Wikipedia psoriasis article needs work
Wikipedia, the "free encyclopedia that anyone can edit," is currently the 12th most visited web site in the world--a phenomenal success. Its listings get tons of hits.
So it is very important that its psoriasis entry be accurate. Right now, the entry is excellent in many respects, although we might quibble that fish that nibble on psoriasis in Turkey get as many lines (3) as the new biologics that are transforming people's lives.
But there is one thing we believe is a significant mistake that harms psoriasis patients: the people in charge of the psoriasis site have banished all links to other websites at the end of the psoriasis entry. Called "External Links," these typically provide interested visitors with other places they can go to learn more, or to get active in finding a cure, or writing to Congress, etc. Go to the bottom of the listings for autism and for cancer to see how Wikipedia treats other diseases. For autism, it includes external links broken down into "general information," "community," and "research/advocacy." For cancer, it is broken down by "professional and research" and "support and advocacy."
One of the most important things someone with any disease can do is advocacy related to the disease, which is why both the autism and the cancer listings (as well as the listings for many other disease) include advocacy links at the bottom.
Right now, the many, many people who rely on Wikipedia for their psoriasis knowledge leave without even having the opportunity to learn that they could easily write to Congress, or NIH, or a letter to the editor of their local newspaper, or plan a visit to their lawmakers, etc. This is wrong, and it (once again) trivializes psoriasis, since entries for other diseases do not block these links.
The good news is YOU can change this. Anyone can go to Wikipedia and add links to the psoriasis entry. It takes a few minutes to figure out the correct format, but it could help a LOT of people.
We would do it ourselves except that Wikipedia's rules frown on self-serving edits. Since we believe that, at a minimum, the National Psoriasis Foundation (www.psoriasis.org) and Psoriasis Cure Now (www.psoriasis-cure-now.org) both should be included under Wikipedia's psoriasis entry's (currently deleted) External Links, we can't make those edits because it would be (partially) self-serving. But YOU can.
(A link to Ben Franklin's writings on psoriasis would also be a sensible addition to the Wikipedia entry, but we think the advocacy aspect is far more important to be there.)
So please, if you have a few minutes, please add the National Psoriasis Foundation, Psoriasis Cure Now, and other useful external links to Wikipedia's psoriasis entry. Autism, cancer and countless other disease entries have these links, as they should. People with psoriasis deserve no less.
So it is very important that its psoriasis entry be accurate. Right now, the entry is excellent in many respects, although we might quibble that fish that nibble on psoriasis in Turkey get as many lines (3) as the new biologics that are transforming people's lives.
But there is one thing we believe is a significant mistake that harms psoriasis patients: the people in charge of the psoriasis site have banished all links to other websites at the end of the psoriasis entry. Called "External Links," these typically provide interested visitors with other places they can go to learn more, or to get active in finding a cure, or writing to Congress, etc. Go to the bottom of the listings for autism and for cancer to see how Wikipedia treats other diseases. For autism, it includes external links broken down into "general information," "community," and "research/advocacy." For cancer, it is broken down by "professional and research" and "support and advocacy."
One of the most important things someone with any disease can do is advocacy related to the disease, which is why both the autism and the cancer listings (as well as the listings for many other disease) include advocacy links at the bottom.
Right now, the many, many people who rely on Wikipedia for their psoriasis knowledge leave without even having the opportunity to learn that they could easily write to Congress, or NIH, or a letter to the editor of their local newspaper, or plan a visit to their lawmakers, etc. This is wrong, and it (once again) trivializes psoriasis, since entries for other diseases do not block these links.
The good news is YOU can change this. Anyone can go to Wikipedia and add links to the psoriasis entry. It takes a few minutes to figure out the correct format, but it could help a LOT of people.
We would do it ourselves except that Wikipedia's rules frown on self-serving edits. Since we believe that, at a minimum, the National Psoriasis Foundation (www.psoriasis.org) and Psoriasis Cure Now (www.psoriasis-cure-now.org) both should be included under Wikipedia's psoriasis entry's (currently deleted) External Links, we can't make those edits because it would be (partially) self-serving. But YOU can.
(A link to Ben Franklin's writings on psoriasis would also be a sensible addition to the Wikipedia entry, but we think the advocacy aspect is far more important to be there.)
So please, if you have a few minutes, please add the National Psoriasis Foundation, Psoriasis Cure Now, and other useful external links to Wikipedia's psoriasis entry. Autism, cancer and countless other disease entries have these links, as they should. People with psoriasis deserve no less.
posted by Psoriasis Cure Now at 10:47 PM
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