User:Peteforsyth/O-vanish

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Wikipedians working on stories that quote The Oregonian need to exercise particular care, because that particular paper is so woefully behind the times.

If you simply list a URL (web address) for a citation, it's bound to go dead in a matter of weeks or months, and nobody will ever be able to figure out what story you were trying to cite. So it's of particular importance that you provide a full citation. Whether you get the formatting "right" is not so important, but getting the story's title, author, and date in there (at minimum) is really important.

The O is the newspaper of record in the state of Oregon. But you wouldn't know it from its pathetic web site, on which stories routinely vanish without explanation.

The paper has a "policy" of showing stories for free only for 14 days, though they seem to stay up for several months.

But after that, it's hasta la vista.

See my comments here and here and here for more.

Contents 1 Examples of the problem 2 Ways to get around it 3 Oregon papers that share the problem 4 Oregon papers that do NOT share the problem 5 National papers that take the ideal approach 6 Tips for regional library card holders 6.1 Multnomah County 6.2 Clackamas County 6.3 Salem and CCRLS

[edit] Examples of the problem

The following examples, illustrating variations on the problem, are taken from the Ted Kulongoski article, which is in essence without citations (except for a couple articles from other publications.)

• [1] [2] [3]

[edit] Ways to get around it

The Wayback Machine (aka "Archive.org") preserves old pages on the internet. Wikipedia has a template that provides easy access to anything that was "caught" by the Wayback Machine: type {{dlw | http:oregonlive.com/blahblah | Article name}} and the resulting link may take you to the original story. YMMV

[edit] Oregon papers that share the problem

• Statesman Journal
• Salem Monthly

[edit] Oregon papers that do NOT share the problem

• Portland Mercury
• Portland Tribune
• Willamette Week

[edit] National papers that take the ideal approach

Some national papers, wanting to charge for some older stories like the Oregonian does, take an approach that addresses the present problem nicely, and also serves their bottom line by making it easy for people to pay for a story. The New York Times, for instance, offers a free "preview," with all bibliographic info, and even a few paragraphs from the story's lead. See example here.

[edit] Tips for regional library card holders

[edit] Multnomah County

If have a Multnomah County library card, you can use their web site to search several newspapers, including the Oregonian, Statesman Journal, etc. (Expired URLs won't help, but you can search on story text, headlines, etc.) Go to http://multcolib.org, click "databases," and select the library card icon next to "NewsBank." Then enter your card number and PIN.

[edit] Clackamas County

This works if you have a Clackamas county card as well, in exactly the same way. Go to http://www.lincc.lib.or.us/, click Online Databases, click "Connect to News Bank", then log in with your card number.

[edit] Salem and CCRLS

A Salem Public Library card (available free to residents of Salem and with restrictions to residents of Yamhill, Polk, Marion, and parts of Linn County in the Cooperative Regional Library Service) will allow access to the above papers, as well as several research databases. See: http://www.cityofsalem.net/export/departments/library/databases.html#newspapers Most other libraries in the CCRLS region offer the same service.