Wikipedia:WikiProject Fact and Reference Check
Hello, welcome to this WikiProject called Fact and Reference Check. The bold purpose of this project is nothing less than having facts in Wikipedia independently verified by multiple sources to make it the most authoritative source of information in the world.
Of course we are not quite there yet, being the most authoritative source that is, but this project will help Wikipedia on its way there.
Is this project necessary?
The number one issue, and perhaps Wikipedia's [[Achilles heel],] is the perception, as founded or as baseless as it maybe, that Wikipedia is not a reputable source of information. This perception likely comes from the idea that 'normal' people, despite the fact many academics contribute, could not competently create an encyclopedia. Perhaps it is also the idea that at anytime people could put factutal errors into an article, as this individual is testing The Isuzu Experiment.
This project is a solution to these issues. Not only can we make Wikipedia a more factual, a more reputable, source of information but perhaps the *most*. Imagine an article in which each *fact* is referenced with many academic text books, journals and websites! Wikipedia has the potential to be the *most* crossreferenced body of knowledge ever created, but to get there it needs help.
Cross referencing
Fact checking does not break copyright, so we may cross reference article information in Wikipedia with other sources such as:
- Encyclopedias
- Text Books
- Speeches
- Newspapers
- Magazines
- Electronic Articles
- Movies
- Television
- Journals
- Books
- Websites
- Gazettes
Current work
Right now there is discussion as to the best format in which to number facts within an article, and have it create some sort of list. Here is a brief example as how it could be done, please add your own insights as well.
Example 1
Article about Jack.
(-#) Jack is 18 years old. (-#) Jack has blue pants.
-- References --
Fact 1: Jack is 18 years old.
- "Jack is 18 years old" - Microsoft Encarta
- "Jack is aged 18" - Encyclopedia Britannica
Fact 2: Jack has blue pants.
- "Jack's pants are only blue" - Vogue Magazine
It would be useful for the autonumberer of facts, symbol (-#) as a current example, to quote the sentence after it. Perhaps i would be more useful to have it end note style where (-#) would come after the fact. In order to contain the fact in question two solutions are possible: 1) The fact is automatically limited to once sentence by the autoquoter. 2) It maybe necessary to manually contain each fact like html tags, with opening and closing tabs. e.g. (-# -)