User talk:Left justified

February 2008

Welcome to Wikipedia. Although everyone is welcome to contribute constructively to the encyclopedia, articles should not be moved, as you did to Extremism, without good reason. They need to have a name that is both accurate and intuitive. We have some guidelines in place to help with this. Generally, a page should only be moved to a new title if the current name doesn't follow these guidelines. Also, if a page move is being discussed, consensus needs to be reached before anybody moves the page. Take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. Thank you. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 22:30, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Re: Extremism

There are certain naming conventions that have to be followed when titling pages - Someone isn't likely to search for "The notion of "x"", just "x" itself. Likewise, the inclusion of the title in "quotes" could cause searches to malfunction or create technical errors. For ideological theories such as extremism, it is understood that there may not actually be a definitive example of it anywhere; the purpose of the article is to describe the foundations of the theory and how it could be or has been applied. Also, Wikipedia may contain controversial or offensive information. This is an inherent risk in trying to create an encyclopedia on a wide range of topics. Trying to censor this may be considered vandalism in certain cases. I hope this helps. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 23:41, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Just to make things clear, I'm not debating the merits or even the existence of extremism or any other of a whole host of -isms, I'm simply trying to explain how things work. As Wikipedia functions on consensus, you are welcome to start a discussion about this, however there is nothing you or I alone can do to change this.

I should also note that simply having an article on something does not express an endorsement of it. Wikipedia has an article on Extremism, but we also have one at Moderation. We have an articles on Nazism and Communism but also Democracy and Capitalism. We have, of course, an article on Wikipedia, but also an article on the site whose sole purpose is to make fun of Wikipedia, Uncyclopedia. One of the foundations of Wikipedia is that it tries to maintain a neutral point of view at all times. If an article is for some reason non neutrally written, it has a problem that requires correction. To insert your own point of view without backing it up with reliable, verifiable sources is likewise a problem. It is for this reason I have just rolled back your most recent edits to Extremism.

As for the search issue, the best answer is this: Wikipedia's search sucks. Badly. If you don't spell an article's title exactly correct, or your capitalization is off even slightly, and someone hasn't created a redirect in anticipation of the specific typo you made, you get a search that quite often yields no results, or at least very unhelpful ones. Titles such as "The notion of extremism" also imply a certain point of view, which as I've already said, isn't acceptable. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 01:02, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

I believe part of the problem is that I'm not really understanding what your point is. I am a Computer Science major, and have never taken any course on psychology, sociology, existentialism, or anything of the like, so this could be part of the issue. If it isn't, that just goes to show how much more I am missing or misunderstanding the point. We title our pages based on what they are about - hence, the article on extremism is titled "Extremism" and so on. We have a guideline on having no disclaimers in articles, as they are redundant to the five official disclaimers linked to at the bottom of every page and violate other policies, including some things that Wikipedia is not (censored, among others). Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation do not support or endorse any person, group, product, ideal, etc. that they may happen to have an article about. I certainly do not intend to insult you, and I do apologize if that is how you took my comments. Should you wish to continue this discussion with the community at large, I recommend you either bring it up at Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions, Wikipedia talk:Neutral point of view, or the talk page of one of our other policies or guidelines. I'm sorry I wasn't able to clearly explain things to you, but hopefully you'll be able to get a broader perspective at one of those venues. Happy editing. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 02:38, 16 February 2008 (UTC)