[WikiEN-l] Citationgate: expertise and verifiability

[Delirium]

Daniel P. B. Smith wrote:
> 2) "If it appears in numerous textbooks it does not need a citation."  
> This is silly. The problem is that there is no way the reader or  
> anybody else can tell the difference between a sentence which lacks a  
> reference _because somebody has checked_ to make sure that it appears  
> in numerous textbooks, and a sentence which lacks a reference  
> because_ someone just typed it in off the top of their head_. They  
> look the same.
>   

They certainly don't look the same, unless the person "reviewing" the 
article utterly lacks any competence to review the article, in which 
case they should kindly refrain from doing so.  Anyone who has even very 
basic competence knows what is an uncontroversial statement that appears 
in numerous textbooks in their field.

I don't agree with the expert-centric approach Larry Sangers advocates, 
but we don't have to have only people who have *no* idea what they're 
doing editing our articles either.

-Mark