Steve Block wrote:
Isn't that the very definition of a primary source. Something we seem loathe to allow. We can't state that "these words were used in this document on this date". We can't state that this thing existed at this web address on this date. Sorry, but this is the same thing as providing a citation for a factual claim made in an article. The OED make the claim of a specific usage or first usage, and use web sources to provide the citation.
The difference is that OED editors are experts exercising professional judgement and putting their reputations on the line when they make their assertions. For instance, if you look closely, you'll see that they're very careful about claiming to know when a first usage occurred. I don't know how OED does business in the modern age, but I would expect they're screenshotting web pages and keeping them on file permanently, just as they once did for the scraps of paper that contributors sent in.
WP *really* doesn't want much to do with primary sources; very few amateurs even know how to evaluate the trustworthiness of a primary, or how to reconcile multiple contradictory primaries, and we just embarass ourselves when we play at that. Unfortunately many WP editors are unaware of how much they don't know.
Stan