View source for Wiki143:Do not create hoaxes

{{Short description|Wikipedia content guideline}}
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{{subcat guideline|content guideline|Hoaxes|WP:HOAX|WP:NOHOAXES|WP:DNCH|WP:DONTHOAX}}
{{Nutshell
|Do not deliberately ''add'' hoaxes, incorrect information, or unverifiable content to articles.
|Articles ''about'' notable hoaxes are acceptable, if the hoax is recognized as such.}}
{{Guideline list}}

'''Do not create hoaxes on Wikipedia.''' Doing so would damage Wikipedia and your reputation. A [[hoax]] is an attempt to trick an audience into believing that something false is real. Since Wikipedia is an "encyclopedia anyone can edit", it has been abused to create hoaxes.

==Do not create hoaxes==
Please do not attempt to put [[disinformation]] into Wikipedia to [[Breaching experiment|test our ability to detect and remove it]]. This has been done before, with varying results. Most hoaxes are marked for deletion within a few hours of being created. However, some very sophisticated hoaxes, such as articles about made-up historical individuals with detailed biographical information and fake references, have lasted for several years before being detected. These hoax articles [[WP:Wikipedia is not a reliable source|hurt the reputation of Wikipedia as an encyclopedia.]]

It has been tried, tested, and confirmed: it is indeed possible to insert hoaxes into Wikipedia, just as it is possible to [[WP:Profanity|insert profanity]] ([[WP:NOTCENSORED|it's an uncensored encyclopedia, after all]]).  This is an inevitable consequence of being a [[Wikipedia:Introduction|free encyclopedia that anyone can edit]]. A hoax is simply a more obscure, less obvious form of [[Wikipedia:Vandalism|vandalism]], and perpetrators of hoaxes are subject to [[Wikipedia:Blocking policy|blocking]] and [[Wikipedia:Banning policy|banning]]. 

Disinformation on Wikipedia misleads readers, causing them to make errors with real-world consequences, including hurt feelings, public embarrassment,<ref>See e.g. [[United Arab Emirates national football team#Nicknames|the Asian Football Confederation controversy]] and the Roger Vinson hoax at [[Wikipedia:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia]]</ref> reprints of books,<ref>See for example the Rosie the Riveter hoax at [[Wikipedia:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia]]</ref> lost points on school assignments, and other costs. Some hoaxes about living people may be defamatory, which could expose Wikipedia to legal consequences (see [[Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons]]). With some articles, like medical topics ([[COVID-19]] for instance), they could even lead to injury or death. Additionally, maintaining and improving hoax articles requires resources that volunteers could be dedicating to useful topics. Although it is important to read Wikipedia critically and to try to improve the reliability of its content, it is best to do this directly, by correcting false information, rather than by "testing" the system by creating a hoax article or content to see if Wikipedia will detect the hoax.

If you are interested in how accurate Wikipedia is, a more constructive test method is to try to find inaccurate statements that are already in Wikipedia, and then to check to see how long they have been in place and, if possible, correct them. Put simply, [[WP:POINT|don't disrupt Wikipedia to illustrate a point]].

==Verifiability==
Wikipedia requires material to be [[Wikipedia:Verifiability|verifiable]] to a reliable published source. If challenged, the burden is on the original author to prove the claims in the article. Thus, it is futile to try to continue a hoax once it is under scrutiny of Wikipedia editors if the general population does not already believe it external to Wikipedia. Moreover, if a hoaxer has already successfully tricked the public, then they need not create an article themselves; someone else will do it.

==Hoaxes, versus articles {{em|about}} hoaxes==
{{Shortcut|WP:NHOAX}}
Wikipedia does have articles {{em|about}} notable hoaxes [[List of hoaxes|describing them {{em|as}} hoaxes]], such as [[Piltdown Man]] or the [[The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama)|War of the Worlds]] broadcast. Wikipedia also has encyclopedia articles {{em|about}} notable hoaxes that have formerly existed on Wikipedia (such as [[Jar'Edo Wens hoax]] or [[Henryk Batuta hoax]]). This is completely different from an article presenting a hoax as factual.

For example, this is a [[hoax]]:

{{quote|A memorable and crowded meeting of the [[Geological Society of London|Geological Society]] was held in Burlington House, [[London]], on December 18, to hear a paper read "On the Discovery of a [[Paleolithic]] [[Human]] [[Skull]] and [[Mandible]] in a Flint-bearing Gravel overlying the Wealden (Hastings Beds) at [[Piltdown]], Fletching (Sussex),)" by [[Charles Dawson]], F.S.A., F.G.S., and [[Arthur Smith Woodward]], LL.D... Professor [[Grafton Elliot Smith|G. Elliot Smith]] was called on to give an account of his investigation on the cast of the [[cranium|cranial cavity]], and he pointed out that, while the general shape and size of the [[brain]] was human, the arrangement of the meningeal arteries was typically [[simian]], as was a deep notch in the [[occipital region]]; he regarded it as the most ape-like human brain of which we have any knowledge... There can be no doubt that this is a discovery of the greatest importance and will give rise to much discussion. It is the nearest approach we have yet reached to a "missing link," for whatever may be the final verdict as to the systemic position of [[Pithecanthropus erectus]], probably few will deny that [[Piltdown Man|Eoanthropus Dawsoni]] is almost if not quite as much human as simian. The recent discoveries of human remains... are demonstrating that [[European early modern humans|several races of man]] lived in paleolithic times, and we may confidently look forward to new finds which will throw fresh light upon the [[evolution]] of man.<ref>Excerpted from "[http://www.jstor.org/stable/1638494 Eoanthropus dawsoni]", A. G. Haddon, [[Science (journal)|Science]], 1913, a then-contemporary report of Dawson and Woodward's 1912 [http://www.clarku.edu/~piltdown/map_report_finds/discov_paleolith.html On the Discovery of a Paleolithic Human Skull and Mandible...] paper which presented the Piltdown claims as a major scientific advance.</ref>}}

While this is the start of an [[Piltdown Man|article about a hoax]]:

{{quote|The '''Piltdown Man''' was a paleoanthropological [[hoax]] in which [[bone]] fragments were presented as the [[fossil]]ised remains of a previously unknown [[human evolution|early human]]. These fragments consisted of parts of a [[human skull|skull]] and [[Human mandible|jawbone]], said to have been collected in 1912 from a gravel pit at [[Piltdown, East Sussex]], England. The [[Binomial nomenclature|Latin name]] ''Eoanthropus dawsoni'' ("Dawson's dawn-man", after the collector [[Charles Dawson]]) was given to the specimen. The significance of the specimen remained the subject of controversy until it was exposed in 1953 as a [[forgery]], consisting of the lower [[jawbone]] of an [[orangutan]] deliberately combined with the [[cranium]] of a fully developed [[modern human]]. The [[Piltdown Man|Piltdown hoax]] is perhaps the most famous paleoanthropological hoax ever to have been perpetrated. It is prominent for two reasons: the attention paid to the issue of human [[evolution]], and the length of time (more than 40 years) that elapsed from its discovery to its full exposure as a forgery.<ref>Excerpted from Wikipedia's article about the [[Piltdown Man]] as hoax, see article/history (CC BY-SA) for contributor list and sources.</ref>}}

Like anything else, a hoax must be [[Wikipedia:Notability|notable]] to be covered in Wikipedia—for example, a hoax may have received sustained media attention, been believed by thousands of people including academics, or been believed for many years. [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not for things made up one day|Wikipedia is not for things made up one day]].

==Dealing with hoaxes==
{{Shortcut|WP:DWHOAX}}
{{see also|Wikipedia:Vandalism}}
If you see an article or image that may be a hoax, mark it with {{tl|hoax}} or {{tl|image hoax}} and [[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion|list it for deletion discussion]]. If it is indeed found to be a hoax, it is appropriate to warn the user with {{tl|uw-hoax}}.

Hoaxes are generally ''not'' [[WP:SPEEDY|speedy deletion]] candidates. It is usually not enough for just one or two editors to investigate a hoax, as there have been cases in the past where something has been thought to have been a hoax by several editors, but has turned out to be true, and merely obscure. Suspected hoaxes should be investigated thoroughly, and only in extreme cases of blatant and obvious hoaxes should articles be tagged for speedy deletion as {{tl|db-hoax}}. 

Also, completely implausible text may be legitimate descriptions of fictional works that use an [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style (writing about fiction)|inappropriate in-universe style]]. Use [[Help:What links here|"What links here"]] to check if this is the case, and if so rewrite the article in the out-of-universe perspective, or tag the article with {{tl|in-universe}} or {{tl|fiction}}.

==List of hoaxes==
{{Main|Wikipedia:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia}}
This is a list of known historical hoaxes that have been created on Wikipedia. Its purpose is to document hoaxes on Wikipedia, in order to improve our detection and understanding of them. It is considered a hoax if it was a clear or blatant attempt to make up something, as opposed to [[WP:Libel|libel]] or a [[WP:Factual accuracy|factual error]]. A hoax is considered notable if it evaded detection for more than one month or was discussed by [[WP:Reliable sources|reliable sources]] in the media. This list is incomplete, as it is probable that many hoaxes on Wikipedia remain undiscovered.

==See also==
* [[:Category:Wikipedia suspected hoax articles]]
* [[Wikipedia:Article hijacking]]
* [[Wikipedia:Chimera articles]]
* [[Wikipedia:Cuckoo editing]]
* [[Wikipedia:Don't build the Frankenstein]]
* [[Wikipedia:Fictitious references]]
* [[Wikipedia:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia]]
* [[Wikipedia:Fringe theories]]
* [[Wikipedia:Society for the Preservation of the Quazer Beast]]
* [[Wikipedia:Reference hijacking]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*"[[Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2013-02-11/Op-ed|An article is a construct – hoaxes and Wikipedia]]" ''Wikipedia Signpost'' 11 February 2013

==External links==
* [http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/05/how-the-professor-who-fooled-wikipedia-got-caught-by-reddit/257134/ "How the Professor Who Fooled Wikipedia Got Caught by Reddit"]. ''The Atlantic'', May 15, 2012.

{{Wikipedia policies and guidelines}}

[[Category:Wikipedia hoaxes]]