User:Mred64/Creationism and Evolution NPOV Society

The purpose of this group is to make articles dealing with Creationism and/or evolution more NPOV than they currently are. Many of the Creationism articles are disputed, either because of POV, possible factual inaccuracy, whether the article should be deleted or merged with others, etc. These debates can also get pretty intense. Although all wikipedians do strive for NPOV already, this group is designed to help make such articles NPOV by having multiple peopple working together. It can also help bridge the somewhat bitter gap between those on both sides of the debate. Also, a central body may make it easier to work together on some articles.

Goals

To promote healthy debate on the subjects of creation and evolution.
To remove POV bias favoring either creationism or evolution on articles dealing with these subjects.
To make constructive, NPOV changes on articles in these subjects
To resolve editing conflicts and complaints on creation- and evolution-related pages.

Guidelines

We promote good, healthy debates dealing with creation and evolution.
1. We are not:
  1. a chat room debating the existence of God or gods
  2. debating the philosophy of a specific religion or religion as a whole, atheism, or other moral philosophies
  3. debating the philosophy or validity of mainstream science, creationism, or creation science. These debates are better reserved for talk pages on articles in these subjects.
  4. missionaries. Don't force your views onto others, either in the group or on article talk pages. Make good, constructive comments and changes. As the group begans to make an impact on creation-/evolution-related articles and good points are made, people may gradually change their views. This is natural, and is the heart of good debate.
  5. a test area for political, ideological, or religious beliefs. Although this subject affects a lot of said beliefs, do not use the group as a survey to find out the reaction to an idea not pertaning the subject.
    1. Example 1: Don't ask something like "Why would someone like Bush's social security plan?"
    2. Example 2: Don't say something along the lines of "Well what about Kerry's voting record?"
    3. Example 3: Don't post something akin to "Communism rules!" on, for example, the Discovery Institute article's talk page.
    4. Example 4: Don't say something venomous like "All evolutionists are god-hating materialists and should be condemned!" on, for example, the Charles Darwin article's talk page.
2. Name calling, deregotary comments, baiting another user into an arguement, or insults to those with different viewpoints is prohibited.
3. In a debate on an article, don't bring up a user's behavior outside of this subject to make a point. It would also be unfair to bring up the behavior of a user during the period before they joined this club, unless they continued to act in a negative way.
Major changes to articles dealing with creation or evolution should be discussed both on the article's respective talk page and, preferably, within the group before being made.
Major disputes should be brought up for conflict resolution by mediators, advocates, or other Wikipedians whose main job is that.
We'll try to be neutral, but we are only human. POV may exist, even in this group, but just bring it up kindly and we'll keep your comments in mind. However, POV may also be affected by who is involved. If most of the members favor one side, there will probably be some POV favoring that side and POV against the minority. If you aren't in the group and see this POV against your side or POV for the other side, you may want to join to tyr to balance out the membership.
Basically, just keep good common sense that you would use in an arguement where you don't want to offend others.
Lastly, we aren't the judge. Debates in here aren't the last word of the subject for the whole Earth. The winners of a debate may turn out to be wrong. We want to keep/make Wikipedia neutral.

What we're working on or looking at

Troubled Articles

What is a troubled article?

These articles are currently disputed, either because of POV, possible factual inaccuracy, or may become deleted or merged, etc (anything that has a template, basically, except cleaning up). Please, add articles to this category as you see fit, and list the problem.

Problem Articles

What is a problem article?

These articles have problems, but aren't as major as those above. For example, an article may just need to be cleaned up. Add articles as you see fit, and list the problem.

Group Members (in alphabetical order)

If you want to be a member, just add yourself to the list.

Questions? Comments?

Post them on the talk page.