[WikiEN-l] Age fabrication and original research

[Charles Matthews]

Gregory Maxwell wrote:
> An example of the kinds of problems you bump into when depending on
> primary sources:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Swampyank&diff=prev&oldid=312682486
>
>
> But there should be no problem under policy for pointing out BOTH what
> a respectable primary source says along with disagreeing secondary
> sources.  If any policy says otherwise it should be fixed.
>
>   
Is there a _primary_ source for a date of birth beyond a birth 
certificate or other official registration? Seems to me that dragging 
"thou shalt not quote primary sources" into arguments is more likely a 
source of confusion than of clarification. Just because we don't want 
people doing original research of a tendentious sort from primary 
sources that need interpretative care and publishing it on Wikipedia, it 
doesn't mean that we have always to wait for a secondary source to copy 
across straight data.

Charles