[WikiEN-l] Original research: our secret pleasure?

[Ray Saintonge]

Jeff Raymond wrote:

>Ken Arromdee wrote:
>  
>
>>Well, a common, similar, case is popular culture articles in general, but
>>most of them have a loophole: a movie, book, etc. is itself a source for its
>>own content.  Using a pinball machine in a similar way is, of course, original
>>research, but it's also an excellent example of how Ignore All Rules applies
>>to anything, even original research.
>>    
>>
>The difference is that a book/album/movie is published in a way that 
>observing a machine isn't.
>
>The answer, of course, is to adjust the original research policy to 
>allow for such reasonable situations, not simply rely on IAR to muddle 
>through.
>
Or better still allow more room for flexibility in the application of 
NOR.  Simply adjusting the policy serves only to shift the battle 
lines.  Inittially the policy dealt with some serious originality in the 
writing.  Since then it has become almost as though to say that anything 
where the sourcing is not perfectly nailed down must be original 
research.  Sometimes this leaves the impression that sourced falacy is 
preferable to unsourced facts.

There are some subject areas where stricter rules are needed, such as 
living persons,  but generally we need to avoid having practice driven 
by the reckless minority.

Ec