[WikiEN-l] Wikipedia used in the courtroom?

[Brock Weller]

On Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 2:02 PM, Ken Arromdee <arromdee at rahul.net> wrote:

> On Fri, 15 Feb 2008, Ray Saintonge wrote:
> > I think that some Wikipedians still need to learn that the
> > demand for substantiation can sometimes be taken to extremes when they
> > expect proof for "facts" that are a part of common knowledge.
>
> In my experience, often the users know better and they're just gaming the
> system--they want to delete something they know very well is true, so they
> insincerely question it.  If they get lucky nobody will provide a source
> and
> they can delete it.
>
>
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I doubt their gaming the system to delete something as universally as you
assert. I'll frequently do the very thing you're saying not to get something
deleted, but just discourage laziness. I don't hold to my guns and rarely
persue it more then a day or two, but it helps fight the slow laxing of
sourcing rules that will inveritably happen over time just by allowing such
things. If we allow them, but still make a fuss every now and then, it keeps
the hole in OR confined to statements such as 'john lennon was a man' and
keeps us from having to deal a year down the road with talk page messages
along the lines of 'but everyone KNOWS the Egyptian empire lasted till
whenever, i dont need to source that!'

-- 
-Brock