[WikiEN-l] The new verifiability policy

[Steve Bennett]

On 3/2/06, jayjg <jayjg99 at gmail.com> wrote:
> One of the brilliant things about Wikipedia is that it is not so arrogant as
> to presume it can or should present "the TRUTH"; instead it presents
> verifiable information from reliable sources, which is far more useful, and
> almost always more truthful, than "the TRUTH".

It may not seek to determine a single truth on controversial issues,
but it generally aims to present "true" facts on noncontroversial
topics, rather than simply references. *That* is the value - not,
"here is a list of 30 websites about topic X, knock yourself out", but
instead, "200 editors contributed what they believe to be true about
topic X, and we also have 3 references to high quality websites that
back that up".

Verifiability and sources are great, and are a good goal to be aiming
for. But if we don't have them, let's at least have make sure
Wikipedia contains "true" "facts" in the meantime.

Steve