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b_b · 4483 days ago · link · · parent · post: Renowned author Philip Roth was unable to convince Wikipedia to change an entry about one of his novels
Yes, I'm sure the rule was put in place for what seemed like a good reason, but leads to some absurd results. I learned about it from a story on On the Media, where they were talking about a law professor who tried to get Wikipedia to fix an article using the law itself, but was denied. For whatever reason, my work blocks On the Media's website, so I can't link, but its worth searching if you have a few minutes.
The Professor Versus Wikipedia Apparently, the secondary sources rule is only for perceived credibility. They want everyone to be able to have access to the sources used, and they assume primary sources will be unaccessible from the Web.