Wikipedia articles

Learning PCT
1

The Wikipedia article on PCT is currently under scrutiny by editors questioning its objectivity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Perceptual_control_theory#Original_research_and_neutrality_issues

Legitimate concerns are raised. Please help to address them.

It is important for more than one of us to have Wikipedia accounts and to help to maintain the encyclopedia articles that bear on our science. These include:

2

Hi Bruce

| bnhpct
January 2 |

  • | - |

The Wikipedia article on PCT is currently under scrutiny by editors questioning its objectivity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Perceptual_control_theory#Original_research_and_neutrality_issues

Legitimate concerns are raised. Please help to address them.

Could you suggest how one could go about doing this. I use Wikipedia mainly to find out about celebrities. I have made donations to them but I don’t think I am a member. Does one need to be a member in order to address the concerns about the PCT entry? If so, how does one become a member? And once a member, how do one address the concerns expressed in the link above?

Best

Rick

3

Bravo! Yes, I too have a small monthly donation set up.

I recommend establishing an account. This article explains why and how. You don’t need one to edit an article, but in that case you are identified only by your IP address, and edits by “an anonymous IP” tend to have less credibility.

Many articles provide guidance. Help:Editing is a good place to start. In the sidebar on the right side of that page are links to others, such as a tutorial.

On the talk page for the PCT article (I provided a link to the section) you will see that the user ‘Grayfell’ is mostly concerned with neutral point of view, one of the fundamental principles of the encyclopedia. In those comments are links to that and other WP policies and guidelines.

If you have specific questions I’ll answer as best I can.

4

Hi Bruce

The PCT article in wikipedia needs a ton of work. I’m thinking of just writing an alternative entry off-line and letting someone who knows how to do this wiki stuff to just replace the existing entry with my revision. Whadaya think?

Best

Rick

5

That would be brilliant. Would you be ok for the IAPT board members to edit or append your draft and then you check it again before that?

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I like that process. But to minimize chasing of references to cite and further rewriting of content when it is time to do “the wiki stuff”, understand and comply with the basic principles of the encyclopedia, in particular these three Wikipedia policies:

[Neutral point of view](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view)
Everything that our readers can see, including articles, templates, categories and portals, must be written neutrally and without [bias](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:UNDUE).
[No original research](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_research)
Articles may not contain any unpublished theories, data, statements, concepts, arguments, or ideas; or any new interpretation, analysis, or synthesis of published data, statements, concepts, arguments, or ideas that, in the words of Wikipedia's co-founder [Jimbo Wales](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimbo_Wales), would amount to a "novel narrative or historical interpretation."
[Verifiability](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability)
Articles should [cite sources](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:CITE) whenever possible. While we cannot check the accuracy of cited sources, we can check whether they have been published by a [reputable publication](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources) and whether independent sources have supported them on review. Any unsourced material may be challenged and removed. "[Wikipedia values accuracy, but it *requires* verifiability.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability,_not_truth)"

That said, the “wiki stuff” is wrapped up in a nice, tame visual editor (more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Introduction).

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Sure. I’ll email it to the board when I’m done, which should be sometime this year;-)

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Sure. I don’t think there will be much change in references. I might add just one. All the other guidelines should be easy to follow. We’ll see how it goes.

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If you write it in another environment, such as Word or Libreoffice, you’ll lose all the markup for references and links. Best to log in to Wikipedia and use the sandbox associated with your account to work on a copy of the article.

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RM: When (and if) I do it I think I’ll just try to make my edits directly into the article. I don’t think I have the time, energy or enthusiasm to do a major re-write.