Steve Block wrote:
Isn't that the very definition of a primary
source. Something we seem
loathe to allow. We can't state that "these words were used in this
document on this date". We can't state that this thing existed at this
web address on this date. Sorry, but this is the same thing as
providing a citation for a factual claim made in an article. The OED
make the claim of a specific usage or first usage, and use web sources
to provide the citation.
The difference is that OED editors are experts exercising professional
judgement and putting their reputations on the line when they make their
assertions. For instance, if you look closely, you'll see that they're
very careful about claiming to know when a first usage occurred. I don't
know how OED does business in the modern age, but I would expect they're
screenshotting web pages and keeping them on file permanently, just as
they once did for the scraps of paper that contributors sent in.
WP *really* doesn't want much to do with primary sources; very few
amateurs even know how to evaluate the trustworthiness of a primary, or
how to reconcile multiple contradictory primaries, and we just embarass
ourselves when we play at that. Unfortunately many WP editors are
unaware of how much they don't know.
Stan