[WikiEN-l] Citationgate: expertise and verifiability

Fri Sep 29 09:04:00 UTC 2006

In the unlikely case anyone interested has missed it: There
are some troubles re mandatory in-line citing and science
articles. 

It all started with a warning put at large number of "good
articles" that they will be delisted soon for lack of 
in-line cites. This immediately got the response, that standard
textbooks facts are not and should not be in-line cited, the 
references section will name selected textbooks and one cannot
judge the correctness without having some context anyway.

The main struggle seem to be played out by (a subset of) 
WikiProject Physics vs (a subset of) WikiProject Good Articles.

For an example of the amount of in-line cites requested see
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special_relativity&diff=78107405&oldid=77881051

For a list of places where discussion occur see below.

What worries me most about this incident, is the idea that proper
and extensive in-line citing will allow anybody (the proverbial
"layperson") to verify the contents of the article. The proponents
of this position refer to the "any editor" in "Editors adding new 
material to an article should cite a reputable source, or it may 
be challenged or removed by any editor".

In my not so humble opinion, in many articles of science (and 
elsewhere) this is a false and dangerous idea. You need some 
basic experise in the field to judge the reliability of sources,
the selection of sources and even to see whether a statement
in the article is the correct summary of a larger chapter in a
source.

I cannot help but see some of the recent actions as an example
of anti-academedic bias by factions withing Wikipedia.

Regards,
[[User:Pjacobi]]

Linklist:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Special_relativity#GA_Re-Review_and_In-line_citations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Good_article_candidates#Discussion_on_criteria_changes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Physics#Another_reason.2C_why_Wikipedia_sucks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Citing_sources#When_not_to_cite_Part_Deux
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Physical_cosmology#Noncompliant

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