[WikiEN-l] Abuse of your services

Sun May 8 15:51:08 UTC 2005

slimvirgin at gmail.com wrote:

>On 5/7/05, Sean Barrett <sean at epoptic.org> wrote:
>
>>>We don't have the resources to do any of this, which is why we rely on
>>>sources that do. Usenet isn't one of them.
>>>
>>That's your opinion, and you're entitled to it.  However, it is not
>>Wikipedia policy.
>>
>
>Sean, I've asked three or four times if anyone can point me to any
>part of Wikipedia policy that states or implies that Usenet is an
>acceptable source, and so far, no one has done so. My understanding of
>the policy pages (e.g. WP:NOR) is that it's not, and I sent you a link
>to the section that seems to back me up. It doesn't mention Usenet
>explicitly, but the description of what type of source is acceptable
>would definitely exclude it. I'd say you're the one operating on the
>basis of your opinion only, not me. But if I'm wrong, show me.
>
Apparently the page is not as clear as it could be then, because
I read WP:NOR to mean exactly the opposite of your interpretation.

Why don't you try adding "For instance, Usenet is never a valid
secondary source" to the page and see how that goes? I think
everybody on the mailing list understands everybody else's position
by now, even if they don't agree with it; let's write it up for
the benefit of future editors.

Stan