Talk:Emily Ballou

Incorrect detail (sufficiently sourced, but source itself has the same error)

I am nearly a stranger to the code side of Wikipedia, but I am also a nerd for accuracy, so I am wondering what protocol(s)should be employed (I would not be offended - more likely, grateful - if you explained this to me as though I were a small child), when a reader, of distant, but genuine connection to an article's subject, knows a particular detail is incorrect (a date off by at least a year), because the source cited itself got it wrong?

The page - and its source - both state that Ballou "immigrated to Australia in 1991." But I knew her when we were both residents at a Poughkeepsie, New York art colony, in the summer of 1992. We've corresponded only rarely since. If she immigrated before that year end, or as late as 1993, I could not be sure; I only know it could not have been 1991.

This may seem terribly trivial but - without going into the ridiculous particulars, although I can if you deem such information prudent - I can assure you, to at least one Wikipedia user, it is not!

-- VMarinelli 09:21, 24 December 2012‎

Unfortunately (in some instances) Wikipedia is written based not on what is believed by editors to be true, or even what is true, but on what is written in what we deem reliable sources. Sometimes the source gets something wrong, in spite of being generally considered reliable and meeting our criteria. Your personal knowledge, while I am sure is accurate, is not verifiably sourced - it is what we call original research, in that it is something you personally know or found out, but it is not published in a source Wikipedia can use. This almost always protects Wikipedia from people who have inaccurate knowledge floating around in their heads, or want to promote a falsehood - no source, no content. In some cases, like this one, the policies we have in place to protect Wikipedia from having false information may actually work against us. But as we must have some standards for content, then this is a (rare) but unavoidable issue. I suggest you try to find a new reliable source with the other date; if this occurs then there would be a source for the information. Please understand, I am not doubting your personal veracity; but we have no way here of checking bona fides or determining motives for desired edits from editors, who are after all simply people on the Internet. As we are "the encyclopedia anyone can edit" we don't vet editors, so we must vet the content. I hope this has helped; if not please let me know. KillerChihuahua 13:36, 24 December 2012 (UTC)

External links modified

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• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120308083209/http://www.pla.nsw.gov.au/awards-shortlists/kenneth-slessor-prize-for-poetry- to http://www.pla.nsw.gov.au/awards-shortlists/kenneth-slessor-prize-for-poetry-
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20101129023553/http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/about_us/premiers_book_awards to http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/about_us/premiers_book_awards

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