2009/8/8 Lars Aronsson lars@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?