User talk:Exactly1

Hi Exactly, firstly, welcome to Wikipedia and thanks for the contributions you have made so far. Be bold with your edits; no need to be embarrased! If you'd like the general gist of how Wikipedia works, you can't go wrong with looking at WP:Five Pillars first.

With regards to the content at Web annotation, I should first explain that Wikipedia is built using material from secondary sources. WP:Verifiability is one of our core policies. The sources need to be "reliable, third-party, published sources with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy." The next thing to note is that Wikipedia is not a directory. When you put these together, it means that when listing example software, we don't list every web annotation program that exists. But we do mention programs that have already been mentioned by our sources.

As for using a blog, these are self-published sources that we try to avoid. One exception would be if the author is an "established expert on the topic." Ideally you'd be looking at published magazines, books, or certain websites. For online sources, I'm familiar with videogame sites rather than general software sites, so you might like to ask at Wikipedia:WikiProject Software. I hope this helps! Marasmusine (talk) 09:43, 12 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you Marasmusine! I wasn't sure if I should respond here or in your talk page. I chose the latter. Exactly1 (talk) 05:58, 14 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Heh, well I wouldn't look at A.nnotate as a good example - a lot of those citations are not good sources. I've had a quick look for mentions of your two examples. TechCrunch might be acceptable; it is a self-published source but looks like it has a robust staff base. They have short articles on both DotSpots and Techcrunch. When I have a little more time I might ask at the Software WikiProject on their opinion of this website (or you can :>). Marasmusine (talk) 11:21, 14 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]