On 11/02/11 2:11 PM, Nathan wrote: > A button or link that says "Add a reference?" that brings up a box > with several lines, labelled "URL" "Source" "Author" "Date". Click > "Ok" and the reference is inserted, no ref syntax or other ugly > interface necessary. > > Put it automatically at the end of a paragraph or somewhere else, > maybe even include a section selector as step 1 of the box. Allow it > to be manually inserted, so if a reference is needed but someone > doesn't have one, they can make it easy for someone else to add it. > > We do have the important rule of leaving something for others to do. Your last sentence strikes at an important point. The difficulty is that too many people shoot first, and ask questions of the corpse later. Deleting the unsourced statement is easier and cleaner that having a "citation needed" link to clutter the appearance of the page. While there are circumstances where that approach is justifiable, for most articles it isn't. For the non-editing reader, the notice puts him on alert to apply his own judgement to what he reads. As we drill further down into knowledge sources that corroborate each other will become fewer and more scattered.
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