User:Skepticallyyours

GarfieldHelper0/Skepticallyyours

The quote attributed to Eric Clapton in his 1976 Birmingham concert has yet to be confirmed anywhere. Despite this, various sources with the quote- in part or in full- are currently, as of this writing, deemed reliable for the Clapton page. This includes a very negative article from The Baffler (with the author crowing on Twitter about "canceling Eric Clapton"). Appeal to authority won't do it (yet, at least). No source that I have seen has proven the full, verbatim quote, and I suspect there are none that actually do so. Most probably got it from Wikipedia itself, or maybe somewhere else on the web; this applies even to those that have met Clapton before. The solution, it seems, would be to go for a primary source: video/audio of the very concert itself, if available.

Unfortunately, due to WP:VNT- where getting sources deemed reliable is prioritized over getting things right- there doesn't appear to be much one can do to tackle it here on Wikipedia now. Not that it matters too much, since even if the quote's not shown on the Clapton page, it probably won't do anything to water down the (occasional) online uproar about the matter. Nevertheless, this seems like a good example of how Wikipedia is not so great. Therefore, aloha.