Either one is easy for a determined hoaxer to circumvent. If the only
requirement is an external link, ISBN, ref, etc., the hoaxer can just insert
such a link.
Carl
On 10/3/06, Jake Waskett <jake(a)waskett.org> wrote:
What's troubling is that, for ten months, Wikipedia not only asserted
that an island exists, but had an article documenting 'facts' about it.
That can't have a positive impact on our credibility. (Actually, it may
be that nobody knows, but the fact that they *could* is a problem that,
in my humble opinion, we need to take seriously.)
In keeping with tradition, I'd like to propose a technical solution that
everyone can ignore. ;-)
Suggestion: Automatically insert a suitable template into new/unsourced
text. I'd propose something similar to {{not verified}}.
Model 1: Have the Wiki automatically insert this template into text of a
new article in the main namespace.
Model 2: Have the Wiki automatically subst this template into the
beginning of all articles in the main namespace *unless* the article
contains at least one ISBN/external link/<ref>/etc.
There are pros and cons to each. Model 1 is easy for a determined hoaxer
to circumvent. Model 2 is trickier to implement, requiring either two
passes or a flag to maintain, but more robust. It would also have the
benefit (some might say drawback) of drawing attention to a lot of
*currently* unsourced articles.
Food for thought, anyway.
Jake
On Tue, 2006-10-03 at 08:43 -0400, Carl Peterson wrote:
On 10/2/06, Ray Saintonge
<saintonge(a)telus.net> wrote:
>
> daniwo59(a)aol.com wrote:
>
> The population statistics, making it Lebanon's third largest city, and
> the claim that the population almost tripled since 1982 makes me
wonder
how much
of that population can be attributed to elephants. :-)
Wikiality in action, I tell you. Because Wikipedia (or at least one
Wikipedian) says it exists, it must exist. We can thank Colbert for
giving
us the power to create whole islands (and a
population of 300,000) just
because one of us wants it to exist. Now, by deleting the article, we
have
doomed all these 300,000 people to death as the
island resubmerges. :-)
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