[WikiEN-l] Primary sources (was: Clearer policy on self-written and obscure biographies)

Mon Jan 5 22:03:38 UTC 2004

Poor, Edmund W wrote:
> How can you say that Wikipedia is not a primary source?

[...]

> I want Wikipedia to become MORE authoritative, not less.

The best way for Wikipedia to become more authoritative is to
steadfastly refuse to be a primary source.  A primary source isn't
primary because it's authoritative, it's primary because it is the
first or original source for something.  Primary sources can be
unreliable, reliable, biased, whatever.

There's no shame in being a secondary source, and secondary sources is
where the authority business gets really strong and interesting.  :-)

For us, as a social culture, avoiding the idea of being a primary
source helps us to resolve some otherwise impossible dilemmas.  Do we
publish quack physics theories?  No, because we are not a place for
original research.  

--Jimbo