[WikiEN-l] Sourcing "popular culture" items

[Phil Sandifer]

On Nov 10, 2006, at 3:58 AM, Ray Saintonge wrote:

>>
> This is an overreaction.  While there may be some basis for suspecting
> that the image may be a copyvio, saying that about the text of the
> article is a bit of a stretch.  There is not much information in the
> article to start with.  It is a stub, but that is more an argument for
> the proposed merge than outright deletion.  How can you say that
> something is "likely a copyvio"?  Either it's prima facie a copyvio or
> it's not.

First of all, let me note that the current version is not the version  
that had the copyvio problems.

Second of all, and I can promise you that this is an experience that  
anybody who has ever taught a writing course can verify, when it  
comes to identifying plagiarism, you know first, and then you go back  
and find proof. There are various things about plagiarized writing  
that just stick out. In the case of the Jeli Mateo article, in its  
old version, here are the two that I look at and go "Ah, plagiarism"

"A towering beauty at 5’8, Jeli never fails to make heads turn."

Clearly a POV paragraph, but more to the point, it seems out of  
context. The writer of that sentence has some sort of perspective  
that is not the same as Wikipedia's. The sentence assumes some sort  
of proximity to Mateo such that the observation of heads turning is  
possible.

"What does she want to prove in Idol? That she’s beauty, brains and  
talent all in one package."

The present tense here throws. Yes, the sentence was added the day  
before her elimination, but even still, the tone of the sentence  
sounds like it's intended for an ephemeral context. The "beauty,  
brains and talent all in one package" line is also clearly a  
promotional slogan.

These are more than enough to label it "probable" copyvio, and  
frankly, even if the paragraph weren't a POV puff piece, I'd remove  
the paragraph on probable cause even if I couldn't Google the phrases.

-Phil