Talk:Wartburg Theological Seminary
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So, I don't suppose the person who nominated this for an NPOV infraction would care to explain why they did so?
There's a note next to my name on the history page; I didn't think it was long enough to write here, and I expected people to look there first. So, I don't suppose you sign your contributions? KyleGarvey 01:44, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
Well, there in the history of this discussion is my name, but here you go - Sagejon. And if you're refering to your note "(in addition to first person, there are major pov issues)" that doesn't exactly explain how you feel this qualifies for an NPOV infraction, does it? And the first person is used in one section only, the section explaining the institution's Mission Statement, doesn't it make sense for an explanation of an institution's mission to include first person plural? The information presented is the stated aim of the Seminary, nothing more nothing less, they never claim that they succeed in this goal, and that is for attendees and those who interact with them to decide, isn't it? A mission statement, being a set of stated goals is by its nature neutral, the POV comes in whether those aims have been acomplished or not or how well(a claim not made on this page). At least that is my opinion.
I thought "first person" was all I needed to say, since all the other problems I had centered around that particular issue. Sorry I didn't put it here; I assumed that was optional. But other than location, my note is sufficient for the NPOV issue. To me, the entire tone of the article is a little arrogant, and that mainly stems from the first person. Mission statements, presented in this way, are no different than advertisements, by the way. You can remove or change the NPOV template if you disagree so strongly. But I think the article's out of place in an encyclopedia, as well as potentially offensive. KyleGarvey 22:45, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
Perhaps I am being overly sensitive as I was the first to create and edit this page and rather than put a lot of stuff out there about Wartburg's history I simply used the stated Mission statement from their website. My reasoning being this: Why would someone want to look up Wartburg Seminary in Wikipedia (or any Encyclopedia for that matter)? I came up with two answers to that question, to know about its history or to know about what they are trying to do as an educational institution (perhaps they were getting a pastor who had graduated from Wartburg, or were considering entering a Seminary themselves). I am working on an entry re: Wartburg's History but have little time and haven't done much with it, I apologize for that. But in an attempt to provide info for the second scenario I imagined, I posted the Seminary's Mission statement. That way anyone interested in Wartburg as an institution would at least know what they are trying to accomplish, and could therefore judge whether that Mission statement were something they saw in a Wartburg grad or if Wartburg would be a good place for them to attend. I haven't taken the NPOV off mysef because I wanted to know the reasoning behind it, I respect other people's opinions and apologize if I came off as unreasonably defensive. -Sagejon
I completely respect that reasoning, and maybe WP is fluid and malleable enough to put undigested stuff out there. But I think of this site as a repository for clean, informative, factual information. Until you can finish the article as you intended, I'm not so sure it belongs up here. Maybe you could add a "Work in progress" statement of some sort at the top in italics...? KyleGarvey 00:00, 19 April 2006 (UTC)
Hope my recent edits seem okay, I've started work again on the History of Wartburg Seminary info, but can only pick at that occaisionally until the summer.--Sagejon 20:32, 19 April 2006 (UTC)