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Talk:Disappearance of Madeleine McCann

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Good articleDisappearance of Madeleine McCann has been listed as one of the Social sciences and society good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.
On this day... Article milestones
DateProcessResult
May 10, 2007Articles for deletionKept
June 5, 2007Good article nomineeNot listed
August 3, 2007Good article nomineeListed
August 11, 2007Articles for deletionKept
September 28, 2007Good article reassessmentKept
February 10, 2008Articles for deletionSpeedily kept
February 18, 2008Peer reviewReviewed
January 2, 2014Good article reassessmentKept
On this day... Facts from this article were featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on May 3, 2016, May 3, 2017, and May 3, 2023.
Current status: Good article

How does this not violate NPOV

[edit]

Saying "Her parents were subjected to intense scrutiny and baseless allegations of involvement in her death, particularly in the tabloid press and on Twitter" and only much later mentioning that many of these allegations came after the British Cadaver/Blood dogs identified the smell of a dead body in the McCann's room in Praia de Luz seems to contradict. It is a valid point of view that Madeline was never kidnapped. The original detective on the case, Amaral, though so, and so does criminal profiler Pat Brown. It seems unjust to call that theory "baseless." Wfazers (talk) 07:00, 15 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The lead paragraphs summarise the article and can't mention everything. The fact that Amaral believes what he does is covered further up in the lead. Pretty much everything in this case is a theory, and as such, we have to be particularly mindful of Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons. Wikipedia doesn't deal in "points of view", valid or not. It deals in sourced content. These theories about her not having been kidnapped have been widely covered in the media, and generally dismissed, so that is what Wikipedia records. Lard Almighty (talk) 08:26, 15 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Having been widely dismissed does not make a theory "baseless", especially when such a theory is given a solid base later in the Wikipedia article. It seems like saying it is "baseless" is more bias than saying that the police don't currently suspect the McCanns of covering up their daughter's death. Wfazers (talk) 08:35, 15 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The McCanns have not been charged, let alone convicted of any involvement in what happened to Madeleine. Therefore, per Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons the allegations that they were involved are indeed "baseless". Indeed, some of the allegations made in the tabloids were baseless, in the sense that they were basically made up. That is why most tabloids are not considered WP:RS. Lard Almighty (talk) 08:42, 15 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Tabloids are baseless but the theory itself is not,
"Her parents were subjected to intense scrutiny and baseless allegations of involvement in her death" by itself is an incorrect statement. The part about the tabloids comes after.
Didn't the Portuguese Supreme Court rule that the Mccanns had not been officially cleared? I understand not accusing the Mccans on a public platform, but saying that a valid theory is "baseless" is just incorrect. That is what I object to. Wfazers (talk) 09:00, 15 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Please read the sources that this statement is based on (click the little a). The mention of tabloids is part of the same sentence. As I said, per WP:BLP the statements are baseless as they have no proven basis in fact, but I'm quite happy to change baseless to 'completely untrue' which is a direct quote from one of the sources. Lard Almighty (talk) 09:10, 15 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I did read the sources, I've read most of them a long time ago. Even a qualifier such as "This theory has been labeled as 'completely untrue'" would even be better than 'baseless' which is factually wrong. Wfazers (talk) 09:15, 15 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
According to Wikipedia:BLP it is in fact baseless because it has no basis in fact. The guilt or innocence of the McCanns has never been tested in a court of law, and therefore they remain innocent, and any statement to the contrary is indeed baseless. That is what Wikipedia must state, without qualifier, even as it records that various theories were advanced. It really is that simple.Lard Almighty (talk) 09:24, 15 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
You don't see anything like this for many other people accused of high-profile crimes. There is a whole section on the Killing of Jonbenet Ramsey about the Theory of a Parent vs. The Theory of an Intruder. Wfazers (talk) 09:33, 15 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
And the theories and accusations are mentioned here, just not given undue weight. And until they are tested in a court of law and the McCanns are found guilty of involvement in Madeleine's disappearance, these theories remain baseless, and Wikipedia must refer to them as such. Please read WP:BLP. Lard Almighty (talk) 09:47, 15 July 2024 (UTC).[reply]
The Ramseys were similarly never convicted nor indicted. No matter how many wiki rules you link me to (which I have read before) I still disagree with the word "baseless." Wfazers (talk) 09:54, 15 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Hmm. You seem to have a great deal of knowledge of Wikipedia policies for an editor who only started editing today. Lard Almighty (talk) 09:56, 15 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, my grandma tells me I am a genius on-par with Einstein (and also a very handsome young man). But even with my super level of intellect, I'll never understand why many Wikipedia editors like to state things which are factually wrong. Wfazers (talk) 10:00, 15 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]