[WikiEN-l] When Unsourced Isn't That Bad

[Phil Sandifer]

On Apr 10, 2007, at 7:30 AM, Steve Bennett wrote:

> Which isn't to say that we couldn't operate different rules for
> newbies than for established users. But I don't see how we can
> suddenly start telling newbies that unsourced articles are ok, even if
> it's only "sometimes ok".

Because we shouldn't treat newbies like they're idiots who can't  
understand how we do things. How about "Sourcing articles is  
important. It's not always the first priority, but it's an issue."

Or, better yet, how about we don't treat "newbies" as a homogenous  
class. I read some policy pages and found myself on RFA discussing  
someone's nomination within a day or two of getting to Wikipedia.  
This was, admittedly, before the Great Process Explosion, and it may  
well be that it's impossible for a newbie to get up to speed on the  
basics now because we've eliminated basics. But that's neither here  
nor there - newbie is not a homogenous class any more than "article"  
is. How we deal with a given one and what we tell a given one should  
not be determined before we've looked at the specific situation.

-Phil