Any questions about history, geography, science, etc., as well as Vikidia itself and how it works? Ask The Scholar!

Vikidia:Neutral point of view

From Vikidia, the encyclopedia for 8 to 13-year-old children that anyone can improve
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Neutrality is the presentation of all points of view equally and objectively.

Neutral point of view is a founding principle of Vikidia that all articles must adhere to. As on Wikipedia, it is "mandatory and non-negotiable."

This principle can be summarized in a few words: articles must be written in such a way as not to favor one point of view over another. Rather, the goal is to present all relevant points of view without endorsing any of them. One must never—as a general rule—state, imply, or even suggest that one viewpoint is in any way better, equal to, or worse than another.

As an encyclopedia, Vikidia's goal is not to tell readers what to think, but to enable them to form their own opinions.

Writing neutrally is an art that requires practice. It is even more difficult on Vikidia, where simplification is often necessary and the temptation to reduce the discussion to a single point of view is all the stronger. Feel free to contribute to the user guide.

What neutral point of view is not[change | change source]

Example: a newcomer who unintentionally writes in a non-neutral manner.
  • Maintaining a neutral point of view does not mean adopting a middle ground, but rather presenting and clearly identifying each point of view.
  • A neutral point of view is none of the points of view presented. Rather, it consists of presenting each point of view with equal detachment.
  • Neutrality of perspective does not allow one to claim that all viewpoints are equally valid.
  • Neutrality of perspective prohibits any judgment regarding a viewpoint. This means that it prohibits not only claiming that one viewpoint is better than another, but also claiming that two viewpoints—or even all viewpoints—are equally valid.
  • Neutrality of perspective does not mean siding with the majority, even after all viewpoints have been discussed. Every viewpoint is subjective and dependent on social, temporal, and geographical considerations. The goal, therefore, is not to find a truth or a standard that, in any case, varies according to location, group, and time.
  • Presenting all relevant viewpoints should not leave the reader with a jumble of conflicting opinions that merely state that "some" people think one thing and "opponents" think another. The proponents of each viewpoint must be clearly identified. It is not enough to simply present all viewpoints; one must also identify who (which political party, which philosophical school, etc.) supports each viewpoint, so that the reader can gauge the how much each party is represented.
  • This rule helps prevent, in particular, the promotion of a personal viewpoint or the exaggeration of a minority viewpoint under vague phrases such as "some say," "it can be noted," etc., whose relevance may be unverifiable.

Neutrality of viewpoint is not the only founding principle of Vikidia. Another founding principle is that an article must be relevant, and therefore the viewpoints presented must be relevant.

What to do if you encounter a non-neutral article[change | change source]

It is the responsibility of all Vikidia contributors to ensure the quality of its content. If you come across an article in the encyclopedia that does not adhere to these principles, don’t hesitate:

  • Correct it!
  • If you are unable to do so, add the {{proofread}} template to the article and type that the article does not have a neutral point of view.
  • If you believe that the issue is serious, such as hate speech or other extreme viewpoints, please report it on the requests page so that it can be corrected as soon as possible.
  • Place {{warning-0}} on the talk page of the user in question.
Portal maintenance — Access Vikidia articles about help and maintenance.
Translation notice This article contains content translated from the article Wikipédia:Neutralité de point de vue on the French Wikipedia.

The original work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. A list of the original authors can be viewed in that article's page history.