Re:English Wikipedia drove out fringe editors over two decades
by ajsnigrutin on Tuesday November 07, 2023 @12:33PM
(#38179930)
What is "in the middle"? If CDC says "get vaccinated, so you won't infect grandma" and I say "even if you're vaccinated, you can still get covid and infect grandma" ... where's the middle there?
And if your NTP server has failed you once before.. and again.. and again... would it be unreasonable to say "maybe the NTP is wrong" the next time something weird happens with your system clock?
Re:English Wikipedia drove out fringe editors over two decades
by kube-system on Tuesday November 07, 2023 @01:12PM
(#38180548)
A pretty reasonable middle road is to hold statements supported by evidence made by experts in higher regard than statements not supported by evidence made by non-experts.
The degree to which someone might do reasonably do this, and what action they might reasonably take as a result, depends on the audience, the moderator of the medium, their ability to moderate, and their ability judge the evidence independently.
A broken clock is wrong twice per day, but that doesn't mean you should consider one as a valid NTP server. (and in fact, the conspiracy nut was still wrong, vaccines do work, to prevent hospitalization and death) Basing a guideline off of data, and updating when wrong, is a more rigorous methodology than fabrication and conjecture.
The quantity and quality of evidence available to support an opinion is a relatively way to measure that opinion's validity. That doesn't make them infallible, but it makes them less fallible than opinions that lack quality rationale.
> So, do you want a platform that lets all opinions, "correct" and "wrong", to stay there, or a platform that lets wrong 'facts' (because some authority told them they're facts) stay, while deleting true 'conspiracy theories'.
Usually something in the middle, depending on the specifics. I think too many people are quick to apply broad free speech ideals to everything, when in reality, context, audience, venue, and impact matters a LOT.