[Wikipedia-l] Contoversy flag on articles.

Thu Jul 25 19:31:31 UTC 2002

> Can we add a "contested flag" or something? That alerts the
> reader to the opinion (of any given author) that the content
> of the article is or might be tainted? A lot of the middle east
> articles popping up all over could then be tagged as not entirely
> reliable until everyone have had their say.

> If not as a specific feature, then at least as a convention on how
> to mark an article as controversial, for instance with an agreed
> upon keyword early in the article.

> I love Wikipedia, but this problem always gives me a bad feeling,
> and makes we feel like giving up. Something like this would help
> to civilize disagreements, and thereby divert a lot of energy away
> from them, and over to other articles.

I would consider just marking an article as "likely to be
controversial" or something along those lines as tantamount to
giving up on the goal of making it a good article, so I wouldn't
want that.  On the other hand, it is not only acceptable, but
highly recommended, that the first paragraph if not the first
sentence of such an article simply tell the reader in plain
English that the topic is controversial and likely to contain
contradictory opinions. That's just part of describing the topic.

We could make a clearer statement of policy to that effect if
it would help.