# editing a wiki article **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 5, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-a-wiki-article/488426 "2009-03-05T19:48:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-a-wiki-article/488426/21 "2009-03-07T21:51:04Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > that’s just my point - I don’t know that the reference exists. I’ve worked in the particular area for some time, and this is the first time I’ve seen this particular assertion of fact being made. As well, I don’t have a clear idea where to find the evidence to back up the assertion. > > I’m curious to see if someone can back it up with a citation. Also, I would go to the article’s talk page and add a relevant paragraph about your concerns. Often, doing this will produce a response from someone for whom the page is near and dear to their heart. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-a-wiki-article/488426/22 "2009-03-08T02:01:01Z")
> [@Dan\_Norder](#): > > That’s ridiculous. There are lots of things that need to be done that people don’t have time to do right away. And, frankly, most of the time I add those tags, I know there aren’t any real cites or facts to back them up. The existence of one of those tags makes it easier to remove the whole thing completely later. Removing it right away pisses some people off. And, on top of that,t he whole point of the place is that it’s a collaboration, so requesting other people to help out is kind of the point. If you know it’s wrong, find proof. Adding “cite” without doing so means that you don’t have any proof. “I don’t have time” is a fairly lame excuse. > [@](#): > > I’ve been editing Wikipedia for some five years or more, and very, very few people think adding those tags are in any way “dickish.” Hell, with as uptight as so many people there are about anything that could possibly be exaggerated, twisted and lied about to have the appearance of something insulting so they can go whine somewhere, if it was _at all_ dickish the tags would have been removed ages ago. Wikipedia is rife with dickish editors - the most dickish ones run bots. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-a-wiki-article/488426/23 "2009-03-08T11:22:49Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > If you know it’s wrong, find proof. Adding “cite” without doing so means that you don’t have any proof. “I don’t have time” is a fairly lame excuse. > Wikipedia is rife with dickish editors - the most dickish ones run bots. The person who wrote the offending piece of information (that is, a piece of information that has no citation) has already been the “dick.” You are supposed to provide citations for your work. Asking for a citation is flagging the article so others can know that the citation is needed, which is not dickish in any sense of the word. If you don’t like someone coming along and putting a citation request in an article you wrote, provide the cites like you are supposed to in the first place. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-a-wiki-article/488426/24 "2009-03-08T23:20:33Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > The person who wrote the offending piece of information (that is, a piece of information that has no citation) has already been the “dick.” You are supposed to provide citations for your work. Asking for a citation is flagging the article so others can know that the citation is needed, which is not dickish in any sense of the word. If you don’t like someone coming along and putting a citation request in an article you wrote, provide the cites like you are supposed to in the first place. 😉 We’ll never agree on this then. If you know some claim is wrong, then you’re obligated to put in the reference to provide the correct information. Adding “cite” without doing so is _definitively_ dickish. By the way, I always ignore “cite”. I add references, but only where some dick hasn’t added “cite”. No need to make the dicks feel like they are actually accomplishing anything. ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Norder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-a-wiki-article/488426/25 "2009-03-08T23:32:43Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > We’ll never agree on this then. If you know some claim is wrong, then you’re obligated to put in the reference to provide the correct information. Adding “cite” without doing so is _definitively_ dickish. Again, I’ve been a pretty regular editor on Wikipedia for many years, and you’re the first person I know of who has ever made this suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-a-wiki-article/488426/26 "2009-03-08T23:50:05Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > We’ll never agree on this then. If you know some claim is wrong, then you’re obligated to put in the reference to provide the correct information. And what is the proper course of action if there is no reference available either to contradict the claim or substantiate it? (Or that ‘provides correct information’, if that’s different from contradicting the claim.) It seems to me that you can’t always prove a negative from a finite authority. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-a-wiki-article/488426.md?page=1)