On Sun, Dec 12, 2004 at 01:30:24AM +0000, wikien-l-request@Wikipedia.org wrote:
What we need is to encourage a culture of including references.
I'm happy if I can get a good book or two referenced, and an external link or so to corroborate. I am totally against having to footnote everything. That is a lame way to have to write - training wheels for Ph.D. students.
Basic point for me, in fact becoming fundamental: WP is not an academic institution, and can't afford 'guild restrictions'. Leaving the question of what it is.
I understand your objection, and note another one from a different perspective: Adam Carr, a history academic who has been a profilic and high-quality contributor to the Australia-related articles, notes that often his work is the distillation of hundreds of different things he has read on the topic. This is particularly the case with articles on broader topics. Trying to footnote all of this is very, very difficult.
Notwithstanding this, referencing is *essential*. How else are we supposed to fact-check the Wikipedia?