[Foundation-l] Re: Sources and sourceability

Sun Dec 4 17:40:02 UTC 2005

Brian wrote:

> > > On the contrary, any published books, such as.... Encyclopaedia
> > > Britannica, has every single one of the its facts checked against each
> > > individual source. This is a requirement of the publisher, and of the
> > > company.
> > 
> > This is an interesting statement.  What sources do you have for your
> > description of how the editors of EB work?  Has this been documented in
> > public?
> > 
>
> Danny originally brought this fact up because he is writing a 
> reference book as part of a series of books to be published. 
> Every single one of the statements he made in the book had to 
> have a source. He said it took several months for every one of 
> his facts to be checked against every single source. This is how 
> it works in the world of publishing. We have simply side-stepped 
> this out of laziness, in my opinion.

So is Danny working for Encyclopaedia Britannica?  And did they 
require *him* to source every sentence because they didn't trust 
*him* or do you know (from where?) that they require the same of 
every author?

You are right now arguing that it is necessary to source every 
fact, and then you are doing sweeping generalizations like this?! 
I'm not trusting your insight into the editorial principles of 
Encyclopaedia Britannica or indeed any other (printed) 
encyclopedia and thus I'm asking you to provide some sources.

-- 
  Lars Aronsson (lars at aronsson.se)
  Aronsson Datateknik - http://aronsson.se