FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Mormonism and Wikipedia
Mormonism and Wikipedia
It's also a little disingenuous for FAIR to be complaining about John Foxe's alleged affiliation with a certain evangelical university. How many FAIR people are affiliated with BYU? All of us have biases and preconceptions, and for FAIR (the "A" in its name standing for "apologetic") to be complaining about biases is crazy. This Wikipedia article should be neither anti-Mormon nor apologetic, and as a whole it isn't. As a whole, Foxe's edits are not really much different from what is found in Bushman's RSR, which is an apologetic work. I think the problem is that FAIR has an issue with New Mormon History and would rather see this article become a hagiography than a mainstream historical article.
—LDS editor COgden, 5 December 2009 referring to the Joseph Smith, Jr. Wikipedia article. off-site
FAIR's approach to Wikipedia articles
FAIR regularly receives queries about specific LDS-themed Wikipedia articles with requests that we somehow "fix" them. Although some individual members of FAIR may choose to edit Wikipedia articles, FAIR as an organization does not. Controversial Wikipedia articles require constant maintenance and a significant amount of time. We prefer instead to respond to claims in the FAIR Wiki rather than fight the ongoing battle that LDS Wikipedia articles sometimes invite. From FAIR’s perspective, assertions made in LDS-themed Wikipedia articles are therefore treated just like any other critical (or, if one prefers, "anti-Mormon") work.
Given the fluid nature of LDS Wikipedia articles, it is pointless to perform a detailed review and analysis of many of them. As Bob Jones University professor John A. Matzko states, "[i]t is easy enough to spin webs of speculation" about Joseph Smith's early life. [1] Indeed, there is a specific subset of LDS Wikipedia articles which are "webs of speculation." These articles have been "stabilized" to a certain extent due to a collaboration between a Latter-day Saint editor named "COgden" who is writing what he calls "New Mormon History," and a Bob Jones University professor, "John Foxe" who is extremely critical of LDS views. Any editors who attempt to modify the structure of these articles in any significant way will be reverted by one of these two editors. This stabilization thus allows FAIR to perform a more detailed analysis on those articles. As those articles are revised and updated, we will periodically update our reviews to match.
Background
Several months prior to posting our first Wikipedia article review, FAIR attempted to contact a number of Wikipedia administrators in order to seek advice on how to proceed. The primary reason for the contact was to seek advice regarding John Foxe's use of his secondary Hi540 account in an edit war on the Joseph Smith, Jr. article. Detailed data and links were provided demonstrating the connection between the two accounts. In addition, FAIR also informed each of these administrators of our intent to post detailed reviews of selected Wikipedia articles. Unfortunately, we found that there was very little interest. The half of the administrators that responded to FAIR agreed with our assessment of the data regarding Foxe's use of Hi540 as a sockpuppet. The other half of the administrators contacted (one of whom was LDS administrator COgden [2]) did not respond to our inquiry and were therefore never provided with any additional data. FAIR then completed preparation of the initial reviews in July 2009, but did not post them until September 2009. [3]
Editors who wish to participate in editing LDS-themed Wikipedia articles can access the project page here: Wikipedia:WikiProject Latter Day Saint movement. You are not required to be LDS in order to participate—there are a number of good non-LDS editors who have made valuable contributions to these articles.
The following sub-articles discuss various aspects of editing LDS-themed articles on Wikipedia. In addition, we analyze certain selected Wikipedia articles for accuracy and fairness.
General information
- Common questions FAIR is asked about LDS Wikipedia articles
- A brief overview of editors who work on LDS-related Wikipedia articles
FAIR's analysis of LDS Wikipedia articles
We examine selected Wikipedia articles and examine them on a "claim-by-claim" basis, with links to responses in the FAIR Wiki.
Mormonism and Wikipedia
It's also a little disingenuous for FAIR to be complaining about John Foxe's alleged affiliation with a certain evangelical university. How many FAIR people are affiliated with BYU? All of us have biases and preconceptions, and for FAIR (the "A" in its name standing for "apologetic") to be complaining about biases is crazy. This Wikipedia article should be neither anti-Mormon nor apologetic, and as a whole it isn't. As a whole, Foxe's edits are not really much different from what is found in Bushman's RSR, which is an apologetic work. I think the problem is that FAIR has an issue with New Mormon History and would rather see this article become a hagiography than a mainstream historical article.
—LDS editor COgden, 5 December 2009 referring to the Joseph Smith, Jr. Wikipedia article. off-site
FAIR's approach to Wikipedia articles
FAIR regularly receives queries about specific LDS-themed Wikipedia articles with requests that we somehow "fix" them. Although some individual members of FAIR may choose to edit Wikipedia articles, FAIR as an organization does not. Controversial Wikipedia articles require constant maintenance and a significant amount of time. We prefer instead to respond to claims in the FAIR Wiki rather than fight the ongoing battle that LDS Wikipedia articles sometimes invite. From FAIR’s perspective, assertions made in LDS-themed Wikipedia articles are therefore treated just like any other critical (or, if one prefers, "anti-Mormon") work.
Given the fluid nature of LDS Wikipedia articles, it is pointless to perform a detailed review and analysis of many of them. As Bob Jones University professor John A. Matzko states, "[i]t is easy enough to spin webs of speculation" about Joseph Smith's early life. [4] Indeed, there is a specific subset of LDS Wikipedia articles which are "webs of speculation." These articles have been "stabilized" to a certain extent due to a collaboration between a Latter-day Saint editor named "COgden" who is writing what he calls "New Mormon History," and a Bob Jones University professor, "John Foxe" who is extremely critical of LDS views. Any editors who attempt to modify the structure of these articles in any significant way will be reverted by one of these two editors. This stabilization thus allows FAIR to perform a more detailed analysis on those articles. As those articles are revised and updated, we will periodically update our reviews to match.
Background
Several months prior to posting our first Wikipedia article review, FAIR attempted to contact a number of Wikipedia administrators in order to seek advice on how to proceed. The primary reason for the contact was to seek advice regarding John Foxe's use of his secondary Hi540 account in an edit war on the Joseph Smith, Jr. article. Detailed data and links were provided demonstrating the connection between the two accounts. In addition, FAIR also informed each of these administrators of our intent to post detailed reviews of selected Wikipedia articles. Unfortunately, we found that there was very little interest. The half of the administrators that responded to FAIR agreed with our assessment of the data regarding Foxe's use of Hi540 as a sockpuppet. The other half of the administrators contacted (one of whom was LDS administrator COgden [5]) did not respond to our inquiry and were therefore never provided with any additional data. FAIR then completed preparation of the initial reviews in July 2009, but did not post them until September 2009. [6]
Editors who wish to participate in editing LDS-themed Wikipedia articles can access the project page here: Wikipedia:WikiProject Latter Day Saint movement. You are not required to be LDS in order to participate—there are a number of good non-LDS editors who have made valuable contributions to these articles.
The following sub-articles discuss various aspects of editing LDS-themed articles on Wikipedia. In addition, we analyze certain selected Wikipedia articles for accuracy and fairness.
General information
- Common questions FAIR is asked about LDS Wikipedia articles
- A brief overview of editors who work on LDS-related Wikipedia articles
FAIR's analysis of LDS Wikipedia articles
We examine selected Wikipedia articles and examine them on a "claim-by-claim" basis, with links to responses in the FAIR Wiki. Template loop detected: Template:MormonismAndWikipedia
Endnotes
- [note] John A. Matzko, "The Encounter of the Young Joseph Smith with Presbyterianism," Dialogue 40/3 (2007), p. 77
- [note] The following email was sent by a FAIR member (who used to edit Wikipedia under the pseudonym "Bochica") to "COgden" on May 14, 2009:
Hello COGDEN,
I haven't done any serious editing on Wikipedia in quite a while, since I now work with FAIR (the LDS apologetic organization), and I don't plan to do any more in the future - the cost is too high. We are currently analyzing certain high-profile LDS-related Wikipedia articles and are planning to post our analysis of several of them on the FAIR Wiki, starting with "First Vision." During the course of our analysis, and to my great disappointment, it became apparent to FAIR that John Foxe is operating a sockpuppet named Hi540, both of which edited the "Joseph Smith, Jr." article. Our dilemma is that the proof of sockpuppetry or meatpuppetry reveals the editor's real-world identity (both accounts tie in to this identity), and we are therefore reluctant to deal with this through Wikipedia channels. We can provide you with the evidence if you wish to view it.
We cannot let this go unchallenged, but we are not yet certain how to proceed. Your advice as an admin, and as one who knows "Foxe" better than anyone, would be appreciated.
Copyright © 2005–2024 FAIR. This is not an official Web site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The content of this page may not be copied, published, or redistributed without the prior written consent of FAIR.
| We welcome your suggestions for improving the content of this FAIR Wiki article. |
Sites we recommend: |
Endnotes
- [note] John A. Matzko, "The Encounter of the Young Joseph Smith with Presbyterianism," Dialogue 40/3 (2007), p. 77
- [note] The following email was sent by a FAIR member (who used to edit Wikipedia under the pseudonym "Bochica") to "COgden" on May 14, 2009:
Hello COGDEN,
I haven't done any serious editing on Wikipedia in quite a while, since I now work with FAIR (the LDS apologetic organization), and I don't plan to do any more in the future - the cost is too high. We are currently analyzing certain high-profile LDS-related Wikipedia articles and are planning to post our analysis of several of them on the FAIR Wiki, starting with "First Vision." During the course of our analysis, and to my great disappointment, it became apparent to FAIR that John Foxe is operating a sockpuppet named Hi540, both of which edited the "Joseph Smith, Jr." article. Our dilemma is that the proof of sockpuppetry or meatpuppetry reveals the editor's real-world identity (both accounts tie in to this identity), and we are therefore reluctant to deal with this through Wikipedia channels. We can provide you with the evidence if you wish to view it.
We cannot let this go unchallenged, but we are not yet certain how to proceed. Your advice as an admin, and as one who knows "Foxe" better than anyone, would be appreciated.
Copyright © 2005–2024 FAIR. This is not an official Web site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The content of this page may not be copied, published, or redistributed without the prior written consent of FAIR.
| We welcome your suggestions for improving the content of this FAIR Wiki article. |
Sites we recommend: |