Wiktionary talk:Referencing dictionaries

Archive moved from Beer parlour

(To move once discussion has died down there.)

Is a policy necessary?

I think there's settled common practice, and that it would be useful to document to help newcomers.

Common practice is to reference dictionaries (as demonstrated by the variety of templates for them), but not as attestations, which can be a confusing distinction (esp. for newcomers). Further, not all dictionaries are equal, and notably, Urban Dictionary is widely considered a disreputable source hereabouts (from what I can tell).

I'm not sure that a separate policy page is needed for this topic, but how and why to reference or not reference dictionaries is worth a note and a discussion.

Nbarth (email) (talk) 01:06, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

User-contributed dictionaries

Urban Dictionary

As suggested by Atelaes in the beer parlor discussion, I agree that it is best to not mention specific dictionaries in policy, but I did want to have a place to discuss it specifically.

For reference:

Uses of Urban Dictionary:

• Search for Urban Dictionary links on Wiktionary
• Search for Urban Dictionary

Previous discussions of Urban Dictionary:

• Wiktionary_talk:Criteria_for_inclusion/Archive#urbandictionary
• Wiktionary:Beer_parlour_archive/2007/April#Connel.27s_essay_in_response_to_Dmh.27s_statements_on_deletion (discussed here, though not the thrust)
• Wiktionary:Beer_parlour_archive/2007/February#Wiktionary_vs._Urban_dictionary

The template for referencing Urban Dictionary (presumably deleted):

• Template:R:Urban_Dictionary

Nbarth (email) (talk) 01:13, 15 February 2008 (UTC)