[WikiEN-l] {{spoiler}} vs. writing a goddamn encyclopedia

[David Goodman]

Summarizing a plot line from an outside source or re-writing it in
one's own words also affects the meaning, and listing the outside
source it was based on does not necessarily make it any the more
objective.  I know we make the distinction, but in practice the
distinction when applied to straightforward description is a little
artificial; even when direct quotes are used, the selection of the
quotes can be used to change the intent.

On 5/19/07, Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net> wrote:
> Ken Arromdee wrote:
>
> >On Fri, 18 May 2007, Ray Saintonge wrote:
> >
> >
> >>>>No, not at all - by analogy to living biographies, where we do need
> >>>>sources for facts being important, rather than merely documented.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>Not in the same sense.  We need sources as evidence for importance, but we
> >>>don't require that a source actually say "this fact is important".  Importance
> >>>is something we deduce from sources, not something which must be explicitly
> >>>stated in them.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>You aren't addressing the question though.  It was about the fact that a
> >>given fact is a spoiler, or that it does in fact spoil someone's
> >>enjoyment.  The question said nothing about "importance" or
> >>"notability".  Referring to these throws in red herrings for the sole
> >>purpose of having a question that was easier to answer than the one that
> >>was actually asked.
> >>
> >>
> >Uhh, you do know what an analogy is, I hope?
> >
> Of course!  It's as if in the story of the [[Three Little Pigs]] the
> first pig had made his house of spoiler warnings.
>
> >The point is that just like whether something is notable, whether something
> >is a spoiler is a conclusion made about article content.
> >
> Ahhh!  Now I understand.  It's original research.
>
> >Conclusions made
> >about article content don't require sources in the sense of finding a source
> >that states the conclusion.
> >
> Carrying through the idea of being a tertiary source, if the plot line
> is available in a reliable source (whether on-line or dead tree) without
> a spoiler warning we should put only the information that we find.
> Anything else draws unwarranted conclusions.
>
> Ec
>
>
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-- 
David Goodman, Ph.D, M.L.S.