Wikipedia:Controversial articles: Difference between revisions

{{for|a list of controversial issues|Wikipedia:List of controversial issues}}

[[File:Manifestation en Algérie contre la hausse des prix (2011).jpg|thumb|right|200px|Articles about controversial events or issues, or disputed incidents can be challenging to edit in a neutral fashion. Are the individuals in this picture "[[riot]]ers" or "[[protest]]ers"?]]

Controversial articles, by their very nature, require far greater care to achieve a [[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view|neutral point of view]].

 

== Describe the controversy ==

An article about a controversial person, issue, group or organization should start with facts: "According to the FBI, the XYZ faction had over 1,000 active members in 1982.{{fakeref}}" Next, the article should accurately describe their views, no matter how misguided or repugnant. Where a person or organization has released published statements about their aims or objectives, these can be summarized for the reader: "According to the XYZ faction's 1983 manifesto, which was published in the ''New York Times'', the three main aims of the faction were to..." If the organization's leader or its members have been convicted of crimes committed in the furtherance of the group's objectives, these legal outcomes can be summarized for the reader: "In 1984, members A, B and C of the XYZ faction were convicted of hijacking..."

 

 

Please be clear that the Wikipedia neutrality policy certainly does not state, or imply, that we must [[WP:NPOV#Undue_weight|"give equal validity"]] to minority views in a controversy. If the vast majority of political philosophers criticized the XYZ faction, and only two political philosophers supported the group's aims, then giving substantial coverage of these two philosopher's views could be viewed as [[WP:UNDUE|undue weight]].

 

== Be precise ==

 

== Editing procedures ==

 

If you contribute to a controversial article then it can be handy to separate the non-controversial contributions from the controversial ones. First make the non-controversial edits and then the (suspected) controversial ones. If the controversial edit is reverted by another contributor then at least the non-controversial edits will be maintained. Although when you save an edit you can checkmark it as minor, try not to, except in the most minor cases, as doing so may make you look like you're trying to hide your work from other editors' [[Help:Watching pages|watchlists]] (because some editors don't watchlist minor edits).