Wikipedia talk:Criticism/Criticism workpage


 * This essay is about material that emphasizes negative criticism. For criticism of Wikipedia see Reliability of Wikipedia and Criticisms.

Wikipedia's neutral point of view (POV) policy requires that all viewpoints of any topic be represented fairly, proportionately, and without bias. Negative criticism of a topic is acceptable material, and should be included in this encyclopedia. When incorporating critical reception, the POV policy requires that negative and positive material be presented in a balanced and fair manner. Additionally, the undue weight policy requires that critical reception be presented in a way that does not draw excessive attention to negative criticisms. When the negative material concerns living persons, special care must be taken, as prescribed by the Biographies of Living Persons policy.

Note that the same considerations of fairness, neutrality and due weight apply to praise and positive coverage. As with all other content added to Wikipedia, critical reception must be attributable to a reliable, published source, and not contain any original research.

Neutrality and verifiability
Most problems with negative material can be avoided by adhering to standard WP policies, such as using good sources, balancing the content carefully, and writing in an unbiased way. When including negative material in an article, some things to check for include:
 * Ensure that the material is supported by reliable sources
 * Do not present the material in a way that over-emphasizes it
 * Always present positive viewpoints along with any negative information to give balance
 * When presenting negative material, it is often best to name the source of the criticism within the paragraph or sentence, so that the criticism is not presented in the encyclopedia's voice
 * Integrate negative material into sections that cover all viewpoints of the event, product, or policy that is being criticized, rather than in a dedicated "criticism" section

Living persons
Negative material about living persons may violate privacy policies or damage the person's reputation; therefore, strict rules are in place to govern such information. See Biographies of living persons for details.

Avoid sections and articles focusing on criticisms or controversies
Articles dedicated to negative criticism of a topic are usually discouraged because they tend to be a point-of-view fork, which is generally prohibited by the neutral point-of-view policy.

Likewise, sections within an article dedicated to negative criticisms are normally also discouraged. Topical or thematic sections are frequently superior to sections devoted to criticism. Other than for articles about particular worldviews, philosophies or religious topics etc. where different considerations apply (see below), best practice is to incorporate positive and negative material into the same section. For example, if a politician received significant criticism about their public behavior, create a section entitled "Public behavior" and include all information - positive and negative  - within that section. If a book was heavily criticized, create a section in the book's article called Reception, and include positive and negative material in that section.

Articles on artists and works by artists often include material describing the opinions of critics, peers, and reviewers. Although the term "criticism" can, in that context, include both positive and negative assessment, the word  "criticism" should be avoided in section titles because it may convey a  negative connotation to many readers. Alternative section titles which avoid a negative connotation include "Reception", "Reviews," "Responses", "Reactions", "Critiques," and "Assessments".

In some situations the term "criticism" may be appropriate in an article or section title, for example, if there is a large body of critical material, and if independent secondary sources comment, analyze or discuss the critical material.

Sections or article titles should generally not include the word "controversies". Instead, titles should simply name the event, for example, "2009 boycott" or "Hunting incident". The word "controversy" should not appear in the title except in the rare situations when it has become part of the commonly accepted name for the event, such as Creation–evolution controversy. Criticisms and controversies are two distinct concepts, and they should not be commingled. Criticisms are specific appraisals or assessments, whereas controversies are protracted public disputes. Thus, sections such as "Criticisms and controversies" are generally inappropriate.

When an article gets too large
The best approach to including critical receptions is to integrate it into the primary article on the topic. Sometimes that may cause the article to get too large, in which case the article should be split, using the guidance on splitting the article can be found in the WP splitting guideline. The preferred way to split an article is as a content fork into sub-articles, using a "main" template to link to the new sub-articles. Generally, new subarticles should not be devoted to criticism, controversies, or other specific points-of-view – instead sub-articles should focus on topical themes.

Organizations and corporations
Many organizations and corporations are involved in well-documented controversies, or may be subject to significant criticism. If reliable sources -  other   than the critics themselves  - provide substantial coverage devoted to the controversies or criticisms, then that may justify sections and sub-articles devoted to the controversies or criticism. For example, the sources that discuss the 2008 Summer Olympics often describe its controversies in detail, as an independent topic. But the main article is very long and therefore it is not practical to integrate all the controversy material into the main article. Thus, the summary style guideline was used to create a sub-article Concerns and controversies over the 2008 Summer Olympics, and the main article contains a small summary overview of the controversies.

Philosophy, religion, or politics
For topics about a particular point of view – such as philosophies (Idealism, Naturalism, Existentialism), political outlooks (Capitalism, Marxism), or religion (Islam, Christianity, Atheism) – it will usually be appropriate to have a "Criticism" section or "Criticism of ..." subarticle. Integrating criticism into the main article can cause confusion because readers may misconstrue the critical material as representative of the philosophy's outlook, the political stance, or the religion's tenets.

Approaches to presenting criticism
Approaches to incorporating criticism are as follows, listed from most to least desirable:

Integrated throughout the article
The best approach to incorporating critical reception into the encyclopedia is to integrate it into the article, in a way that does not disrupt the article's flow. The article should be divided into sections based on topics, timeline, or theme – not viewpoint. Negative and positive critiques should be interwoven throughout the topical or thematic sections.

"Reception" or "Response" section
An acceptable approach to including criticisms in Wikipedia articles is to separate the description of a topic from a description of how the topic was received. The latter section may be titled "Reception", "Response", "Reviews" or "Reactions". These sections include both negative and positive assessments. This approach usually conforms to the WP neutrality policy, because it avoids being "all negative" or "exclusively laudatory" about the topic.

"Criticism" section
A section dedicated to negative material is sometimes appropriate, if the sources treat the negative material as an organic whole, and if readers would be better served by seeing all the negative material in one location. However, sections dedicated to negative material may violate the NPOV policy and may be a troll magnet, which can be harmful if it leads to users with strong opinions dominating the article but may simplify maintenance of the article if unhelpful edits are limited to a single section. In 2006 User:Jimbo Wales  weighed in on the question:  "In many cases they [criticism sections] are necessary, and in many cases they are not necessary.  And I agree with the view expressed by others that often, they are a symptom of bad writing.  That is, it isn't that we should not include the criticisms, but that the information should be properly incorporated throughout the article rather than having a troll magnet section of random criticisms."

Many criticism sections found in articles are present because editors collected negative material, but have not had the time to properly integrate the negative material into the other sections of the article. Such negative sections should be tagged with a    or      to notify other editors that more work is needed to integrate the material.

Sometimes a section is created to describe a significant criticism made by a notable critic. In these situations, the section title should be something like "View of Maria Smith" or "Reaction of the NY Times", and should avoid the word "criticism" in the section title.

Separate articles devoted to criticism
Creating separate articles with the sole purpose of grouping the criticisms or to elaborate individual points of criticism on a certain topic is generally considered a POV fork. Content forking states that "Wikipedia articles should not be split into multiple articles solely so each can advocate a different stance on the subject." For example the "Criticism" section of Igor Stravinsky should not be moved to a separate article such as "Criticism of Igor Stravinsky". Dedicated "Criticism of ..." articles are sometimes appropriate for organizations, businesses, philosophies, religions, or political outlooks, provided the sources justify it;  see the "Philosophy, religion, or politics" section above for details.

Reception history articles
A dedicated "Reception history" or "History of criticism" article may be acceptable for certain literary, historical, or artistic topics, if  the sources justify it. Such articles should describe the historical progression of the criticism, as well as documenting both the positive and negative reception. The "main" article should have a summary style type of section summarizing the "reception history", and properly linking to the subsidiary article (for the Tacitean studies example this is the "Studies and reception history" section in the Tacitus article).

Separate articles devoted to controversies
Articles dedicated to controversies about a topic are generally discouraged, for many of the same reasons discussed above for criticism-related material. Articles dedicated to a controversy may be appropriate if the reliable sources on the topic discuss the controversies as an independent topic. Examples of articles devoted to a controversy include Whaling controversy, Global warming controversy, 2008 Olympics controversies and Scientology controversies.