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I've just removed from
German Shepherd some content cited to perfectdogbreeds.com, on the grounds that that is not a
reliable source (it's registered to an
anonymous entity in Cheshire, England). I've also recently removed from the same page content cited to yourpurebredpuppy.com and dogster.com, for the same reason – these are random internet websites with no reputation for accuracy or reliability, and not remotely suitable for use as sources for Wikipedia. I'd like to suggest that as a matter of urgency we should start a list of such unusable sites, with a view to removing them in short order from any article that cites them, and setting up filters that would prevent them from being added anywhere in Wikipedia; and also make a start on a more difficult task, that of identifying some sources for which there is consensus that that they are to be considered reliable by our standards.
Agree, about the three sites you have mentioned above, all completely fail as RS:
perfectdogbreeds.com terms of service states "Perfectdogbreeds does not promise that the site or any content, service or feature of the site will be error-free ... Perfectdogbreeds disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including any warranties of accuracy ..."
yourpurebredpuppy.com terms of use states "We make no guaruntee or warranty that our information is accurate, legal, reliable or safe."
dogster.com terms and conditions of use states "Belvoir Media Group LLC does not warant that the sites will operate error-free ..."NB Belvoir Media Group LLC is the website's owner
On a number of pages I have had to remove similar content from a number of similar websites most of which make similar disclaimers, and it seems to be the same editors that continually reintroduce it. Just because it gets a Google hit doesn't make it reliable and/or notable.
Just my opinion: the FCI evaluates the information submitted by individual kennel clubs, and this places it a a higher level of reliability; however, I added it here simply as an example of a website that we could, with due caution, regard as reliable.
Some more that we cannot trust may be:
mastiffdogssite.com – page content consists only of: "ok"
What are your thoughts on the best way to deal with these formally? Lump them together under an RfC at RSN? If passed we could add a list to the project page with a permalink. Kind regards,
Cavalryman (
talk)
01:36, 18 March 2020 (UTC).reply
Agreed. JLAN and Cavalryman, I regard a website as being only reliable as the sources its cites. Many of these websites (above) have no author taking responsibility for the content, do not cite sources, and are basically anonymous opinion pieces. I am in favour of removing anything they have to offer, and encourage Project members to grasp the nettle and commence their deletions from all dog-related articles. William Harristalk00:59, 19 March 2020 (UTC)reply
First thoughts on how to start dealing with these: either just go ahead and remove them and see if there's any complaint, or (probably better in the long term):
reach consensus here on those listed above – is a week long enough for all interested to comment?
start a /Deprecated sources subpage and
use
Special:LinkSearch to find and remove any mainspace occurrence of those;
rinse and repeat.
It seems to me that those listed so far are so obviously unusable, and so unlikely to be used outside this wikiproject, that local consensus should be sufficient; but if anyone suggests that these might be appropriate sources then yes, RfC is the next step.
Can Doggysaurus be added? I see it cited quite a lot yet the site itself states "All of the advice and content on this website is written from our own personal perspective of owning and caring for dogs over the last few years.", it's a few people's personal experience without any verification or scrutinising.
Traumnovelle (
talk)
03:39, 12 January 2024 (UTC)reply
I've forgotten if or how we agreed to actually go about this, would some kind soul remind me (preferably in words of about one syllable or fewer). Anyway, here are three that I've just removed from
Chihuahua:
www.chihuahuawardrobe.com
k9carts.com
dogcare.dailypuppy.com ("Come to DailyPuppy.com for your fix of the cutest furbabies of every breed")
Both authors have been published widely in dog publications and Hancock in particular has a number of published books on dogs. Both websites contain a number of articles, most of which have previously been published in magazines but some may not have been. I think both meet the criteria under
WP:RSSELF as "produced by an established expert on the subject matter, whose work in the relevant field has previously been published by reliable, independent publications".
Cavalryman (
talk)
22:59, 13 October 2020 (UTC).reply
Now I am lost in sources, the websites you have listed mainly contain printed information and most of the popular web resources are listed in "bad sources", kennel club websites that seem to have reliable information cannot be used as primary sources... Could you please give examples of dog-related web resources that would be considered suitable?--
LoraxJr22:09, 26 January 2021 (UTC)reply
I suggest you read
WP:SPS and then
WP:USINGSPS, basically if it has not been produced by an author who has previously demonstrated expertise in the field, or a publisher with a good reputation for robust editorial oversight and fact checking, then it's pretty safe to assume it's self-published. Most of the "popular web resources" are
content farms, and when you scrutinise them closely you realise often Wikipedia is their starting point, we don't site ourselves.
The "good websites" above contain a series of articles written by two authors who are expert dog writers, both have previously been very widely published in a number of reputable publications from very good publishers and all of the articles on their websites are transcripts of articles that have been published in such publications, that's why they are suitable for use as sources.
Cavalryman (
talk)
22:38, 26 January 2021 (UTC).reply
Ok, that makes clearer on one side and much harder to find sources on the other. This rule is the equally applicable to sources in other languages too?
LoraxJr11:55, 27 January 2021 (UTC)reply
Yes it is applicable to sources in all languages, and yes it can be difficult to find sources. This is why large tracts of text and even occasionally articles are deleted as they are not cited to reliable sources.
Cavalryman (
talk)
12:13, 27 January 2021 (UTC).reply
As a note, you can permanently prevent those mylittlepuppy.com not-sources from being added to articles at
WP:BLACKLIST. It's a bit of an extreme measure though, so only use if if there's a problem with a site being persistently added. --
SilverTiger12 (
talk)
01:27, 24 June 2021 (UTC)reply
Jack Russell Terrier has been nominated for a good article reassessment. If you are interested in the discussion, please participate by adding your comments to the
reassessment page. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, the good article status may be removed from the article.
Traumnovelle (
talk)
04:31, 19 June 2024 (UTC)reply