 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Articles on Taboo subjects must be well-sourced, must define their subject carefully, and editorial disputes about them should be handled sensitively. |
Certain subjects (most noticeably paedophilia, Zoophilia, necrophilia and other paraphilias) are distasteful to most people, and there is little incentive for the average Wikipedia editor to invest time and effort into articles about them, to bring them into line with WP policies that require a balanced tone and a neutral point of view. By contrast, certain minority groups who seek to normalise or justify such practices have a strong incentive to invest time and effort into making the article reflect their point of view, given that a Wikipedia article on that subject is likely to be the first result returned by a search engine like Google. Their objective is to make the practice seem more normal or acceptable than it actually is, while avoiding any gross or obvious breach of neutrality policies such as WP:OR that are prescribed by Wikipedia. This can be done by romanticising the subject, by selectively citing scientific research that appears to normalise the practice, by fallacy of definition or equivocation, the use of various historical and naturalistic fallacies (the Greeks thought paederasty was morally acceptable, ergo it is morally acceptable, &c.).
There is a clear need for guidelines concerning such subjects in Wikipedia, in order to minimise the possibility that minority groups will attempt to abuse the encyclopedia in this way.