 | This WikiProject is defunct. Consider looking for related projects for help or ask at the Teahouse. If you feel this project may be worth reviving, please discuss with related projects first. Feel free to change this tag if the parameters were changed in error.
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- WPEM can also stand for Wikipedia:WikiProject Electronic music
Wikiproject Wikipedians for encyclopedic merit was started on August 15, 2005 to coordinate and promote standards of encyclopedic merit for inclusion on Wikipedia. This project is intended to coordinate efforts to bring articles to appropriate standards of quality control, as defined by Wikipedia policy and Wikipedia guidelines, to ensure Wikipedia continues to be regarded as the finest source of web based reference material available. See also Wikipedia:Wikipedia as an academic source.
One aspect of encyclopedic merit relates to sexually explicit imagery and language. Specifically if some item of Wikipedia content appeals to only prurient interest as opposed to having encyclopedic value, it is generally preferred to substitute content that has encyclopedic value. The Miller test is illustrative in defining a work as obscene, in part, if it contains "patently offensive [content] and taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value" (SLAPS). A quasi-Miller SLAPS test is likely to closely match Wikipedia's meaning of "encyclopedic value."
However, it should be understood that the purpose of this project has nothing to do with censorship. It is merely an attempt to help Wikipedia establish a level or baseline of merit and what constitutes encyclopedic merit. A review of this statement by Jimbo Wales [1] helps us to establish what that baseline should be:
"We don't show full-blown mainstream pornography on the front page of wikipedia as a matter of editorial taste and judgment."
Anyone who is interested in contributing, please sign up below and post any ideas and suggestions on the Talk page. Also, feel free to edit this page and add any articles that need serious work or that you feel require attention below in the Open Tasks sections.
This project has been renamed from a contentious initial name (Wikipedians for decency). Members who have joined, but made ironic comments indicating their distaste for a project under the old title may wish to revise the descriptions accompanying their listing. Likewise, editors who have refrained from joining because of the prior title and mission statement may wish to reevaluate whether this WikiProject is of interest to them.