Miscellaneous desk
< May 17	<< Apr \| May \| Jun >>	May 19 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

May 18

n:Trainmen_and_engineers_go_on_statewide_strike_in_New_Jersey,_first_time_in_42_years

Requesting assistance with copyright. Is it acceptable to keep 2-3 sentences quote from external sources. (if not, you can edit and reword it) For a few years I have been at the site and collaborating, I have not understood what is a "safe" amount of quotes to shove on a page. Would appreciate a fresh cross-wiki perspective. Thanks. Gryllida (talk, e-mail) 12:30, 18 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

IMO, quoting several sentences verbatim from someone's public speech is less problematic than an extended quotation from a written work. Such quotations often need to several sentences to ensure the core message can be understood in its proper context, and any paraphrasing of spoken text needs to be done with extra care. Press statements and similar are even issued in the hope their content will be faithfully copied and their message thereby spread further. ‑‑Lambiam 19:22, 18 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Wikipedia rules on this are at Wikipedia:Quotations. To quote that page:

...quoting a brief excerpt from an original source can sometimes explain things better and less controversially than trying to explain them in one's own words.

Alansplodge (talk) 21:51, 18 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]