[WikiEN-l] "So fix it." "The next day someone will fix it back."

[Anthony]

On 4/1/07, Ron Ritzman <ritzman at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 4/1/07, Phil Sandifer <Snowspinner at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > It should be fixed back.
> >
> > Don't remove information you believe to be true from Wikipedia even
> > if it is unsourced. This is a central tenet of sourcing that needs to
> > be preserved in order to keep sourcing from becoming a bludgeon to
> > gut articles for POV or other churlish reasons.
>
> Following AGF, I would agree with you somewhat on just about
> everything, except articles about people who are still converting
> oxygen into CO2. Incorrect but plausible sounding information can hurt
> people in real life. It needs a source even if it's something you
> "just know" is correct.
>
I'd even agree on articles about people, in that you shouldn't be
removing something which you know is correct.

But you should remove something that you don't know is correct, and
someone else who does know it's correct should respect that and not
add it back without a source.

Looking at the paragraph I removed:

"Hofstadter has not published much in conventional academic journals
(except during his early [[physics]] career, see below)" - Probably
true, and I wouldn't have touched this if this were the only unsourced
statement.

"preferring the freedom of expression of large books of collected
ideas." - Probably pure speculation as to his motives.  But if you've
got a source, it's OK.

"As such, his great influence on [[computer science]]" - POV,
unsourced, and not at all something I know for a fact.

"is somewhat subversive and underground &mdash;" - huh?

"his work has inspired countless research projects but is not always
formally referenced." - no, I don't know this for a fact.

"Hofstadter himself denies any such impact on computer science." - not
only unsourced, but blatantly false!  Hofstadter has said in a wired
interview that he "has inspired many students to begin careers in
computing and artificial intelligence".

Anthony