Interesting article regarding the accuracy of Wikipedia. I will let you read and draw your own conclussions.

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10478207/?GT1=7516

 

I will only say that, while I don't cite Wikipedia as a source, I often use it as a quick way to familiarize myself with a subject.

I mainly use it to get a clue about things I have no clue about to begin with. But I haven't used it as a definite source for anything (except quotes for boards).

 

Maybe I will start now?

Its a good "jump-off" point if nothing else.

^Agreed. If I need to get a meager grasp of something, I use it.

Have you read about the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation yet?

Shoo, shoo.

 

I blame it on being tired. I just deleted a reply where I tried to make an argument that 80's action flicks aren't old-fashioned. :">

Edited December 18, 200520 yr by Musopticon?

Only if someone links to it.

Only if someone links to it.

The realization of the scope of my ignorance made me bookmark it.

With stuff like science and mathematics it shouldnt be too hard to keep correct.

 

However with opinion based stuff you might encounter problems - as demonstrated by my oh so whimsical pic earlier in the thread.

 

Like one of the guys said - it needs a good editor.

I love Wikipedia. I've spent many hours on the site just jumping from one article to another by clicking through the links to other articles in the one I'm reading.

If I ever want to know something about anything, Wikipedia is the first place I look.

 

I wouldn't cite it as a source--partially because of the stigma many academicians attach to it, but also because if something I'm doing requires sources, I'd be better off reading Wikipedia's reference section and citing those as my sources--but I find it to be a very accurate site, in the main (though the topics I look at are mostly unscientific, like Benjamin Franklin, or Bread). Rather than going against it, the John Seigenthaler/JFK thing only proves how well Wikipedia's collective editing system works. Instead of being a drama queen over an inaccurate article, Seigenthaler could have actually fixed the error himself instead of leaving it there for four months.

I always tell my students that it's a great place to pick up links on a topic, but you shouldn't trust any single source for factual information. There's always some guy in his underwear typing this stuff in a basement somewhere...

apparently they got a bunch of people to compare, and it turned out that Wikipedia is almost as accurate as the Encyclopedia Britannica.

 

Dangit, they deleted my entry on Bioweenies.

Edited December 18, 200520 yr by Oerwinde

Meta loves this site so much I bet he has Wikipedia tattooed on his ass "

Well I've used it for researching electronics and found it quite reasonable.

I use it sometimes, mostly as part of posting, whenever I need to refresh some unused parts of my brain about something I normally couldn't care less about...or get some dates right about the few historical things I almost remember.

I use it, lots. I'll probably eventually cite it as a source so long as it's on a topic that isn't subject opinion, along with other sources for confirmation.

 

I'm upset that someone else posted the Penny Arcade comic before I did.

 

That wacky Skeletor.

I'm upset nobody acknowledged it aside from you CoF. But since you did... )

 

I've been waiting to use that ever since i read this story earlier in the week and then saw the strip a couple of days later.

I use Wiki a lot, even as a source. I just check and remove (if neccessary) any facts that seem off.

I wrote all of the Wikipedia, free encyclopedia, articles.

I use it. A lot.

My answer would be: No.

If I want information on something I just Google it...the links it gives me (that I click on as being promising) have not yet led to Wiki. Therefore, I assume it wouldn't be very useful to me personally.

 

Either that, or I use one of my many reference books sitting my bookshelves.

That's how I do it too mostly, Wikipedia just happens to be among the results quite often.

I've grown to use Wikipedia more and more.