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A point of view dispute ('POV dispute) is a discussion or debate which dispute the neutrality of a page, as judged relative to the proportionate viewpoints as stated in the preponderance of wp:RS reliable sources about the related topic(s). It is important to consider the relative weight of viewpoints in relation to their frequency in a representative sample of source documents.
The purpose of a point-of-view dispute (or debate) is to attract and discuss with editors, about different viewpoints, to update articles which might need additional insight.[1] A POV-dispute, or the {POV_dispute} template, should not be used as a badge of shame, to imply bias or nefarious slanting of text, but instead invite discussion. Do not initiate a POV dispute to "warn" readers about the article.
This template should only be applied to articles that are reasonably believed to lack a neutral point of view. The neutral point of view is determined by the prevalence of a perspective in high-quality, independent, reliable secondary sources, not by its prevalence among Wikipedia editors or the public.
When to use
editCreate a POV-dispute thread, or talk-subpage, and place the Template:POV_dispute on an article when you have identified a serious issue of balance and the lack of a WP:Neutral point of view, and you wish to attract editors with different viewpoints to the article. Please also explain on the article's talkpage why you are adding this tag, identifying specific issues that are actionable within Wikipedia's content policies.
An unbalanced or non-neutral article is one that does not fairly represent the balance of perspectives of high-quality, reliable secondary sources. A balanced article presents mainstream views as being mainstream, and minority views as being minority views. The personal views of Wikipedia editors or the public are almost irrelevant, except to help locate a wide variety of sources.
References
edit- ^ Some text in this article was copied/adapted from Template:POV/doc.
- [ This essay is a quick draft to be expanded later. ]