Wikipedia talk:Vagueness
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Regulation Change
[edit]The regulations have changed and the content of the page is invalid. EME requirements has changed. RS — Preceding unsigned comment added by 197.87.180.236 (talk) 05:27, 2 November 2015 (UTC)
- Please tell us your conserns
- — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:640:8303:af20:1c1c:8d71:609b:e5f6 (talk) 03:37, 28 May 2020 (UTC)
Merge?
[edit]It appears that this essay covers the same scope as MOS:WTW, to which this page should probably be merged with. 2600:1700:A2A0:FB50:951E:9D9A:F168:AF9F (talk) 03:58, 21 April 2021 (UTC)
- Support; merge into #Expressions that lack precision in the corresponding article --Firestar464 (talk) 03:15, 20 May 2021 (UTC)
Confusing unclear
[edit]These are subjective qualifications. So be more clear as well. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Koitus~nlwiki (talk • contribs) 23:57, 23 June 2021 (UTC)
Wikipedia:Vague and WP:Vague now redirect here (to WP:Vagueness). I submitted it on Wikipedia:How to make a redirect ✔
— Massmediazealot (talk) 08:55, 4 February 2023 (UTC)
Merge with Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch ?
[edit]I agree with @2600:1700:A2A0:FB50:951E:9D9A:F168:AF9F and @Firestar464 above that these articles overlap and should be merged.
I will add "See also: Wikipedia:Please clarify and Wikipedia:Vagueness" to:
- Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch#Expressions that lack precision
- Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Vocabulary#Subset terms
—Massmediazealot (talk) 09:23, 4 February 2023 (UTC)
Situations where vagueness should be allowed
[edit]Some of best works of popularizing science include not only results, but also methods to reach those results (e.g. works of Michael Faraday, Isaac Asimov, Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Richard Feynman).
If I were addressing Feynmann's methods in Wikipedia, and citing his speech when he accepted his Nobel Prize in Physics, where he talked about how he searched for the solutions he was awarded that prize for, I would need to use so called weasel words, and vaguenes, because (s)he used them then.
An example from Feynmann's speech at the banquet then, with most of what might be unclear, tagged:[1]
Your Majesty,[who?] Your Royal Highnesses[which?], Ladies[who?] and Gentlemen.[who?]
The work I have done[clarification needed][when?] has, already, been adequately rewarded and recognized.[when?][by whom?]
Imagination reaches out repeatedly trying to achieve some higher level[which?] of understanding,[clarification needed] until suddenly[when?] I find myself momentarily alone before one new corner[which?] of nature’s pattern of beauty[clarification needed] and true majesty[clarification needed] revealed[by whom?]. That[clarification needed] was my reward.
Then, having fashioned tools[which?] to make access easier to the new level[which?], I see these tools used by other men[who?]{{sexism}} straining their imaginations against further mysteries beyond[which?][where?]. There,[where?] are my votes of recognition[by whom?].
How it should be - from Feynmann's speech at the Nobel Banquet:[1]
Your Majesty, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen.
The work I have done has, already, been adequately rewarded and recognized.
Imagination reaches out repeatedly trying to achieve some higher level of understanding, until suddenly I find myself momentarily alone before one new corner of nature’s pattern of beauty and true majesty revealed. That was my reward.
Then, having fashioned tools to make access easier to the new level, I see these tools used by other men straining their imaginations against further mysteries beyond. There, are my votes of recognition.
Feynmann was notable as a speaker, and a lecturer of distinction; this quote was taken from his speech published by (and is cited to) a hopefully W:RS publisher.
Please, don't misuse such templates like I did here. And please, don't remove this whole section, if nobody addresses these claims about vagueness etc. for too long (and clears whole section out, as I have seen done in articles by too overburdenend, and a bit fast-fingered, patrollers). Regards,
References
- ^ a b Richard P. Feynman. "Richard P. Feynman's speech at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, December 10, 1965". The Nobel Prize.
Marjan Tomki SI (talk) 01:55, 24 May 2024 (UTC)
Restoration of long ago vandalized contents
[edit]Patrollers missed several contents removals (usually because several overlapped).
- I am doing my best to manually return numerical example removed in 2016 [1] when user:Noyster missed Vandal removal of contents and only saw remaining words of the example left without meaning, and removed them. Contents in question in Wikipedia:Vagueness#Numbers without things seem to be added to by user:Rfc1394 and created as [2] by user:Tom Morris.
- I am also returning contents of the removed complete section wikipedia:Vagueness#Chronological items, removed by IP vandal in 2013 [3], which was also missed by patrollers, worked on by user:Tony1 and created by user:Ohms law in 2011.
- This [4] about nouns might be clearer (if less encyclopedic) then current version, but I am leaving it be for the moment.
Some minor corrections could be still needed in the restored material. Marjan Tomki SI (talk) 22:01, 13 May 2025 (UTC)
