Help:How to fix or report an error

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If you come across something in SourceWatch which you think is unsubstantiated or inaccurate, we would encourage you to help improve and correct the article rather than reporting the error to the staff editors. SourceWatch is a wiki and depends on the contributions of its citizen editors.

An explanation for all corrections should generally be recorded in the article's talk page, though blatantly inappropriate content or vandalism can be noted in the "Summary" box below the editing window. The managing editors generally watch the edit summaries and talk pages but you may also contact them specifically about your changes by using the contact information provided at the bottom of each SourceWatch page.

Contents 1 Types of errors 2 How to fix an error 2.1 Inaccuracies 2.2 Unreferenced material 3 Report an error

Types of errors

There are five major types of material on SourceWatch that violate the ground rules. In each case, it is preferable to attempt to fix the offending material rather than deleting it. (See "play nice" and "be creative, not destructive" under the ground rules for more information.)

• Copyright violations: All material posted on SourceWatch should generally be un-copyrighted "free content" or re-publishable under "fair use" or a compatible "copyleft" license like the GFDL or a Creative Commons License. This helps keep SourceWatch "free" by allowing the Center for Media and Democracy to publish it at low-cost and by allowing others to freely use material posted here. Material that violates copyright or license requirements by being posted on SourceWatch must be removed, though it is preferable to request re-publishing rights from the copyright holder or to find suitable replacement material. (See SourceWatch:Copyrights for more information.)

• Unfair or inaccurate material: All material posted on SourceWatch should meet the "fair and accurate" standard. It is preferable to fix the offending content, keeping whatever is salvageable, rather than just deleting it. (See SourceWatch:Fair and accurate for more information.)

• Unsubstantiated material: All material posted on SourceWatch should be linked to a verifiable external source, with only minor exceptions. It is preferable to attempt to find a source for the unsubstantiated material rather than deleting it, but that may be necessary in come cases. (See Help:References for more information.)

• Irrelevant material: SourceWatch has a broad mandate to report on public affairs, including policy, politics, marketing, etc. Material that is not relevant under this mandate (including obscene material) should be removed, though judgment should generally err on the side of preserving rather than deleting content. (See SourceWatch:Purpose for more information.)

• Commentary about the SourceWatch article itself:Commentary about a SourceWatch article should not be included in the article itself, but each article has a corresponding "talk" page where comments may be posted (accessed via the "discussion" tab at the top of the page). In cases where someone adds commentary about an article to the article itself, it should not be simply deleted. Instead, move it to the talk page.

How to fix an error

Inaccuracies

• First, post a note to the 'talk' page that sits (or can be easily created) with each article page explaining your concern, how you propose to remedy it and, if appropriate, any references supporting your point. The talk page is accessed by clicking on the 'discussion' tab from the article page.

This is the fastest way of drawing a matter to the attention of SourceWatch contributors and getting your concerns dealt with.

If the article is about you or your organisation it is best to register and openly identify your affiliation. (See SourceWatch:Editorial Policy for explanation).

Obviously, if you are only correcting minor points feel free to go right ahead and make the editing changes. (Minor errors would include dead links, typos, poor grammar etc).

• Secondly, if within 24 hours there has been no response, go ahead an make the change you suggested. Then post a brief note to the talk page mentioning that you made the change.

• If your proposed change is controversial, try and resolve the issue on the talk page rather than through an edit war on the article page.

• If you can't resolve the issue via the talk and article page, you can send an email to the SourceWatch editor bob AT sourcewatch.org - but note that there may be substantial time zone differences.

Unreferenced material

• If there is a significant point in an article which is not supported by a reference you can:

a) have a look to see if there is a reference for the point;

b) if not, or at least via an initial search, you can relocate the sentence or paragraph to the talk page pending further efforts to find a supporting reference.

Report an error

If you really don't want to fix an error yourself, you can report it in two ways:

• Post it as a "thing you can do": By publicly posting an error as a "thing you can do," you may be helping it to get fixed more quickly as any member of the community can run across it and fix it. To do this:
  1. Go to the main "things you can do" page and select one of the categories that your error falls under.
  2. On one of those sub-pages, see if there's any particular section the error should go under and click "edit" on that section's heading.
  3. Enter a description of the error, making sure to put in a link to the page containing the error.
  4. Sign the error report (this helps the community engage in discussion about errors and how to fix them) by click the signature button above the editing box (it's the one with the squiggly line, second from right).
  5. Enter something in the "Summary" box below the editing window, like "adding new error".
  6. Click "save." That's it - hopefully someone will fix your error soon.

or

• Contact one of the managing editors about it. (Click the "contact" link and send an email or leave a note on the user talk page of one of the managing editors.

Complaints and legal threats relating to the content of a SourceWatch page should be dealt with as a matter of high priority. Any complaints hinting at legal action are to be communicated to the Director (editor AT prwatch.org), SourceWatch editor (bob AT sourcewatch.org)or Congresspedia editor (conor AT sourcewatch.org) as soon as possible. If you believe that your copyrighted material has been infringed, you may contact the Center for Media and Democracy's registered copyright agent: John Stauber, Executive Director, Center for Media and Democracy, 520 University Avenue, Suite 227, Madison, WI 53703. Telephone (608) 260-9713. Email: copyright AT prwatch.org