I'm trying to work out how to add a note to an assertion on a page to indicate that it is not absolute fact, and that there are valid questions still to be answered, to avoid readers being unintentionally misled ..... but can't work out how to do it as my attempt (yes, I forgot to log in!) was removed with a "(Removing original research, if there are sources, please use them, and avoid speculation) " comment. (I felt a bit 'spanked' though I'm probably being over-sensitive). I didn't (and don't) think it was any particularly contentious issue. Can anyone suggest how one could make a (small) edit of this nature without having to cite already-published papers (which is pretty much impossible to do in the case of questions which haven't yet been answered .......)
- It would help if you listed what page it was and what you were trying to post. In general, though, if something isn't fact and there are valid questions about it, it shouldn't be posted. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and should contain more facts than speculation. That being said, there are things that we're speculating about -- for instance, whether or not string theory is true. Sometimes Wikipedia gets bogged down by people arguing over whether or not something is true. Who was really at fault in Country X and the civil war that happened there 2-3 centuries ago when both sides say that it was the other side's fault? Because of situations like that, the standard for Wikipedia is generally verifiability, instead of "truth" (which might be more nebulous). This way, people can go read the primary sources and make up their mind themselves as to what is the "real" truth. Without knowing more about what you're talking about, though, I really couldn't give you more specific help. Were you talking about Equine coat color genetics? Usually, in a case like that, a simple indication of vagueness is enough. For instance, "There probably is no lethal roan question" is vague enough, compared to "There possibly is no lethal roan question, though there are still questions to be answered about this". That article needs more work, though -- one of the sources talked about the lethal roan question so I moved it into a reference instead. Let me know on my talk page if you'd like more help or put the helpme template back up and someone will be by again. :) Banaticus (talk) 11:36, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
