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User:Andrewa/True false and Wikipedic

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There's a certain amount of confusion about the exact role of research in writing Wikipedia. I've been confused myself and have probably confused others from time to time. Here's how I see it currently!

True

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and the lonely voice of youth asks, "What is truth?" - Johny Cash


False

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A false statement can't be verifiable, because it can't be verified. Obviously.

And this gives us a useful shortcut to rejecting some material. It's such an obvious shortcut that we don't often see it as one!

Wikipedic

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Statements such as John Brown said "all Cretans are liars" are encyclopedic iff:

  • They are true.
  • They are verifiable.
  • They meet some other rather subjective criteria which are sometimes called notability and sometimes not.