Wikipedia:WikiProject Alternative Views

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WikiProject Alternative Views
WikiProject Alternative Views
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WikiProject Alternative Views

Aristarchus of Samos proposed a heliocentric model as an alternative view in Ancient Greece. His ideas were rejected in favor of geocentric theories for over 1700 years.

Motivation

Wikipedia's policy is to write articles from a neutral point of view describing not just the dominant view, but significant alternative views as well, fairly, proportionately, and without bias. Because alternative views lack the widespread acceptance enjoyed by dominant views and often suffer from a lack of coverage in verifiable and reliable sources, fewer editors know or care about them, and this imbalance puts alternative views at risk of neglect, misrepresentation, and a level of coverage not in keeping with their relative notability. This project aims to counter that tendency by facilitating collaboration among interested editors. This should all be done while following our basic content principles. It should not be an excuse to correct supposed suppression from the mainstream orthodoxy, to engage in original research, or to use sources that aren't verifiable and reliable. We are not here to correct real-world coverage. We are here to report real-world coverage. We are not here to counterbalance real-world sources. We are here to balance according to real-world sources.

Table of Contents

Scope & Goals

Scope

Welcome to WikiProject Alternative Views! This project aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of significant "alternative views"—those theories, hypotheses, conjectures, and speculations which, though notable, lack widespread acceptance, and which may challenge a "dominant view" which does have such acceptance. The project encompasses alternative views in every field, from the sciences to the humanities.

Goals

The project's goal of improving Wikipedia's coverage of significant alternative views breaks down as follows.

  • create articles about notable alternative views
  • work to make existing articles about alternative views factual and neutral
  • prevent articles about notable alternative views from being deleted
  • ensure that significant alternative views which are notable in the context of other articles receive adequate, factual, neutral representation in those articles
  • assist in the formulation and clarification of policies, guidelines, and other project-space infrastructure relating to alternative views
  • provide a support group and help forum for editors who are interested in improving Wikipedia's coverage of alternative views, but who may be unfamiliar with Wikipedia's rules and conventions

Policies & Guidelines

Policies and guidelines

Editors working to improve Wikipedia's coverage of alternative views should respect the boundaries set by Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. In a nutshell, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a publisher of original thought. To be included here, information about alternative views must be notable and verifiable, and should not receive undue weight. Proper implementation of the project's goals hinges on a good understanding of Wikipedia's notability guidelines as applying to minority views or hypotheses, a point addressed in detail at Wikipedia:Fringe theories.

Articles edited by this project should adhere to all guidelines, including WP:POVFORK and WP:MEDRS.

Assessment

This project has an assessment department. If you would like to contribute to or have questions regarding this part of the project please visit this page.

See Also

See also all subpages of WikiProject Alternative Views.

Relevant pages and policies

Related projects

Directory Directory of WikiProjects

 

Council WikiProject Council

 

Guide Guide to WikiProjects

External links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Alternative_Views
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