Wikipedia:Don't build the Frankenstein

Boris Karloff as the classic film version and Hollywood's interpretation of Frankenstein's monster

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 is not actually about the same subject, and when mistakenly combined, creates a Frankenstein's monster (often called a "Frankenstein").

Example:

  • "John Doe played Johnny in movie A." (source: Newspaper X)
  • "John Doe played Carl in 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 be correct, but there is a possibility of mistaken identity with, for instance, John Doe from movie A being 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".

Hypothetical examples

Attention: The following examples are all verifiable but mistakenly combine information from two or more homonymous people.

  • Adam Smith began his career as a lecturer in 1748 at the University of Edinburgh, represented the United States as a swimmer at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, and was elected as a Democratic representative for the state of Washington in 2006.
  • Jim Jones, a cult leader who committed suicide after carrying out the Jonestown Massacre in 1978, played offensive line for the Baltimore Ravens in 2001.
  • Osmar Lins was a São Paulo mayoral candidate in 2000. As a writer, he wrote the story "Lisbela e o Prisioneiro".
  • The band Nirvana released the album "All of Us" in 1967 and the album "Nevermind" in 1991.
  • Jason Alexander, who played George Costanza in Seinfeld, married Britney Spears.
  • Susan Boyle is a singer who became famous on Britain's Got Talent. She's also a painter.
  • Katie Perry is a singer and fashion designer.
  • George Bush was a NASCAR driver and midfield footballer who was elected president of the United States in 1988, 2000, and 2004.
  • Luciana Cardoso, daughter of former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, is the wife of Brazilian TV host Faustão.
  • Anne Hathaway (born 1556), wife of William Shakespeare, won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2013 for her performance in Les Misérables.
  • Top model Cindy Crawford was in the porno film "Anal Addicts # 22".
  • Michael Moore wrote the books "Stupid White Men", "Dude, Where's My Country?" and "Distance Education - A system view".
  • Sting is a musical artist and professional wrestler who is a practitioner of Tantra, Jivamukti Yoga and the Scorpion Death Drop.
  • James Taylor was born in 1809, sang lead vocals in Kool and the Gang, played at Ronnie Scotts and was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.
  • Dan White, a former San Francisco supervisor who assassinated George Moscone and Harvey Milk, led the Arizona Wildcats to their first Pac-10 championship.
  • John Gustafson, creator of Gustafson's Law, played bass guitar in Quatermass with drummer Mick Underwood.
  • Jenna Reid is a fiddle player and runner who was named the Penthouse Pet of the Month for September 2015.
  • Michael Jordan is widely regarded as one of the best basketball player of all time, has won acclaim for his acting in movies such as "Creed" and "Black Panther", and was elected to the Irish National Assembly for Wexford in 1927.
  • Tony Banks, founder member of the rock group Genesis, was well known in the House of Commons for his acid tongue.
  • Jimmy Johnson played quarterback, defensive back, and tight end in American football, was a head coach, offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, and an assistant in the NFL, CFL, and college football, and was named the 2009 Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year after winning a record fourth consecutive NASCAR Racing championship. He died in 2004 and 2009 and is currently a television sports commentator.

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" like some profiles which have credits of different persons, and people who have multiple profiles because they were credited with different names. For instance, according to an archived version of Mariana Rios' IMDb profile, she was in a 1953 film (before she was born!).

Intersections

A Venn diagram representing intersections of sources A, B and C

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 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

References

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