4

It seems the community considers it unreasonable to ask for multiple POVs (POV means point of view). What does the community say about answering with multiple POVs? I personally see many benefits and few downsides, but I'd like to know if others consider this appropriate.

As an example: my answer to To what extent does the Law of Moses still apply?

1

2 Answers 2

7

I agree that it is unfair for a question to demand multiple POV answers, that doesn't make multiple POV answers a bad thing in themselves. In many cases I think answering with multiple POVs is not only acceptable but beneficial. If you have studied a topic and are qualified to make a statement about how other people view something, adding that as balance to an answer is a good thing.

On the other hand, the inclusion of multiple POVs should not be the only measure of a good answer. Some questions will solicit answers from multiple quarters and it is OK to have more than one good answer to a question with each presenting a single view.

Whether answering from a single or multiple point of view, clearly identifying the espoused view is critical to keep the votes from being a popularity content. If I see an answer that says "X" and I think "X" does not represent Christianity I would down-vote it. If I saw an answer that says "Such and such a group believes X" I might upvote it as a good answer even if I think such and such a group isn't even Christian.

5

One of the things specifically stated on the whole StackExchange StackOverflow introduction is that synthesised answers are good. It is unreasonable to expect that every answer encompasses all points of view. However it is a good principle that answers should identify their viewpoint and that multiple viewpoint answers should be voted up compared with single viewpoint answers. In fact I believe this is essential if we don't want to make every answer a vote war.

A good corollary of this is that people should be prepared to take multiple answers from different viewpoints and compile a single answer from them. I would say we need people to devote themselves specifically to that task.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .