Wikipedia talk:No Moral Code

This project page does not require a rating on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Wikipedia essays Low‑impact This page is within the scope of WikiProject Wikipedia essays, a collaborative effort to organise and monitor the impact of Wikipedia essays. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion. For a listing of essays see the essay directory.Wikipedia essaysWikipedia:WikiProject Wikipedia essaysTemplate:WikiProject Wikipedia essaysWikiProject Wikipedia essays pages Low This page has been rated as Low-impact on the project's impact scale. The above rating was automatically assessed using data on pageviews, watchers, and incoming links.

I'd shy away from this one, for the following reasons:

• Gives lots of ammunition to critics, while not changing how Wikipedia operates in any fundamental way.
• Possibily contradictory--some may argue that the desire for truth itself is morally motivated; others are known to assert that relativism itself is a moral position.
• Not really true, anyway--Wikipedia is guided by the collective morality of its body of editors, many of whom who insert content which reflects their own views (even when this done in a way which respects NPOV).

I gather what the author is really trying to say is, "Other than those requirements which are believed to be necessary to build a reliable encyclopedia (NPOV, NOR, WP:V), and those needed to comply with the law; Wikipedia does not subscribe to a particular morality or worldview". That language may be less contentious.

--EngineerScotty 19:51, 10 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I prefer Scotty's wording, but still find it unnecessary. There's no point in adding rules that aren't out to solve a clear problem. Deco 20:22, 10 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

• Just to clarify; my first choice at this point (until convinced otherwise) is to do nothing. --EngineerScotty 20:29, 10 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Somewhat problematic, as Wikipedia does place value on certain attributes (NPOV, VER) and so forth - which is, in a very real sense, a moral code. WilyD 13:51, 11 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

• I have added in Scotty's wording. I believe that this guideline is necessary to resolve the dispute over whether or not wikipedia should have a code of ethics (see Wikipedia:Wikiethics, WP:NE, WP:EVIL, WP:BG&E and their respective talk pages). I know that it is impossible to completely abandon your personal morality when editing wikipedia, but I feel we should at least encourage editors to leave their personal ideologies outside of wikipedia. Also, the final point of the proposal does address a clear problem, which is one of the main arguments used by proponents of WP:NE, the fact that not policy actually states that wikipedia should not cause undue harm (except for a brief mention in WP:BLP), which leads to legal issues and hurts wikipedias image, which leads to office actions. I am trying to address this issue without imposing a moral ideology onto wikipedia, like NE. --Samael775 19:30, 12 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]