Building the Frankenstein is a variation of original research. Generally, it is a good faith error by Wikipedia editors attempting to find as many sources as possible about a subject. Often, in this situation, the information presented by the sources are not actually about the same subject, and when mistakenly combined, create a Frankenstein's monster (often mistakenly called a "Frankenstein" which makes this analogy more interesting).
Example:
- "John Doe played Johnny in the movie A." (source: Newspaper X)
- "John Doe played Carl in the movie B" (source: Newspaper Y)
Based on that, an editor may write:
- "John Doe played Johnny in the movie A<ref>NewspaperX</ref> and played Carl in the movie B<ref>Newspaper Y</ref>.
The information may actually be correct, but there is a possibility that the information is completely wrong. For instance, John Doe from movie A may actually be a different person than the one from the movie B. It would be accurate if a source (Newspaper Z) writes "John Doe, who played Johnny in the movie A, will be in the movie B as Carl".
Real life examples
Attention: The following examples are all verifiable but include fake information.
- Osmar Lins was São Paulo mayoral candidate in 2000.[1] As a writer, he wrote the story "Lisbela e o Prisioneiro".[2]
- The band Nirvana released the album "All of Us" in 1967[3] and the album "Nevermind" in 1991.[4]
- Jason Alexander, who played George Costanza in Seinfeld,[5] married Britney Spears.[6]
- Susan Boyle is a singer who became famous on Britain's Got Talent.[7] She's also a painter.[8]
- Katie Perry is a singer[9] and fashion designer.[10]
- George Bush was a NASCAR driver[11] who became president of the United States.[12]
- Luciana Cardoso, daughter of former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso,[13] is the wife of Brazilian TV host Faustão.[14]
- Singer Netinho, former member of the band Negritude Jr.,[15] admitted his homosexuality.[16]
- Top model Cindy Crawford[17] was in the porno film "Anal Addicts # 22".[18]
- Michael Moore wrote the books "Stupid White Men", "Dude, Where's My Country?"[19] and "Distance Education - A system view".[20]
- Sting is a practitioner of Tantra, Jivamukti Yoga[21] and the Scorpion Death Drop.[22]
- James Taylor was born in 1809,[23] sang lead vocals in Kool and the Gang,[24] has played at Ronnie Scotts[25] and was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame.[26]
- Dan White, a former San Francisco supervisor who assassinated George Moscone and Harvey Milk,[27] led the Arizona Wildcats to their first Pac-10 championship.[28]
- John Gustafson, creator of Gustafson's Law,[29] played bass guitar in Quatermass with drummer Mick Underwood.[30]
Databases
According to WP:BIO: "Database sources such as Notable Names Database, Internet Movie Database and Internet Adult Film Database are not considered credible since they are, like wikis, mass-edited with little oversight. Additionally, these databases have low, wide-sweeping generic standards of inclusion."
Another reason why these are not reliable sources is because they build Frankensteins: they are based on trivial sources which makes them susceptible to errors. For instance, IMDb itself admits that "occasional mistakes and omissions are inevitable"[31] like some profiles which have credits of different persons,[32][33] people who have multiple profiles because they were credited with different names.[34][35] For instance, according to an archived version of Mariana Rios’ IMDb profile, she was in a 1953 film (before she was born!).[36]
Intersections
Verifiability is a necessary but not sufficient condition. Let the sources be sets; make sure that there are enough intersections of non-trivial reliable independent secondary sources to guarantee that all sources are about the same subject. If the depth of any source is not enough, you should avoid adding it to the article. It's not just a way to make sure the topic of your article is notable: it's also a way to make sure that the article is consistent. If several reliable independent secondary sources sources are in a consensus (represented by intersections) about a statement, it tends to be more reliable. In addition to these, it is also a way to find biased or minor views: if just a few sources agree about a statement it tends to be a minority point of view.
See also
- Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons
- Wikipedia:Chimera articles
- Wikipedia:Masking the lack of notability
- Wikipedia:No original research
- Wikipedia:Pulling a rabbit out of a hat
- WP:Synthesis
- Wikipedia:Wikipuffery
- User:Uncle G/Cargo cult encyclopaedia article writing
- Wikidata:Do not merge
References
- ^ Freire, Sílvia (2000-09-04). "Osmar Lins (PAN) participa hoje do bate-papo da Folha Online" (in Portuguese). São Paulo: Folha de São Paulo. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
Apesar de ser candidato à Prefeitura de São Paulo pelo Partido dos Aposentados da Nação, o PAN, Osmar Lins ainda trabalha.
- ^ Bartolomei, Marcelo (2002-08-19). "Dirigida por Guel Arraes, Débora Falabella vai viver Lisbela no cinema" (in Portuguese). São Paulo: Folha de São Paulo. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
A comédia [Lisbela e o Prisioneiro], de Osmar Lins, foi adaptada para a TV e para o teatro por Arraes.
- ^ Unterberger, Richie. "All of Us – Overview". Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
- ^ "17) Nevermind – The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
- ^ Goodman, Tim (2004-09-20). "Jason Alexander sitcom chalks one up for the 'Seinfeld' curse". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
[Jason] Alexander, whether he likes it or not, has an acting style and a comic delivery that, no matter what he does, closely resembles his George Costanza character
- ^ Morales, Tatiana (2004-01-09). "Has Britney Gone Over The Edge?". CBS. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
The new issue of People magazine explores whether [Britney Spears]' 55-hour marriage to childhood friend Jason Alexander indicates that the pop star has gone over the edge or if it merely represents the spur-of-the-moment actions of two young people.
- ^ Holmwood, Leigh (2009-04-18). "Susan Boyle: a dream come true". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
- ^ "susanboyle.com". Archived from the original on 2007-10-08. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
- ^ Thompson, Judy (2008-12-10). "Katie Perry apologises for calling Lily Allen 'fat' after Brit star labels her 'crass'". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
- ^ "katieperry.com.au". Retrieved 2009-09-21.
- ^ George Bush statistics, racing-reference.info; Retrieved April 17, 2008
- ^ "George H. W. Bush | The White House". Whitehouse.gov. 2013-07-12. Retrieved 2013-07-21.
- ^ "Filha de FHC ocupa cargo de confiança no Senado". noticias.terra.com.br. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
- ^ "Famosos lotam restaurante para festejar casamento de Fausto Silva". terra.com.br. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
- ^ "Estadao.com.br :: Arte & Lazer :: Negritude Jr. procura novo vocalista". estadao.com.br. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
- ^ "Netinho fala como é assumir a homossexualidade – Portal Correio". portalcorreio.com.br. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
- ^ "Cindy Crawford: 'I've tried Botox but it scares me' | Mail Online". dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
- ^ "Anal Addicts # 22 DVD". cduniverse.com. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
- ^ "PAPERBACK BEST SELLERS – August 1, 2004 – List – NYTimes.com". nytimes.com. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
- ^ "Book Reviews". journal.info.unlp.edu.ar. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
- ^ "Sting and Yoga". YogaEdge. 1 June 2011.
- ^ "Sting profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
- ^ "James Taylor". CricketArchive. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
- ^ "James "J.T." Taylor". Allmusic. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
- ^ "The James Taylor Quartet with Nick Smart horns and Yvonne Yanney vocals". Ronnie Scotts. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
- ^ "2009 Inductees". North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
- ^ Weiss, Mike. (September 18, 1998). "Killer of Moscone, Milk had Willie Brown on List", San Jose Mercury News, Page A1
- ^ Maisel, Ivan (1994-06-20). "White and the Wildcats are ready for Pasadena". The Sporting News. Retrieved 2008-11-20.
- ^ Reevaluating Amdahl's Law, John L. Gustafson, Communications of the ACM 31(5), 1988. pp. 532-533
- ^ "Quatermass". Allmusic. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ^ "How do I correct my credits?". IMDb. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
- ^ "I know for a fact that the John Smith who worked on film X is not the same John Smith who worked on film Y. How do I delete the incorrect credits?". IMDb. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
- ^ "Person X actually has credits for person Y too, how can I split their listings?". IMDb. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
- ^ "It's clear that John Q. Public and John K. Public are likely to be the same person. Why do you have two listings for him?". IMDb. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
- ^ "Person X and person Y are the same, how can I combine their listings?". IMDb. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
- ^ "Mariana Rios". imdb.com (web.archive.org). Retrieved 24 May 2014.