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On another StackExchange site (https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/questions/270097/remove-outliers-in-boxwhiskerchart?noredirect=1#comment674078_270097), I've run into resistance because of my mentioning about potential ethical issues with removing the display of "outliers" from a standard box-and-whisker plot.

Are ethical concerns considered "off topic" here?

I have not noticed any questions with potential ethical issues at this site but I certainly don't read all of the questions.

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    $\begingroup$ We see comments about the inadvisability or potential unforeseen or bad consequences of proposed procedures all the time. However, comments that cross the line over to insinuations or accusations of ethical impropriety would generate the same kinds of reactions here as they did on the Mathematica site. $\endgroup$
    – whuber Mod
    Commented Jun 29, 2022 at 19:17
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    $\begingroup$ @whuber It was not the removal of outliers but rather the erasing of inconvenient data points from a display created with those outliers. That "defacing" of the original graphic caused me to make the comment about data tampering. $\endgroup$
    – JimB
    Commented Jun 29, 2022 at 20:02
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    $\begingroup$ The pushback appears to be not against the message (which is correct and needed to be articulated) but against the way in which it seemed to accuse the OP of intending something nefarious. One way to get your message across would be to ask it as a question rather than employing the imperative, categorical "don't do it." For instance, "Because one point of the boxplot is to highlight such 'outlying' data and their automatic removal could be misinterpreted, maybe there are other options. Could you explain what you hope this will accomplish?" $\endgroup$
    – whuber Mod
    Commented Jun 29, 2022 at 20:26
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    $\begingroup$ @whuber Good point. I still have a ways to go on my diplomacy skills. $\endgroup$
    – JimB
    Commented Jun 29, 2022 at 20:42

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Users do sometimes raise ethical concerns with regards to questions or answers on Cross Validated, & I don't recall any occasion on which they were contested as being off-topic. Recently an 'ethics' tag was proposed, though it hasn't yet been created. All the same, an unqualified equation of outlier removal to "data tampering" would likely be challenged here too.

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    $\begingroup$ I see that I wasn't very clear with my objections about the Mathematica SE question. My objection was not about outlier removal but that a standard graphical display was going to be modified to erase the outliers. Had the outliers been removed and then a new box-and-whisker plot created with the remaining data, that would not warrant my response. It was the erasing of the inconvenient data points from the original display which is what the OP was asking for. $\endgroup$
    – JimB
    Commented Jun 29, 2022 at 19:59
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    $\begingroup$ The question's perhaps ambiguous, but I'd say the same thing anyway. (Plotting individual outliers isn't so standard - the boxplot function in R has an argument controlling whether they're plotted or not, & I often see boxplots in which they're not, especially for large data-sets. There's certainly no sin when you're clear about what you're showing, as the comments on the post you link to also state.) $\endgroup$
    – Scortchi - Reinstate Monica Mod
    Commented Jun 29, 2022 at 20:22

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