Between 11 August 2003 and 6 August 2009 the following quote (and later the added editorial comment) were part of the Wikipedia:Neutral point of view policy.
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 Wiki'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: Let the facts speak for themselves and let the reader decide. |
It was removed after an RfC because the majority of the participants in that RfC considered that it could be misunderstood and used to exclude from a Wikipedia article opinions properly attributed to reliable sources. However, as an aid to help understand the policy it is still useful:
Karada offered the following advice in the context of the Saddam Hussein article:
- You won't even need to say he was evil. That is why the article on Hitler does not start with "Hitler was a bad man"—we don't need to, his deeds convict him a thousand times over. We just list the facts of the Holocaust dispassionately, and the voices of the dead cry out afresh in a way that makes name-calling both pointless and unnecessary. Please do the same: list Saddam's crimes, and cite your sources.
Resist the temptation to apply labels or moralize—readers will probably not take kindly to being told what to think. Let the facts speak for themselves and let the reader decide.
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