[WikiEN-l] Age fabrication and original research

[Ken Arromdee]

On Fri, 2 Oct 2009, Rob wrote:
> > Searching far and wide to find a secondary source that quoted the primary
> > source gains you *nothing* except compliance with Wikipedia rules.  The
> > secondary source isn't going to do any better fact-checking than you did when
> > you just looked at the primary source directly--it just fills a rules
> > requirement.
> The secondary sources (presumably, ideally) will discuss why there is
> a discrepancy between the birth records and the obituaries and
> encyclopedias and dig into the issue a lot further than just merely
> announcing "the obituaries are wrong".

In this context, the secondary source is "I found a reference to a newspaper
article which quotes the date".  It's not going to discuss the conflict the
way you describe--it's just more acceptable because it better fits the rule.