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Wikipedia talk:Citing sources/Archive 3

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Jmabel (talk | contribs) at 00:09, 24 January 2005. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
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Please cite your sources so others can check your work.

This shows up whenever editing a page. We should be encourageing people to cite sources for positive reasons, not because work needs to be "checked" (negative implications). The primary purpose of citation is that it is a link .. citations are the original hypertext link. It allows one to navigate the 150 million books in existence, and countless other sources. Citations are basically "Wikification", it adds links, and links are what Wikipedia is all about. It is the spirit of Wikipedia to cite sources, not for "fact checking" reasons (although that is one reason), but primarily because linking (citations) allows one to learn more. Perhaps we can re-phrase this to be more positive and encourageing?

One suggestion: Please cite sources so that yourself and others can learn more. Stbalbach 04:10, 8 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I like that. Maurreen 08:19, 8 Jan 2005 (UTC)

How about Please cite sources so that yourself and others can learn more and for purposes of article validation. -- Jmabel | Talk 19:07, Jan 8, 2005 (UTC)

Should be Please cite sources so that you and others can learn more and for purposes of article validation. in that case. arj 19:34, 8 Jan 2005 (UTC)

More ideas: Cite Your Sources. It helps yourself and others learn more and allows for article validation. --Stbalbach 20:09, 8 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I think that's the best suggestion so far. -- Jmabel | Talk 20:40, Jan 8, 2005 (UTC)
Except how about "you" instead of "yourself"? Maurreen 02:41, 9 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Yes, yes, sorry. -- Jmabel | Talk 21:14, Jan 9, 2005 (UTC)
I like this new proposed text too! How about changing "more and" to "more, and it" so that the sentence is easier to parse? In other words:
Cite Your Sources. It helps you and others learn more, and it allows for article validation -- Dwheeler 23:02, 2005 Jan 11 (UTC)

An issue came uyp over at Talk:United States Air Force Academy where references in the article directed one to an on-line subscription site for the New York Times. Only after one had signed up for the New York Times could you go further into the webpage and view the references. I seem to remember a rule that Wikipedia can not sponser pages which link to external sites promoting a product or service. I would like to hear others opinions on this. The person who put the links in was very civil about it (good for him :-)!) and changed the links to footnotes. Opinions? -Husnock 18 Jan 05

To suggest you can't add a reference because there is some "cost" (greater than clicking a link) associated with the resource is deplorable. The rule you are referring to is presumably some defence against self-promotion of your own website. It doesn't apply to the NYT! Pcb21| Pete 20:26, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)
There is no absolute bar on including links to pay or subscription sites. However, if the same information is available from a free or non-subscription source, then the free source should be preferred over the pay, subscription (or, IMO, ad-supported) sites. But if the information is only available through a pay or subscription site, it may be included, though the link should be labelled as requiring a subscription. older≠wiser 20:33, Jan 18, 2005 (UTC)
Especially when the site is a reference, not merely a see also. After all, if we reference a book, you have to buy it or hope to find it in a library in order to look up that reference, don't you? And that library membership is equivalent to a NYT subscription, which is free. —Morven 21:01, Jan 18, 2005 (UTC)
This doesn't quite tell the full story because it ignores the credibility issue. Suppose some fact is in the NYT or a journal or a book or any reference that isn't a "one click reference", and then that fact is also in some blog. We prefer the former reference for credibility even though the latter is more accessible. In terms of providing a reliable resource (and note the only complaint about Wikipedia to stick is the purported lack of credibility), the quality of a resource is much more important than how it is accessed. Pcb21| Pete 22:23, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Possibly the best way to resolve this is to cite the authoritative (but requiring registration or pay) service and then point to a freely available, but less authoritative, alternative source too. —Morven 19:08, Jan 19, 2005 (UTC)
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