[WikiEN-l] Archives as sources proposal

[Guettarda]

Taken at face value, I think that the simple answer to both Oskar and Sean's
questions is yes, thes are OR.

In the case of Oskar's first question, when you read a book to write a
summary, or view a film to write a summary, it constitutes OR.  I suppose
ideally what you should be doing in consulting book or film reviews, and
using them to construct your own.  Why is it a problem?  For the most part,
it probably isn't.  Nonetheless, if you are doing more than relating the
simple facts of the movie, it becomes a creative endeavour, and that isn't a
good thing.

In the case of the number of wives of a famous person or the birth date of
Nancy Reagan, if one of us can find the birth or marriage certificates, then
hopefully so should their biographers.  In the case of Nancy Reagan or
Jennifer Lopez, it amounts to a WP:V issue - and their press agent isn't a
reliable source.

In the case of a discrepancy between what you can find for yourself and what
the article says - I suppose the place to start is with {{fact}} or
something stronger.  Obviously, if you have found the marriage certificate,
why haven't other people?  Or is it that they just aren't famous enough to
have a real biographer?  I'd say it is problematic.  Personally I wouldn't
think twice about trusting Sean's veracity - but the truth is, we don't have
"trusted editors" and in theory, what stands for Sean should stand for any
anon.

I wouldn't have a huge problem with the examples cited, but any alteration
of policy would have to be extremely tightly worded.

Ian