[Foundation-l] Enforcing WP:CITE

Wed Nov 30 08:21:51 UTC 2005

Brian wrote:

> In the same way that we are currently enforcing proper image tags using
> a bot, could we do the same with unsourced articles? Start out by
> placing {{unsourced}} in all the articles lacking sources, and then, if
> it is not sourced in a week, create something like the {{copvio}}
> page-replacer to hide the unsourced content (the entire article),
> explaining with a detailed message that the article must be thoroughly
> sourced.

I don't know about enforcing it ... but, on en: at least, the
{{unreferenced}} tag (which {{unsourced}} redirects to) is there for
anyone who wants to use them. I put it on articles I happen across that
are (a) not a stub (b) don't have even an external link somewhere.

> In my mind, at least, it doesn't seem like there should be any
> difference between enforcing sources for images and sources for
> articles. If anything we should be enforcing the latter more, since
> articles form the basis of the encyclopedia. I know this won't solve
> everything, but I think it should be a vital part of Wikipedia; since we
> do not know who edits an article, we need to know that it is based on
> information that we can verify ourselves.

It's hard to *enforce*. It's already good practice per
[[:en:Wikipedia:Verifiability]].

- d.