[Foundation-l] Enforcing WP:CITE the Soi case

[Brian]

Ray Saintonge wrote:

> Walter van Kalken wrote:
>
>> Brian wrote:
>>
>>> As Danny has repeatedly mentioned, normal published textbooks, 
>>> including encyclopedias, have every single fact cited and checked 
>>> before the publisher will go on with printing the book. These 
>>> citations aren't made public, but they are done, nonetheless. Why 
>>> should we be any different? This doesn't necessarily mean putting 
>>> 1000 sources in the reference section. There are other options we 
>>> can consider, or new ways of citing content online, that are 
>>> different from the methods used in printed books.
>>
>>
>> Like instead of having the references in and under the article have a 
>> seperate page like a talk page? And we just make "notes" which link 
>> to the references on that "references"page?
>
Well, I think there are better options to consider. One post that was 
made here that has been pretty much ignored is linked below. I talked 
with brion about this, and he said that he thought it would be a big 
step in the right direction, although we should consider this option as 
more of a starting point for branching off ideas, rather than the final 
way it should be:

http://mail.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2005-December/005312.html

I especially like the option to include "cited text" and "paraphrase". 
So, as his sample image shows, we can essentially cite every bit of an 
article, thus becoming as sourced as any published book or encyclopedia, 
but better!.. because our sources are public, whereas with Britannica, 
you have to trust the word of the contributers (and the 
typing/proofreading abilities of their staff). I'm not sure if I like 
his "red box enclosing uncited text" scheme. Another possibility using 
this method would be to lightly highlight text that is not sourced in 
this way.

> The page on which one chooses to put the quotes is only an aesthetic 
> function.  The important thing is that they are findable and public.  
> The purpose of citations is to give the reader the opportunity to 
> verify the data for himself.  He can't do that if the citations are 
> not public.
>
> Ec

Agreed completely. By working to have every bit of our text not only 
cited, but to have their sources public, we would be moving beyond the 
verifiability of other encyclopedias.

brian0918