[citation needed]
Citation needed is a link added to Wikipedia articles when someone thinks a particular statement needs a third party source to back it up (or someone just wants to imply a statement is false).
Matt at biphenyl.org created citation needed stickers to add to posters that make dubious claims. Read about it here.
Update: PO8 pointed out that this idea was borrowed from xkcd
Labels: folksonomy, guerilla art, vandalism, Wikipedia
posted by Ethan at
8:21 AM
3 Comments:
And there, in a nutshell, you have "why I don't play on Wikipedia anymore."
I want to like this idea—I really do. But the example you posted is perfect: No damn citation is needed for "Don't dump arbitrary junk down the toilet because you might make it leak and people could get sick." As an art concept, for me the whole thing degenerates to a celebration of pedantry; if it is meant ironically, great, but after reading the artist's description I don't think it particularly is.
As much as I find joy in critiquing overclaiming idiots, count me out on this one.
It's certainly a one-liner and a bit limited... and I was also disappointed with what the guy choose to use his sticker on. It seems like it would be better used (if at all) on advertisements which imply to get gorgeous girls if only your drink some particular brand of cheap beer.
I guess what appealed to me is the idea that we should question the easy answers & claims we're bombarded with.
Finally read the comments on the referenced article just now—the author also has this little xkcd originality problem. I don't imagine it's actually plagiarism, but updating the article body to include a credit would be a great plan.
I thought those stickers looked familiar somehow. I'm embarrassed that I didn't catch this myself. I can't recommend xkcd too highly.
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