Talk:Charles Darwin/Archive 1

message: People are still adding and removing this.  I suggest we vote and the minority have to put up with it. Joe D (t) 22:06, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Sorry, but at this point, there is no way I will accept the results of a vote. None. Not a snow ball's chance in the magma of our planet. I have asked for mediation and will wait for the results of that. Vincent 09:32, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: That's fine, I only really started the vote to point out that you've failed to convince anybody that the fact should be included.  I sugest you do at least stop adding it until you can persuide people of its importance, because until you can it will continue to be removed. --Joe D (t) 23:09, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Vote

message: #-Willmcw 23:09, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Include the fact at the bottom of the page in a trivia section

message: # Joe D (t) 22:06, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Do not include the fact at all

message: #Sam Spade wishes you a merry Christmas! 22:27, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Wikipedia is not a [[majoritocracy]]!

message: Votes are fine to decide issues of style (e.g. the infobox dispute last September) but they do not apply when deciding factual assertions, and here the minority (i.e. Sam Spade, Brutannica, JackOfOZ, Willmcw, , at0, chocolateboy, and me) is right and the majority is wrong. I am willing to settle for a consensus on how the fact is presented, but not on if it is included.
Here are the facts.
1) Lincoln and Darwin were in fact born on the same day.
2) There is precedent for mentioning this particular coincidence in the non-Wiki world, as shown by 4000 google hits.
3) There is precedent within Wiki for mentioning coincidences.
:*C.S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley died on the same day as John F. Kennedy.
:*There is a whole section on how Miguel Cervantes died on the same date in the same year but not the same day as William Shakespeare (in case you're curious think Gregorian vs. Julian calendars).
I am just as tired as everybody else of this silly edit war but the deletions are clearly made because a small group of people (compared to people who are simply reading the article) is deciding what ought to be removed. I submit that if Boldness is the Wiki motto when adding, then Caution should be the motto when deleting. Vincent 04:28, 30 Dec 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: 20:25, 30 Dec 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  One last try 

message: Although I'm Vincent's advocate, I'm also a Harmonious editing club member (actually, if I belong to the HEC or not it doesn't matter). I want you to stop the revert war now and stay on the current (BM's) article until the mediation begins. --Neigel von Teighen 18:10, 30 Dec 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Reverting war 

message: Did you know that on February 11, 1858, exactly one day before Charles Darwin's birthday in the same year when On the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection was published, The Virgin Mary appeared to St Bernadette of Lourdes? I will add it to the article, but I want to know your opinions first. Please vote:
===Votes for including that fact in The Origin of Species section===
Please sign with #~~~~
===Votes for adding a new Virgin Mary section===
Please sign with #~~~~
===Votes for including that fact in the introductory paragraph===
Please sign with #~~~~
===Votes for including that fact in the title===
Please sign with #~~~~
The last option means renaming Charles Darwin to Charles Darwin and Virgin Mary or, alternatively, to The amazing facts about Charles Darwin and Virgin Mary. The voting will end after 7 days, i.e. at 04:00:00 UTC on January 11, 2005, exactly one month before Darwin's 196th birthday.
:Instead of making this poll withou logging in, why don't you try to cooperate and make things easier? --Neigel von Teighen 20:09, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  An interesting fact 

message: Please sign with #~~~~
The last option means renaming Charles Darwin to Charles Darwin and Virgin Mary or, alternatively, to The amazing facts about Charles Darwin and Virgin Mary. The voting will end after 7 days, i.e. at 04:00:00 UTC on January 11, 2005, exactly one month before Darwin's 196th birthday.
:Instead of making this poll withou logging in, why don't you try to cooperate and make things easier? --Neigel von Teighen 20:09, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Votes for including that fact in the title

message: :That discussion is somewhat long - and about something which is not inserted into other articles. In short, no connection between Charles Darwin, an English naturalist, and Abraham Lincoln, an American politician, has been established other than sharing a date of birth. Including the fact that they were born on the same date confuses rather than establishes context: being brought up in early 19th century England being somewhat different to being brought up in early 19th century America. Also, readers can already link to 1809 and :Category:1809 births. Leave it out, jguk 09:18, 9 Jan 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Moved from the main Talk page

message: To put into context how silly, and potentially harmful, the edit war over birthday trivia is, my first impulse was to revert this addition by an anonymous editor to the Ludwig Wittgenstein article today. But if you check the rest of the paragraph, which has been around much longer, you will see that it is both relevant and potentially significant. Quite a contrast to the Darwin/Lincoln birthday which is just a coincidence. -- Solipsist 07:25, 15 Jan 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  ...and Wittgenstein