Mormonism and Wikipedia/Joseph Smith, Jr.

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First Vision

A FAIR Analysis of Wikipedia: An analysis of Wikipedia article "Joseph Smith" A work by a collaboration of authors (Link to Wikipedia article here) Mormonism and Wikipedia,

Golden plates

Note: This page serves as either an index for or a review of claims and/or responses to attacks on LDS Church made by this online work. The work reviewed is the product of an online collaboration of various authors of varying degrees of faith or skepticism. FAIR has noted particularly bad scholarship related to the research contained in this particular work and/or considers significant elements of this work to be "anti-Mormon" in tone or content. The name Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. Wikipedia content is copied and made available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

High Level Summary
Title	Wikipedia article "Joseph Smith"
Type	Website
Author(s)	Controlling editors COgden (primary), John Foxe (secondary)
Affiliation	LDS (COgden); Protestant (Foxe)
Accuracy	Excessive amounts of original research based upon synthesis of primary source material. Negative aspects emphasized, with positive aspects subdued, relegated to footnotes, or omitted.
Temple content	None

An analysis of Wikipedia article "Joseph Smith"  Updated 9/3/2011

The following sub-articles analyze sections of the Wikipedia "Joseph Smith" article. We do not address the introductory section. The sections examined are the following:

• Early years (1805–1827) (Link)
• Founding a church (1827–30) (Link)
• Life in Ohio (1831–38) (Link)
• Life in Missouri (1838–39) (Link)
• Life in Nauvoo, Illinois (1839–44) (Link)
• Death (Link)
• Distinctive views and teachings (Link)
• Legacy (Link)

Mormonism and Wikipedia

FAIR's Wikipedia Article Reviews

• A FAIR Analysis of Wikipedia article "Martin Harris" (Link)
• A FAIR Analysis of Wikipedia article "Oliver Cowdery" (Link)
• A FAIR Analysis of Wikipedia article "First Vision"—
  Current review is based upon Wikipedia revision dated 9/17/2011. This article has undergone moderate improvements in its use of sources since our last review. The article still contains a substantial amount of original research based upon primary sources, with the intent to disprove the vision and highlight perceived discrepancies between vision accounts. Believing scholars are labeled "apologists" in an attempt to diminish their credibility. (Link)
• A FAIR Analysis of Wikipedia article "Joseph Smith"—
  Current review is based upon Wikipedia revision dated 9/3/2011. This article has undergone substantial improvements in its use of sources since our initial review in 2009. Most of the citations are now accurately represented. (Link)
• A FAIR Analysis of Wikipedia article "Golden plates"—
  Current review is based upon Wikipedia revision dated 9/21/2011. This article has undergone only minor improvements in its use of sources since our last review. The article contains a large amount of original research on the part of the wiki editors. (Link)
• A FAIR Analysis of Wikipedia article "Three Witnesses"—
  Current review is based upon Wikipedia revision dated 9/28/2011. This article has been constructed in such a way as to discredit the witnesses by emphasizing any perceived contradictions in their various statements regarding their encounter with the gold plates. (Link)

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