Wikipedia:Argumentum ad Jimbo: Difference between revisions

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This is an essay.

It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

I think that almost any argument, on any topic, which has premises beginning with "Jimbo said..." is a pretty weak argument. Surely the merits of the proposal should be primary, not what I happen to think. -- Jimbo Wales

Jimbo's status in Wikipedia when it comes to individual articles is nothing special, he is a user just like everybody else. But we should value his opinion as we value any other good user's opinions.

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 {{essay}}
 :''I think that almost any argument, on any topic, which has premises beginning with "Jimbo said..." is a pretty weak argument. Surely the merits of the proposal should be primary, not what I happen to think. -- [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=prev&oldid=62743946 Jimbo Wales]''
+Jimbo's status in Wikipedia when it comes to individual articles is nothing special, he is a user just like everybody else. But we should value his opinion as we value any other good user's opinions.
-The "Argumentum ad Jimbonem" is a [[logical fallacy]] sometimes employed on Wikipedia, made by asserting that one's view is correct since [[User:Jimbo Wales|Jimbo]] holds the same view. There are two things wrong with that. First, it is an [[appeal to authority]] in that Jimbo is not automatically correct in whatever he says. And second, such arguments tend to rely on possibly incorrect interpretation and extrapolation of what Jimbo had said, as well as quotes that are several years out of date. A variation is the "Argumentum ad [[User:Brion VIBBER|Brionem]]".
-Of course we should never ignore what Jimbo and Brion have to say on an issue, and indeed both have the authority to create policy from scratch if they think it necessary. However, we should not base our decisions on a haphazard interpretation of something either of them said on a semi-related matter several years ago.
 [[Category:Wikipedia culture]]