Megalomaniacal point of view
From Meta
English (en) · Español (es) · Français (fr) · 日本語 (ja) · Slovenčina (sk) · +/-
MPOV, short for Megalomaniacal point of view, is a variation on Neutral point of view. It should not be confused with My Point of View, which is usually just abbreviated as POV.
MPOV is characterized not by a belief that your own personal viewpoints are correct and thus must be represented in Wikipedia — although those who hold a MPOV very often also believe this — but rather by the belief that your own personal viewpoints are neutral. This leads to the associated belief that you are a special expert on the topic, and have particular authority to dictate how the article should read.
- megalomania
- 1890, from Fr. mégalomanie, formed from Gk. megas (gen. megalou) "great" (see mega-) + mania "madness." [1]
[edit] Symptoms of MPOV
You may be suffering from MPOV if:
- You know you're acting in good faith, but assume many others involved are acting in bad faith.
- You believe that all other versions of the article are biased
- You refer to your preferred version as the "NPOV version" in edit summaries
- You believe it is necessary for you to revert the article more than three times a day
- You accuse others of conspiring to produce a bad version of the article
- The other editors say you act as though the article is somehow yours
- You threaten to quit Wikipedia for good if you don't get your way — yet you don't actually leave
- Upon reading this list, you are convinced that most of the people you deal with are suffering from MPOV.
- You believe you are the only one editing from a neutral point of view, and everyone is not.
The following symptoms have been observed in advanced cases:
- Accusing others of forming a cabal or conspiring against you
- Accusing mediation or arbitration committees of pursuing a vendetta against you
- Launching an appeal for the community to chastise a mediation or arbitration group for treating your case unfairly
- Producing a website solely and exclusively about how wikipedia is run by people who aren't interested in neutral content
