was just an unsourced statement, the Owen ref was for following or preceding sentences (don't recall which); this sort of thing is often unclear with refs. The sentence is {{xt|"The use of a company to manage the content of Misplaced Pages violates several Misplaced Pages rules, including the rule against asserting ownership of a page.}} It doesn't use the phrase "paid" anywhere, so some of the original poster's points are somewhat tangential. (Anyway "paid editor/editing" is deprecated because technically it doesn't exclude GLAM participants, professors working in their field, and so on; the preferred phrasing is something like "paid advocacy editor/editing" or "commercial editor/editing", I think.) | |||
== Excessive out-of-scope information and SYN on Esperance articles re traditional ownership == | |||
:The meaning of the passage hinges on what is meant my "manage" I guess. The first two meanings for "manage" in Wiktionary are "To direct or be in charge of" and "To handle or control (a situation, job)" and this is the common meaning and clearly what's meant. ] forbids this. "Company" also has several meanings. "An entity that provides services as a commercial venture" or "A corporation" or "Any business" are the common meanings and what is meant here. | |||
Editors are invited to comment at {{section link|WT:WA|Excessive out-of-scope information and SYN on Esperance articles re traditional ownership}} on item (2) as to whether the statement that "Merivale are on the traditional land of the Njunga" is synthesis. ] (]) 12:49, 7 January 2025 (UTC) | |||
:OK ], but it says "violates ''several'' Misplaced Pages rules", so need another. It is true that "a company managing the content" does not violate any other rules AFAIK under, and only under, the following two scenarios: | |||
:#The company is engaged to manage some pages unrelated to the interests of the engaging party. For instance the company is engaged to manage pages on first-century Roman poets, with no prescription regarding how they will be managed, purely as a gift to humanity. | |||
:#The company is engaged to manage some particular page(s) but doesn't do it. | |||
:and any other situation is by definition a violation of ] at least. If one wishes to engage in semantic hair-splitting then "use of a company to manage the content of Misplaced Pages" could be taken to include either of these two situations, just as ""The use of a company to manage the content of Misplaced Pages violates several Misplaced Pages rules" could be taken to mean "The use of a unit of firefighters to train Misplaced Pages articles in the ] violates several Misplaced Pages rules". All this is ridiculous semantic prollygastering of course, which is not usually helpful IMO. | |||
== Third opinion welcome on whether content is original research == | |||
:I gather that original poster wishes very much that "The use of a company to manage the content of Misplaced Pages violates several Misplaced Pages rules" was not true. He makes a cogent case that having such rules would be very foolish, and who knows maybe he's right. It's only human to make the leap from "if statement X was true, that would a very unsatisfactory state of affairs" to "statement X is not true" and I understand that. But it is true. Since it's true and we have excellent refs showing that its true and its germane to the article we can say it and should. | |||
:I apologize for not engaging further on the article talk page. Personal real-life stuff is impinging on me right now, sorry. It's a contentious issue. I've made my case and of personal necessity I'll disengage; I'm confident that fair-minded editors will come to the best solution here. ] (]) 18:43, 1 February 2014 (UTC) | |||
I'd like a third opinion as to whether content added by this edit falls under original research. ] (]) 00:40, 10 January 2025 (UTC) | |||
::You're right, this hinges on what we mean by "manage". A plausible meaning – to me, the ''most'' plausible meaning – is that a company employs someone to "handle" everything connected with their Misplaced Pages article for them. This in itself does not violate ] at all, especially if the paid editor restricts himself or herself to talk page advocacy, raising matters at noticeboards, and so forth. Even if the paid editor edits the article, this in itself is not a violation of ]. We have thousands of company articles that have been edited either by a company employee, or by someone acting on behalf of the company, without there having been a complaint that ] has been violated. It all depends on the individual editor's actions, and how they respond to disputes that arise in collaborative editing. Hiring someone in itself does not violate ], as Jimmy Wales' statement quoted above ("I am extremely supportive of paid advocates being given other helpful paths to assist in our work usefully and ethically") makes abundantly clear. ] <small><font color=" #FFBF00">]</font>]</small> 21:02, 1 February 2014 (UTC) | |||
== Spinal manipulation and chiropractic == | |||
In general, can studies of spinal manipulation be used to make statements on Misplaced Pages about ], even if they do not mention chiropractic? A particular instance of this question is: can PMID 24412033 be cited in the Chiropractic article's "Effectiveness" section? ] <sup>]|]|]</sup> 09:46, 8 February 2014 (UTC) | |||
:This was previously explained in the previous RfCs the sources are directly related to the topic at hand ''and'' directly supported by the material being presented. | |||
:See ]. | |||
:See ]. | |||
:See ]. | |||
:See ]. | |||
:See ]. | |||
:The current discussion is at ]. ] (]) 19:28, 8 February 2014 (UTC) | |||
: See ]. As ] is a foundational policy, questions of synthesis are of pressing concern and there should be a low bar to revisiting discussions where they clearly relate to a significant concern by reasonable, uninvolved people that the content may violate the policy. <b>]</b> <small>(])</small> 19:33, 9 February 2014 (UTC) | |||
:: Those original discussions did not even seem to be conclusive. ] <sup>]|]|]</sup> 19:39, 9 February 2014 (UTC) | |||
:::Your was on the talk page and prior RfCs the concerns. ] (]) 20:08, 9 February 2014 (UTC) | |||
::::Some people have said some wrong things, sometimes many years ago. What we need now are decisions backed by our policies and guidelines, and informed by the better sources that have become available. From these, it look like including SMT in the chiropractic article when a source does not mention it, is OR at every level: Both on the face of it (because there is no direct connection), ''and'' when one digs deeper (because secondary sources say that chiropractic cannot be equated with SMT in general). ] <sup>]|]|]</sup> 20:19, 9 February 2014 (UTC) | |||
== Original research and misuse of sources in articles about the number of Buddhists == | |||
Articles such as ] or ] have been constructed through misuse of sources and original research (for example combining statistics of different religions), in order to enormously inflate the number of Buddhists in the world. | |||
] | |||
] | |||
:For example, in the article ] statistics of Buddhism have been mixed with those of other religions of East Asia (Chinese folk religion, Taoism, Shinto, Dao Mau), that have more followers than Buddhism in the respective countries, claiming that they are "related" to Buddhism, when this is utterly false. In the case of China and Vietnam, where Buddhism is followed by little more than 10% of the population (see ], ]), mixing this statistics with that of indigenous religions, the article says that these countries are 50% to 80% Buddhist. In the case of Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Mongolia, where according to censuses or surveys the Buddhists are, respectively, ], ], ] and ], the article says that they are over 90%, 50%, 90% and 90% respectively. The authors of this type of edits also use unreliable sources (tourist and travel websites, for example). The same hyper-inflated fake numbers (over 1 billion Buddhists in the world) have been cited also in the main article, ] (which even reports 1.6 billion Buddhists!).--] (]) 12:43, 25 January 2014 (UTC) | |||
:In other cases, ], the same author uses reliable survey statistics (those reorting lower numbers) claiming that thair count is only of "practicing Buddhists", while uses the hyper inflated numbers claiming that they represent both practicing and non-practicing Buddhists. ] has been created using the same type of unreliable sources mentioned above to sustain the high statistics, claiming that East Asians practice "mixed religions" ultimately resulting in this "East Asian Buddhism". Also, many charts have been created by the same authors: I have inserted some of them here on the left.--] (]) 14:47, 8 February 2014 (UTC) |
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Potential SYNTH violation on "video games considered the best" list article
The article on List of video games considered the best is set up to determine "games considered the best" by "The games listed here are included on at least six separate "best/greatest of all time" lists from different publications (inclusive of all time periods, platforms, and genres)". After a lengthy discussion on the talk page, I'm still convinced it fails WP:SYNTH, specifically "Do not combine material from multiple sources to state or imply a conclusion not explicitly stated by any of the sources" and WP:LISTCRITERIA (""Avoid original or arbitrary criteria that would synthesize a list that is not plainly verifiable in reliable sources.") While I think an article on acclaimed media to be interesting and valid, I feel that the approach taken applies arbitrary criteria ("had to appear on six lists") that is not widespread among any video game academia, criticism, or even fans to make to capture the subject on hand. Thoughts? Andrzejbanas (talk) 00:16, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
- There's certainly an argument that it's combining different claims in a way that's WP:SYNTH to create a "definitive" list. There's also an argument that all of those sources support "greatest" as required by WP:V and we're just requiring it to be heavily supported and represent the consensus among sources as required by WP:NPOV. Either way, this has repeatedly been brought up and settled. This isn't the answer you want to hear, but at a certain point we have to accept that most of the community feels the latter argument is stronger. If you're looking to fight OR, there are plenty of easier targets to sink your teeth into. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 00:58, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
- I have no argument that this is a way to get some information to define "greatness". The issue is only applying a self-imposed rule that states "The games listed here are included on at least six separate "best/greatest of all time" lists" which does not seem congruent with WP:LISTCRITERIA's "Avoid original or arbitrary criteria that would synthesize a list that is not plainly verifiable in reliable sources.". The bigger issue is I do not understand how including only six items is acceptable with the "avoid original or arbitrary criteria". So I appreciate you chiming in @Thebiguglyalien:, but your response does not address the problem I'm trying to bring up. Andrzejbanas (talk) 20:05, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
- Are you interpreting the phrase "a list that is not plainly verifiable in reliable sources" to mean "reliable sources have to have described/written about standards for evaluating whether something belongs on a particular list". If so, in this case, that would require RSes to have written about why, how, or that people use being on six separate "all time best" lists to determine whether a video game is considered to belong on a "considered the best" list. I'm spelling this out because I'm not 100% sure myself how to interpret what "plainly verifiable in reliable sources" means as applied to this situation -- or what you think it means or how you are interpreting it.Novellasyes (talk) 03:08, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
- I'm totally aware I may be misinterpreting it. The content in the sources is definitely the items listed. But, there is no standard in any source to apply that we be a numeric ranking and I'm not sure that applying a rule that only selects a small amount of items is not applying "arbitrary criteria" as it makes us pick and choose what from the sources is valid and what is not. I apologize if any of this comes off as antagonistic, but I'm trying to clarify this @Novellasyes:. If I'm misinterpreting, I think I might understand by an example of how this does not apply. Andrzejbanas (talk) 06:29, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
- I don't fully understand exactly what the phrase "a list that is not plainly verifiable in reliable sources" means and that's why I asked, and tried to express one possible interpretation of it. I wasn't trying to suggest that you don't understand it. Novellasyes (talk) 13:17, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
- Fair. Sorry misunderstood. Hopefully some others can chime in. Andrzejbanas (talk) 13:53, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
- I don't fully understand exactly what the phrase "a list that is not plainly verifiable in reliable sources" means and that's why I asked, and tried to express one possible interpretation of it. I wasn't trying to suggest that you don't understand it. Novellasyes (talk) 13:17, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
- I'm totally aware I may be misinterpreting it. The content in the sources is definitely the items listed. But, there is no standard in any source to apply that we be a numeric ranking and I'm not sure that applying a rule that only selects a small amount of items is not applying "arbitrary criteria" as it makes us pick and choose what from the sources is valid and what is not. I apologize if any of this comes off as antagonistic, but I'm trying to clarify this @Novellasyes:. If I'm misinterpreting, I think I might understand by an example of how this does not apply. Andrzejbanas (talk) 06:29, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
- Are you interpreting the phrase "a list that is not plainly verifiable in reliable sources" to mean "reliable sources have to have described/written about standards for evaluating whether something belongs on a particular list". If so, in this case, that would require RSes to have written about why, how, or that people use being on six separate "all time best" lists to determine whether a video game is considered to belong on a "considered the best" list. I'm spelling this out because I'm not 100% sure myself how to interpret what "plainly verifiable in reliable sources" means as applied to this situation -- or what you think it means or how you are interpreting it.Novellasyes (talk) 03:08, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
- I have no argument that this is a way to get some information to define "greatness". The issue is only applying a self-imposed rule that states "The games listed here are included on at least six separate "best/greatest of all time" lists" which does not seem congruent with WP:LISTCRITERIA's "Avoid original or arbitrary criteria that would synthesize a list that is not plainly verifiable in reliable sources.". The bigger issue is I do not understand how including only six items is acceptable with the "avoid original or arbitrary criteria". So I appreciate you chiming in @Thebiguglyalien:, but your response does not address the problem I'm trying to bring up. Andrzejbanas (talk) 20:05, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
My understanding of this list's approach is basically as follows: A game is theoretically eligible for inclusion on Misplaced Pages's list if a reliable source lists it as among the best or greatest games of all time. However, there are two drawbacks to including every game that has appeared even once on such a list: (1) it may be WP:UNDUE to describe a game as "considered the best" if only one source from a large pool of options does so, and (2) the Misplaced Pages list would rapidly balloon to an impractical WP:SIZE if so many games were included. Thus, it seems like sensible practice to forestall those drawbacks by establishing a higher threshold than "appears at least once". To the best of my knowledge, reliable sources don't do "meta-analysis" of best-games lists that we could use to source "games must appear on X number of lists"—but we still need to choose some number to be the boundary, and so six seems as good as any. (As to whether it's SYNTH to set a higher threshold in the first place, I would say not. When it comes to the reception of media, there's plenty of precedent that it's acceptable to attribute an opinion to critics in the aggregate if references are supplied to show that several critics have expressed that view, and this list's threshold seems to extend from that same practice.) ModernDayTrilobite (talk • contribs) 16:32, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
- Thank you for your response @ModernDayTrilobite:. Would it not be more appropriate to follow WP:SPINOUT (specifically Long stand-alone list articles are split into subsequent pages alphabetically, numerically, or subtopically. to cover the latter issue? While I understand your point of view on six, more lists like this will be published, and I feel like adjusting the number to keep a list to be a balanced scale still becomes "iffy" at least per SYNTH rules, but if we separated the list out. I see you linked to some specific rules, but if you could quote which ones you are referring to, it would help me understand where you are coming from a bit more. Andrzejbanas (talk) 17:53, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
- How would this not just recreate the issue on a greater number of pages? If we split the list into subpages, WP:DUE would still apply, and would still likely create situations where, to determine what is due weight, editors require a game to be featured by "multiple" sources. Let's say multiple is taken to mean three--you've recreated the exact same arbitrary standard, according to you, just at a different place. I don't quite understand your sentence
While I understand your point of view on six, more lists like this will be published, and I feel like adjusting the number to keep a list to be a balanced scale still becomes "iffy" at least per SYNTH rules, but if we separated the list out.
Were you missing a final clause after "but if we separated the list out"? But yes, by and large, I think you need to take this six sources requirement as a requirement per DUE, not a violation of SYNTH. Alyo (chat·edits) 18:12, 11 December 2024 (UTC)- I mean, its a rule we are supposed to follow regardless of how it effects another rule for one. Second, to address WP:WEIGHT, i'd propose simply listing numerically the amount of lists found. This would give a reader a clearer point of view of how the game stands within publications. Currently, the list also features excessive data such game genre, publishers and "original system" which do not appear to be some sources regardless. Andrzejbanas (talk) 18:17, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
- Well, I guess the other editors involved don't believe it violates a rule then. Or at minimum, we are trusting our readers to understand that we aren't saying "only when a game is called 'the best' by six separate publications does it then become Objectively True that the game is the best of all time". Your second point does not actually solve the issue of whether or not we include a game at all if, say, it has only been called "the best" by a single publication. I would argue that given the amount of sourcing we have on this issue, it is a clear violation of DUE weight to include, say, California Games equal on a list to Ocarina of Time just because it was put on a single list by Gamespot. Is that inclusion verifiable? Yes. Does that inclusion accurately represent the breadth of sourcing and discussion about either California Games itself or the general list of games considered the greatest ever? Clearly no. (Of course, according to the CG article it made it onto another list in 1996, but that opens up another can of worms about DUE--how should we value inclusion on a single list in 1996? Does that accurately represent the breadth of sourcing and discussion about California Games's legacy or the modern understanding of games considered the greatest ever? Again, I'd argue clearly no.) Based on these points about DUE, it seems that you have to increase the standard for sourcing, and that overwhelmingly outweighs some soft SYNTH concerns. Alyo (chat·edits) 20:33, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
- Yes sorry, I'm not saying any of my ideas are necessarily the way to go, I'm just spit balling. Trying to define greatness from appearing on an amount of lists is also problematic for the reasons you stated @Alyo:. While I also have faith that readers can read the instructions, this would read like an article called List of horses then suddenly says within the lead its only a list of war horses because of list of horses would be too long or we couldn't apply weight for some breeds of horses over others.
- That said, with horses, there are scientific standards you can apply, which is why the horse list is
- The issue with our list here as you said, it multifold. Perhaps the no original research board is the wrong place to discuss this, The problem with making the lists rules more "strict" for weight can be expanded on similarly as this article does for film. They note that best-of lists, with various rules applied to them "negate the function of serious film reviewing and criticism" and that a best of poll describes nothing more than "the best American commercial narrative films viewed by 20 critics who seem primarily familiar with American commercial narrative films." This can be seen on the lists that applied various limiting rules.
- The Age says their list is based on "restrictions such as "games have been judged on their entertainment value today rather than their impact when released." while GameSpot in 2000 included such games ("There were no restrictions on gaming genre, platform or age. Any game that appeared on a home gaming platform before January 1st 2000 was deemed eligible.") The claim of it coming from the editorial staff is also faulty, as GameSpy says their list is solicited opinions from game developers and "selected expert gamers". IGN said they did not want Mario and Zelda to show up too many times in their list. Applying all of these as a balanced choice is misleading to audience when we just say "critics listed these as great" when we are not open that some games just are not applicable on terms that lists are static, and obviously become outdated, or even a contemporary one can't see the future.
- With the above suggestion, while I see that it might be a good idea to make a stricter list to follow weight, I can't imagine anything that would make most people say that works because by definition, all the lists are talking about different things. Whether they apply unique rules, or are instantly dated to the static nature of magazines or years of lists. I'm not sure anything would satisfy it. Andrzejbanas (talk) 23:47, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
- Hmm, I think your horse example is a little flawed, because there's no bait-and-switch happening with the substance of this article. The video games on the list aren't called "the greatest" because they've reached an abstract standard on wikipedia. They're called "the greatest" because a source called them the greatest. This is exactly what the title of the article promises--we aren't presenting different content from what the title suggests, only a pared down version of the universe of possible options. The proper analogy is to List of leading Thoroughbred racehorses, which contains a list of leading Thoroughbred racehorses, but not all leading Thoroughbred racehorses. The undefeated horses section: "The list is not comprehensive for otherwise unnotable horses with five or fewer starts." The most wins arbitrarily stops around 60. The successive wins section says "The horses who were defeated but had ten or more consecutive race wins include..." Most wins in a season only includes those above 10, probably just because humans are biased towards powers of ten. Every section in that article has a cut off point, and that cut off point was made by editors, not sources. No source said "only horses with 60 wins get to be considered a leading Thoroughbred", and so editors have substituted their best judgement while basing the substance of the article on the general idea that "most wins" is a valid metric for determining a "leading" racehorse. I see the same thing happening here: the topic is notable, individual entries exist under the topic, and the entries are suitably sourced. Editors just need to determine a cut off point--that isn't SYNTH. Last point:
Applying all of these as a balanced choice is misleading to audience...
may be true about the list, but the list is verifiable, and our requirement is WP:Verifiability, not truth. If we tried to use our judgment to counter balance, as you point out yourself, that creates far more SYNTH/OR than we started with. The list may not ever be perfect, but the topic is notable and a consensus has been established that this is the way to cover it. Alyo (chat·edits) 02:12, 12 December 2024 (UTC)- You see, the Horse thing is a lot more "measurable". Its a sport, you get wins that are very basic measurable metric. I don't know about this subject, but its possible that its common to acknowledge ones that get a certain amount of wins in a season. Regardless, "wins" make more sense to count than something like best.
- Describing a creative work like a video game is not so simple. As you'll notice in those lists as well, they don't have a list of horses "voted the best" is not something a serious critic measures. For example, these quotes apply to film and music, but I feel like they are similar creative mediums we can compare. For example, this this article (about film to clarify) states best of lists "negate the function of serious film reviewing and criticism" and that these lists ""ignore major bodies of work which the critics are either unfamiliar with or are not interested in." While this interview with a few critics on NPR states lists are interesting to compare, they echo the statement about them having no real "weight" in artistic merit. They state that "when you're ranking things, that kind of adds another layer of, like, taking away from the art itself and trying to assign a specific meaning to this art that is hard to codify because it's art." or "We're often more kind of approaching these things anecdotally, talking about the stuff that really, really matters to us instead of kind of trying to collect a consensus around ranking the best." and "how do you measure something that may be aesthetically grandiose in some ways versus something that's quieter and, like, try to put those up against each other? It's like - it's really hard, and it doesn't really make sense." Gaming journalists echo the level of seriousness we should be taking to imply "best" for "best of lists". Hardcore Gaming 101 and Gaming Trends echoes this, stating "How could anyone possibly create a definitive list of gaming’s greatest accomplishments when there’s such a wildly large variety of games to choose from?" and "Nowadays “top X” articles on the internet tend to be seen as clickbait, hastily assembled list determined by some quick democratic polling of staff. the lists tend to be rather insular, usually based on whatever publication or forum assembled them" Similarly, HG101 also states their list starts with staffs favourites, and was built from there. The very fact we ignore the criticism on the validity of these lists to be simply taking that "they are the best" its impractical to use them as a form of measurement in terms of quality.
- So as you said Verifiabilty, not truth, True but we also have WP:LISTCRITERIA which states "Criteria for inclusion should factor in encyclopedic and topical relevance, not just verifiable existence." In this case, yes, these games do appear on "best of" lists, no question. But from the above quotations, is combining them, or even using them explicitly a serious and good way to calculate "best"?
- While I think its interesting to see lists on a unique topic, like, Super Mario 64 "ahh, so the writers of the American company IGN and the Japanese critics in Famitsu or British magazine Empire all voted this game" but from the writing above, it seems to be implying that "if you take the list at face value, you are missing the point" as its a poor way to measure quality in terms of reach of what video games will reach different editors (IGN will write more about popular video games (HG101 writer saying "Rock Paper Shotgun, for example, has top 25/50 lists for many genres, but focuses only on games released on the PC. So reading about “best horror” games seems really strange when you’re omitting huge swathes of them, especially Japanese developed games. Similarly, computer RPGs and Japanese RPGs have such different fanbases that they’re almost entirely different genres, so there’s rarely any crossover on “best RPG” lists. IGN and other mainstream sites tend to focus on newer releases at the expense of gaming’s history." Not to mention, IGN has published 7 best of lists, and they are all currently used in the article. I think from the above, we can't make serious gamut for measuring or gauging some canon or critical consensus.
- Oh god I wrote an essay, I apologize @Alyo:, but I think we're both making good points here and getting somewhere. Andrzejbanas (talk) 03:46, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
- Haha no worries at all, it's an interesting topic. I don't have much more to add, because as I flagged above, I think your interpretation here isn't widely held and hypothetical discussions can only go so far without actionable steps. The only place I really disagree with you is in the framing of your sentence,
But from the above quotations, is combining them, or even using them explicitly a serious and good way to calculate "best"?
I don't think that we are calculating "best" by combining sources. I think we are summarizing the topic of "best games" by listing games that sources have explicitly called "the best". The combination of sources doesn't change the verifiability of sources making that claim. I can completely agree with broad critiques of "best of" lists as they appear in reliable sources, but the end result for our purposes is a valid source that calls something "the best". That's the WP:Verifiability, not truth point--saying "X is a GOAT game" is verifiable, even if you agree with critiques that make that statement not objectively "true". You sayThe very fact we ignore the criticism on the validity of these lists ... its impractical to use them as a form of measurement in terms of quality
, but that issue is already presumed/accepted under WP's groundrules. Again, WP:Verifiability, not truth. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Don't think of this article topic as "Games that objectively are the best of all time". Imagine that the article is actually titled "Games that a certain subset of sources have subjectively described as the best of all time, using different metrics and criteria and with different backgrounds and expertise". Under WP's rules, that's what the article should be including, it's just a lot less pithy. Alyo (chat·edits) 05:15, 12 December 2024 (UTC)- Would WP:AUDIENCE come into play? I feel like "People who read Misplaced Pages have different backgrounds, education and opinions. Make your article accessible and understandable for as many readers as possible." Because I think if we can state information from the sources below within the context of the list, it might help clarify issues. As the lists often discuss their own issues of "Best of" lists, I think this would ease any tensions editors or readers might have with the relatively flat opening. Andrzejbanas (talk) 14:09, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
- Haha no worries at all, it's an interesting topic. I don't have much more to add, because as I flagged above, I think your interpretation here isn't widely held and hypothetical discussions can only go so far without actionable steps. The only place I really disagree with you is in the framing of your sentence,
- Hmm, I think your horse example is a little flawed, because there's no bait-and-switch happening with the substance of this article. The video games on the list aren't called "the greatest" because they've reached an abstract standard on wikipedia. They're called "the greatest" because a source called them the greatest. This is exactly what the title of the article promises--we aren't presenting different content from what the title suggests, only a pared down version of the universe of possible options. The proper analogy is to List of leading Thoroughbred racehorses, which contains a list of leading Thoroughbred racehorses, but not all leading Thoroughbred racehorses. The undefeated horses section: "The list is not comprehensive for otherwise unnotable horses with five or fewer starts." The most wins arbitrarily stops around 60. The successive wins section says "The horses who were defeated but had ten or more consecutive race wins include..." Most wins in a season only includes those above 10, probably just because humans are biased towards powers of ten. Every section in that article has a cut off point, and that cut off point was made by editors, not sources. No source said "only horses with 60 wins get to be considered a leading Thoroughbred", and so editors have substituted their best judgement while basing the substance of the article on the general idea that "most wins" is a valid metric for determining a "leading" racehorse. I see the same thing happening here: the topic is notable, individual entries exist under the topic, and the entries are suitably sourced. Editors just need to determine a cut off point--that isn't SYNTH. Last point:
- Well, I guess the other editors involved don't believe it violates a rule then. Or at minimum, we are trusting our readers to understand that we aren't saying "only when a game is called 'the best' by six separate publications does it then become Objectively True that the game is the best of all time". Your second point does not actually solve the issue of whether or not we include a game at all if, say, it has only been called "the best" by a single publication. I would argue that given the amount of sourcing we have on this issue, it is a clear violation of DUE weight to include, say, California Games equal on a list to Ocarina of Time just because it was put on a single list by Gamespot. Is that inclusion verifiable? Yes. Does that inclusion accurately represent the breadth of sourcing and discussion about either California Games itself or the general list of games considered the greatest ever? Clearly no. (Of course, according to the CG article it made it onto another list in 1996, but that opens up another can of worms about DUE--how should we value inclusion on a single list in 1996? Does that accurately represent the breadth of sourcing and discussion about California Games's legacy or the modern understanding of games considered the greatest ever? Again, I'd argue clearly no.) Based on these points about DUE, it seems that you have to increase the standard for sourcing, and that overwhelmingly outweighs some soft SYNTH concerns. Alyo (chat·edits) 20:33, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
- I mean, its a rule we are supposed to follow regardless of how it effects another rule for one. Second, to address WP:WEIGHT, i'd propose simply listing numerically the amount of lists found. This would give a reader a clearer point of view of how the game stands within publications. Currently, the list also features excessive data such game genre, publishers and "original system" which do not appear to be some sources regardless. Andrzejbanas (talk) 18:17, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
- How would this not just recreate the issue on a greater number of pages? If we split the list into subpages, WP:DUE would still apply, and would still likely create situations where, to determine what is due weight, editors require a game to be featured by "multiple" sources. Let's say multiple is taken to mean three--you've recreated the exact same arbitrary standard, according to you, just at a different place. I don't quite understand your sentence
Your question about whether to adjust the lede section of the article is a good question to take to the article's talk page. For what it's worth, the lede in my view does a poor job explaining what a reader is going to find in the list itself.Novellasyes (talk) 15:55, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
- Second^. I'm not sure that I would integrate commentary into the list itself, but the lead could certainly be expanded. Alyo (chat·edits) 17:59, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
- No, definitely not into the list itself. Just in the lead or some subsection if necessary. Andrzejbanas (talk) 06:33, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
Use of rabbinic law literature in article on a Jewish ritual
I'm doing a GA review of the article on Kiddush levana, a Jewish ritual that has relatively little coverage in secondary journalistic or academic sources.
The article had relied largely on rabbinic law sources, including standard codes of religious law. These are primary sources. Nonetheless, much of the usage might meet the WP:PRIMARY policy conditions, such as: reputably published, used for statements of fact, not interpreting the facts, not the basis for the entire article. Many of these sources are in Hebrew and not available in translation afaik.
As a significant improvement, the article now makes extensive use of an article in the Encyclopedia Talmudit (ET) -- about 25 citations. While the ET assumes an Orthodox Jewish standpoint, it is a highly regarded secondary source and aims to present a variety of (Orthodox) views. The ET is also in Hebrew (afaik there's an English translation but I don't have access).
Questions:
- Are there any WP:RS objections to using Encyclopedia Talmudit extensively in this article? (There are sufficient other sources for notability, etc.)
- Is it acceptable to use rabbinic law sources, as long as the WP:PRIMARY conditions (above) are fulfilled?
- Is it acceptable to use multiple citations for specific sentences, so the reader can see both the ET article as well as the specific rabbinic sources that the ET mentions? (I think this will be helpful to many readers.)
Here's a question that's not about WP:RS, but related: For the rabbinic law sources, may Misplaced Pages citations rely on the standard format? Even in many academic texts, the citations do not mention the specific publisher or (re-)publication date of rabbinic sources. Thanks for your consideration and responsiveness. ProfGray (talk) 20:57, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
- There is somewhere an essay or policy called WP:RELIGIOUSTEXT. I don't remember actually what it's called. (That's a redlink). But I'd say ET looks reliable and good to use, as long as you keep it in mind that it's an Orthodox source so it shouldn't be used to write about secular topics or, may be biased when it comes to Orthodox views of secularism or other opinions that might be stated as fact from an Orthodox POV. But bottom line should be reliable for facts that aren't controversial or political, and for analysis that goes beyond that of a primary source as long as caution is used for potential biases. Andre🚐 21:04, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
- Thanks. So far I've found: Template:Religious text primary. Not finding an essay or policy (though I vaguely remember one from long ago). Sounds like you answered my Q1 with support for ET use, which means the page can avoid this template. Any thoughts about q #3? ProfGray (talk) 21:19, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
- I agree that WP:CITEBUNDLEing or adding multiple cites to support the analysis with the primary source is a good idea. Andre🚐 21:23, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
- WP:RSPSCRIPTURE, perhaps? Or WP:RNPOV? Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 08:38, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
- Thanks for those links, @Gråbergs Gråa Sång, but these rabbinic law sources are not scripture, so thankfully they've much less interpretive range and they're much easier to paraphrase factually. At this point, most key points based on such primary sources are backed up by Encyclopedia Talmudit. It's true the article depends heavily on Hebrew sources, but that's allowable. I will do a spot check, for GA review, and there are many other Hebrew-reading editors who can correct mistakes, as with any WP article. // Belated @Dovidroth ping. ProfGray (talk) 14:45, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
- Thanks. So far I've found: Template:Religious text primary. Not finding an essay or policy (though I vaguely remember one from long ago). Sounds like you answered my Q1 with support for ET use, which means the page can avoid this template. Any thoughts about q #3? ProfGray (talk) 21:19, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
Edits to “Game Science”
Discussion regarding Game Science has grown into an intense deadlock where the other editor insists that I have not read their arguments. I would appreciate your comment at Talk:Game Science#Interview-based edits. Aaron Liu (talk) 18:50, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
Jackal (character)
The article Jackal (The Day of the Jackal) seems to consist almost entirely of OR. As of the most recent edit as I'm writing this, of the 10 references, 8 are to the original text, 1 is to an article about the movie, and only 1 article actually has any coverage of the character separate from the film/book (though even there it's not even the primary topic). I considered nominating it for deletion, but I paused as the article has existed since 2006. It's hard to differentiate coverage of the character from the film so I'm not sure what the relevant guidelines here would be and would appreciate any advice on how to proceed. This is purely speculative, but it's also possible that there may be some COI editing from the TV network given there is a new series out now about this character. An edit I made removing some content that was unsourced and pure OR speculation about the character was reverted by an IP with zero edits before that, which came across as very odd to me and reminiscent of confirmed cases of COI editing from studios I've seen previously on other film/TV articles. 🌸wasianpower🌸 (talk • contribs) 19:05, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
- There's a guideline for writing about novel plots: Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style/Novels#Plot. I interpret that section to allow Wikipedians to forthrightly describe/state the plot of a novel without citing that out to external sources (other than the novel itself). In other words, it's not considered to be WP:OR to do that. But you have to do it well (as described in that section). The plot summary in the Jackal (The Day of the Jackal) could use improvement (and a lot of shortening) but that's a separate issue from whether it is WP:OR. My two cents. Novellasyes (talk) 22:19, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
- It definitely shouldn't be written like this, but there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of articles with sourcing this bad. If OR is removed, then it's the responsibility of the person restoring it to provide a reliable source with it, so you're in the right to challenge their restoration. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 23:14, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
- Plot summaries are meant to be concise, at the moment this is anything but concise. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested «@» °∆t° 14:01, 26 December 2024 (UTC)
SYNTH-edits at Team Seas
There's an ongoing thread Talk:Team Seas#Re: the ocean pollution additions on a contested edit to the article. The edit in question adds the reported amount of marine debris that enters the ocean from a 2015 study (years before Team Seas), and writes out the connection that This means that during the entire duration of the fundraiser, at least approximately 18,562,500,000 pounds (8,419,808,368 kg) of debris had entered the ocean (or about 61,875% more than what the fundraiser ended up removing).
There is clear consensus of a WP:SYNTH violation, as it's inferring a conclusion not explicitly mentioned by the source (that the fundraiser is futile in the grand scheme of things). However, the owning editor has repeatedly argued against the consensus that the others have not adequately shown that it falls under SYNTH, and is assuming bad-faith, stating others are WP:STONEWALLING any true discussion or being dishonest. Would someone mind reviewing the thread and giving their input? --ThomasO1989 (talk) 22:28, 27 December 2024 (UTC)
- See also this recent discussion at ANI. MrOllie (talk) 22:36, 27 December 2024 (UTC)
- Clearly SYNTH; also bludgeoning by this point. I've left this edit, which I hope will help resolve the situation. Mathglot (talk) 07:04, 29 December 2024 (UTC) (Non-administrator comment)
- When challenged provide a direct quote from the source that supports the (amended) proposed edit, it was dismissed with "I linked it, you can read it yourself." They have completely failed to comply with verifiability policy. The discussion has gone endlessly with multiple editors it's SYNTH and the editor responding "I disagree" with increasing patronization. As shown with the above linked ANI, the editor will not WP:DROPIT on their own accord, so would another party kindly review and potentially close the thread? ThomasO1989 (talk) 03:56, 30 December 2024 (UTC)
- Clearly SYNTH; also bludgeoning by this point. I've left this edit, which I hope will help resolve the situation. Mathglot (talk) 07:04, 29 December 2024 (UTC) (Non-administrator comment)
Marxism–Leninism–Maoism
Curious to hear opinions about this from editors who are more versed in what "synthesis" is and isn't on Misplaced Pages. I thought I knew but reading WP:NOR from top to bottom I'm not sure anymore. More details on article talk page.Prezbo (talk) 11:09, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
Excessive out-of-scope information and SYN on Esperance articles re traditional ownership
Editors are invited to comment at WT:WA § Excessive out-of-scope information and SYN on Esperance articles re traditional ownership on item (2) as to whether the statement that "Merivale are on the traditional land of the Njunga" is synthesis. Mitch Ames (talk) 12:49, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
Third opinion welcome on whether content is original research
I'd like a third opinion as to whether content added by this edit falls under original research. Traumnovelle (talk) 00:40, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
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