User:Trödel/Quotes

"I have blocked User:%2Adrew indefinitely, pending a thorough investigation of his copyright violations. We need to deal with such activities with absolute harshness, no mercy, because this kind of plagiarism is 100% at odds with all of our core principles. All admins are invited to block any and all similar users on sight. Be bold. If someone takes you to ArbCom over it, have no fear. We must not tolerate plagiarism in the least. --Jimbo Wales 04:28, 28 December 2005 (UTC)"
 * Copyvio Policy from Jimbo - very good sign :)

You should have been blocked for a lot longer than a month, my friend.--Jimbo Wales 17:13, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Consider a claim: "X is Y"

1. "X is Y"<1> --- that is, we assert the claim, using the authority of the cite as a reason, with the cite being to, for example, the New York Times. Usually this is fine if the claim is not really controversial.

2. "According to the New York Times, X is Y" --- we do not assert the claim, but rather assert something which is much less controversial, i.e. that the NYT said so, leaving the reader to judge it. This is much better when the claim is controversial.

3. "X is Y"<2> --- we assert the claim, only this time, the source is the Weekly World News (a tabloid of perhaps questionable authority). Very bad.

4. "According to the Weekly World News, X is Y" -- less bad, but probably still awful in most contexts

And the NYT and Weekly World News are both more or less easy cases. The difficult cases are partisan publications writing "factually" about political events, and things of that nature.
 * - Jimbo Wales
 * - English Wikipedia 
 * - Date: Aug 16, 2006 12:43 PM

Daniel P. B. Smith wrote: > Once a "citation needed" tag is in place, there's no need to do > anything in a hurry. The reader is adequately warned, other editors > are informed.

In many many cases, this is true. But not in all.

The one that is absolutely imperative for all editors is to recognize that "If this claim would be libellous if false, it is absolutely not acceptable to simply put a 'citation needed' tag and hope for the best."

It is extremely painful to see those. "Lord John Doe was a porn star in 1943. " In such cases, being a citation nazi is the right thing to do.

That is not the only case, but that is the one where it is absolutely imperative.
 * - Jimbo Wales
 * - English Wikipedia 
 * - Date: Aug 16, 2006 12:50 PM