[WikiEN-l] Archives as sources proposal

[Oskar Sigvardsson]

Honestly, the verifiability argument doesn't fly at all with me. If
you pick information out of an archive, it's most certainly
verifiable, someone else can check it out as well. I realise that that
is a hassle, but that doesn't change the fact that it is verfiable.

How about, as a compromise, if someone would like to include a source
from an archive, they are required to submit a copy of the document,
so everyone can see it for themselves.

The WP:NOR argument is better, but it's still sketchy. WP:NOR is kinda
devious, and if we take it to an absolute, one might arrive at strange
conclusions. The classic case is book summaries, that you can't write
a book summary based solely on the book, because then you might be
construed as doing research about it (this is obviously ridiculusly
exagerrated (I have no idea whether I spelled any of those two words
right), but one could make that argument).

The fact is, it's really hard to define research in this context. How
is looking up someones birth certificate in an archive worse than
looking it up on the internet?Technically, they're both research.
Honestly, I'd prefer it if the info got directly from the source. Same
thing with things such as trial transcripts, if we quote someone from
a trial, I'd prefer it if we knew excactly, word by word, what they
were saying instead of trusting a third party.

As long as you don't do analysis, and pick your information straight
from the source, document it and be sure other people can see it too,
what's the big deal? How is that any different from looking up
information on the internet or in a magazine from half a century ago?
Especially so if we make them provide a copy of the document.

--Oskar

On 4/12/06, Garion1000 <garion1000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Wikipedia:Archives as sources <WikiEN-l at Wikipedia.org>
>
> There is a proposal going on to alter the No Original Research policy.
>
> Just in case people missed it.
>
> Garion96
> _______________________________________________
> WikiEN-l mailing list
> WikiEN-l at Wikipedia.org
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
> http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
>