[WikiEN-l] Original research

[David Alexander Russell]

Ever heard of the Wayback Machine? (internetarchive.org)

Cynical

Keith D. Tyler wrote:
> David Alexander Russell wrote:
>   
>> Yes but in written sources you have just that - a written record of what 
>> was said and who said it. That is the difference in credibility between 
>> an official press release by the airport and you phoning up some bozo in 
>> the airport's customer services department
>>
>> Cynical
>>
>>     
>
>
> That's not at all true of Web sites, and anyone who's been on it for any 
> significant period of time knows this. Web sites are very dynamic and 
> pages and even whole sites often disappear without a trace 
> (notwithstanding Google cache and Internet Archive).
>
> What happens if I use as a reference a website that has disappeared in 
> the time since I added the information? It then becomes unverifiable. 
> Presumably the info, like the website it was sourced from, must disappear?
>
> Kdt
>
>   
>> Keith D. Tyler wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> Stan Shebs wrote:
>>>  
>>>
>>>       
>>>> Keith D. Tyler wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>    
>>>>
>>>>         
>>>>> 2. I call Boeing Field on the phone and ask them how many planes fly in and out 
>>>>> every day.
>>>>>
>>>>>      
>>>>>           
>>>> Thanks, but no thanks. This has all kinds of verifiability problem -
>>>> who answers the phone? Are they working from records, or BSing you
>>>>         
>>> >from memory so as to get you to hang up and stop bothering them?
>>>       
>>>> What if I call them later, and get a different answer; do I delete
>>>> your number as out of date, or start accumulating a long list of
>>>> answers from random phone calls?
>>>>
>>>>    
>>>>         
>>> Excellent question. And the answer is the same as what you would do if 
>>> different published sources have different numbers, or what you would do 
>>> if a verifiable web site was updated with new numbers since the time 
>>> it's information was added to WP.
>>>
>>> Attributable personal contact to an identifiable authority does not 
>>> introduce new problems that don't already present themselves in the 
>>> approved methods of research. The notion that a personal contact results 
>>> in irreconcilability or potential for inaccuracy is a disingenuous straw 
>>> man. If these were issues isolated to personal contact, I could see the 
>>> problem. But they simply and plainly are not; they occur in print and 
>>> online sourcing as well.
>>>
>>> Kdt
>>>
>>>  
>>>
>>>       
>>>> There are millions of good print resources in the world; I'd be
>>>> happy if people actually finished the job of representing their
>>>> content in WP, rather than fool around with marginal cases.
>>>>
>>>> Stan
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> WikiEN-l mailing list
>>>> WikiEN-l at Wikipedia.org
>>>> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
>>>> http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
>>>>    
>>>>         
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> WikiEN-l mailing list
>>> WikiEN-l at Wikipedia.org
>>> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
>>> http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  
>>>       
>> _______________________________________________
>> WikiEN-l mailing list
>> WikiEN-l at Wikipedia.org
>> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
>> http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
>>     
>
> _______________________________________________
> WikiEN-l mailing list
> WikiEN-l at Wikipedia.org
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
> http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
>
>
>
>
>