[Foundation-l] Ensuring veracity of articles based on print sources

[Lars Aronsson]

Andrew Gray wrote:

> Requiring an ISBN is in many ways misleadingly precise...

Is this a strawman argument?  Is anybody requiring ISBNs today?

Since many books don't have ISBNs, always requiring an ISBN would 
be misguided.  But giving ISBNs should in general be encouraged.

ISBNs are very useful, even if they aren't unique identifiers for 
a source.  The same source, or an equally good source, such as 
later editions or translations of the same book, can have many 
different ISBNs.  Often times, a page number (as given in the 
{{cite book}} template), are relevant only with one ISBN, since 
later editions or translations might offset the pagination.

Detailed and correct bibliographic references don't guarantee that 
the cited source supports the reported facts, but it makes it so 
much easier to look it up.


-- 
  Lars Aronsson (lars at aronsson.se)
  Aronsson Datateknik - http://aronsson.se