[WikiEN-l] Zero information is preferred to misleading or false information

[Erik Moeller]

On 5/19/06, Jimmy Wales <jwales at wikia.com> wrote:

> If you see an unsourced statement that would be libel if false, and it
> makes you feel suspicious enough to want to tag it as {{citation
> needed}}, please do not do that!  Please just remove the statement and
> ask a question on the talk page.

Yes. And this is what we used to do before {{fact}} or its synonyms
became widespread. I think that, because {{fact}} is so easy to tag
onto something, the practice of moving dubious claims may have
decreased somewhat in favor of tagging them.  What can we practically
do to change this? I think policy alone will not be sufficient, given
how ubiquitous {{fact}} has already become.

Perhaps we need a new tag for claims which should be moved within n
days unless cited, with its own category for maintenancy. But that
might further increase the use of tagging as opposed to talk pages.

Erik