[Wikipedia-l] Are we running out of sources

[Thomas Dalton]

2009/8/8 Lars Aronsson <lars at aronsson.se>:
> Should I use the journalist's Linkedin profile as a source?  I
> don't think that is acceptable.  All sorts of lies could hide
> there.  And users could remove themselves from Linkedin or edit
> their profile at any time.  Old issues of Who's who don't change,
> they are a stable reference.

Primary sources are useful, but only for certain things. Linkedin
could never be the main source for an article.

> But the fact is, Who's who is/was also based on user-submitted
> autobiographies.  The editors made a list of people who "should"
> be in there, and sent invitations with a form where the person
> could fill in details about family, education, career,
> publications, awards, and hobbies.  I'm not sure how the editors
> fact checked the entries.  Perhaps the risk of public shame was
> enough to keep people from lying.

What makes you think people didn't lie?