On 10/07/06, poore5@adelphia.net poore5@adelphia.net wrote:
Wikipedia has no way to verify information, seek clarity, or simply get a response. For this reason it is essential that we stick with reliable third party sources and sparingly use primary sources to fill in details for already verified incidents.
The problem is that here we have an interdiction against using a medium for a primary source ("...as is demonstrated by the fact Smith made a post to Usenet in June [1] stating he still held that black was white...") which *also* prevents us using anything published through that medium as a tertiary source ("...as has been shown by Smith's extensive research into monography<ref>"Summary of recent work". Smith. Post to sci.research.black-white</ref>").
This guideline is foolishly thought-out at best, and actively problematic at worst.