(Replying to PARENT post)

I've been funding Wikipedia for years and use it several times daily. It has indeed grown into an amazing source of knowledge documenting this world. However there are insidious problems building up. For example, I've noticed that they are starting to encode a lot of biases into its articles, particularly on topics that are part of the political sphere. These articles often reflect a US progressive-left worldview rather than a balanced view that reflects differing opinions from multiple sides of the aisle. There is also a distinct Western and English cultural bias in how articles describe and frame other countries, other cultures, and other religions.

I'm not sure what the fix is for these issues, but it does mean that I seek out opposing perspectives elsewhere when I read articles that concern such topics. It'll probably always be important for readers to seek multiple perspectives, including ones they disagree with, instead of blindly trusting Wikipedia to be correct. After all, it is written by humans.

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(Replying to PARENT post)

Could you share an example of a biased article? I haven’t really noticed that (at least for the visible, high profile articles) - the coverage has been as balanced as anywhere.

Where it might get “extreme” is on niche topics that few people care about. For example I remember some articles associated with the whole “audiophile” scene were claiming some silly things without much evidence behind them, but that’s pretty innocuous in my view.

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(Replying to PARENT post)

> These articles often reflect a US progressive-left worldview rather than a balanced view that reflects differing opinions from multiple sides of the aisle. There is also a distinct Western and English cultural bias in how articles describe and frame other countries, other cultures, and other religions.

The problem is real as I've mentioned elsewhere, but it's overwhelmingly a sourcing problem. There simply aren't many sources about non-Western or traditionalist (as opposed to modern/progressive) worldviews.

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(Replying to PARENT post)

Could you cite some examples that you feel are especially egregious?

Have you tried to remedy this by editing any of those articles and backing up your edits with a solid factual argument?

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(Replying to PARENT post)

Saying that (en.)wikipedia has a US progressive-left worldview is subtly misleading.

Specifically en.wikipedia.org has a western (US/UK sphere of influence) worldview.

This is because en.wikipedia is/can be edited by everyone who speaks English: not just the USA, not just regular English speaking countries, but also all those countries that teach children English as a second language, (and a not insignificant smattering of people who learn English outside of school too)

When you compare countries around the world, The United States of America is said to lean rather right of center.

Thus from a US perspective you would expect en.wikipedia to appear to indeed be a bit on the left.

(this is not a comprehensive answer, but it does cover a lot of the ground)

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(Replying to PARENT post)

What would be a good place to find one of these biases?
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(Replying to PARENT post)

Conservatives have set up their own version at http://conservapedia.com/. I can understand why a lot of that material isn't found in Wikipedia.
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