Talk:Precision bombing

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Can I 'cut and paste' for a Public Domain source (The US Air Force Historical Studies Office) to de-stub this page?

The 'Do not Copy' is a bet scary, but when its a PD source, its OK, right?

Bo 02:19, 2 October 2006 (UTC)


This entire page reads like a sales brochure. I want to see some sources and some review. --Stacman 16:24, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

For the base source material go to the US Air Force's Air University. Bo 17:43, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

This article, except for the introductory paragraph, is a word-for-word copy of the USAF article cited at the end. It doesn't include any opposing views, so it comes close to being just a piece of propaganda. Lavidia (talk) 17:59, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

I have added a line after the introduction pointing out that the article is just a transcript of another from an outside source. Lavidia (talk) 18:56, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

I have checked the Wikipedia pages on copyright violations and plagiarism, and there's nothing that explicitly prohibits making an article entirely out of another from an outside public domain source, but I do think this is not right - perhaps it would be better if the borrowed text is replaced with a link to it. Lavidia (talk) 19:15, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

  • What I originally copied over, a good bit back (say October 2006) was the Air University Article (I checked to make sure it was OK to incorporate a PD article...). There have been improvements made, it is still very heavily based on the scholarly article, but is no longer 'word-for-word'.
  • What 'opposing views' would be needed? The article simply defines PB and traces its history.

Bo (talk) 05:45, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

I just checked the history, and the only change you made to the article since I did, is the above entry you made in this section. If you do or did make additions, then you will have to put all of the original text between quotes, as otherwise readers will assume your writing is also the author's. You don't seem to have read Wikipedia's guidelines and rules on citations, so I strongly suggest you do so, before you start getting into trouble. As to the character of the article, even scientific articles (i.e.: global warming) cite criticism of the theories and even data involved. In the context of this article, one could start questioning the very concept of precision bombing by pointing out that it is an oxymoron, since the lethal radius of the 1 or half ton "smart" bombs is more than 200 meters, making a discriminate attack near impossible in a city. Lavidia (talk) 23:45, 9 June 2008 (UTC)