How often do you go to Wikipedia to find out something?

[abarkl]

How often do you go to Wikipedia to find out something?

[Marcm157]

I don't consider it a very reliable source as its ordinary people stating "fact". I have to verify anyway so I rarely if ever use wikipedia.

Now, WIKILEAKS on the other hand - 10 years strong and they've never been wrong!!!

[norty1]

It depends what you want to know. Wikipedia is not very factual and can be changed by input from the users.

[Sundancer330]

I tried it today to see if abarkl had a job in the polling field, didn't find anything. LOL

[mike837go]

Google is my goto place for raw information. Link to some commercial sites to get some clues.
Couple that with the 'facts' found in Wikipedia...


I get edumacated reel gud.






IMDB tends to be more accurate, though.

[Tex1961]

ARRRG.... Find a hobby.....

[Force]

Originally Posted by Sundancer330

I tried it today to see if abarkl had a job in the polling field, didn't find anything. LOL

LOL. He's on quite a tear with all these polls.

[lightcs1776]

Originally Posted by Marcm157

I don't consider it a very reliable source as its ordinary people stating "fact". I have to verify anyway so I rarely if ever use wikipedia.

Now, WIKILEAKS on the other hand - 10 years strong and they've never been wrong!!!

Well stated. I am working on a graduate degree, which has moved Wikipedia way down on the list of reliable sources.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[glsimms]

Originally Posted by Sundancer330

I tried it today to see if abarkl had a job in the polling field, didn't find anything. LOL

Originally Posted by Force

LOL. He's on quite a tear with all these polls.

LOL abarkl is the official "Keeper of the Polls"......

But considering what's been going on recently in the political ring recently, it's getting a lot of attention no doubt.

[DocBrown]

Wikipedia. Great for looking up pop culture kinds of things, like how old is so-and-so, or what year was Gattaca made and who starred in it (Ethan Hawk, Uma Thurman, and Jude Law in case you're wondering)? Generally accurate enough for most trivia games.

But historical events? Probably no better or worse than some non-class room history literature. But it changes regularly so not a "go to" source for really important information. I've also read some questionable and inaccurate things about science, religion, philosophy and other subjects.

[Jagiven]

I would like to say never. I never think of going to Wikipedia. When I was in college it was an unacceptable source, as it was not reliable, due to how the information was written up. Now I have to admit, we used it to get a baseline for my son's science fair project this year, just to get a list of sources to complete the research.

Otherwise, my option it is good for looking up who did what, and who was in what movie.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by Jagiven

I would like to say never. I never think of going to Wikipedia. When I was in college it was an unacceptable source, as it was not reliable, due to how the information was written up. Now I have to admit, we used it to get a baseline for my son's science fair project this year, just to get a list of sources to complete the research.

Otherwise, my option it is good for looking up who did what, and who was in what movie.

You just hit the nail on the head. Well annotated entries are usually accurate. All you have to do is check them. The only caution is some of the annotations are inaccurate so it would be wise to verify any source with multiple other sources.

[JEFF1963]

I'm a little puzzled; are we speaking of Wikipedia or WiliLeaks? I confess, I visit Wikipedia for things on historical subjects, e.g. Catherine the Great, and (hopefully) empirical data, e.g. elevation of Seneca, OR. As one poster asserted, are these subjects subject (no pun, I assure you) to editorial license? Most of the items I view seem to have bibliographies WAY more extensive than I ever submitted with any term paper I wrote.

[JEFF1963]

Oops, sorry Jeannie (Lady Fitz..) - I failed to see your post before I began my diatribe.

[Witt74]

It depends on how interested in the subject I am at the time. Or if I have to prove it to DW. (lol)

[BuddyRay]

I'm with Jeff1963. I use it all the time and find it far more accurate than "just googling" something. Google leads you to all kinds of websites. In researching material for Sunday School lessons I've found mysefl thrust in the middle of hate sites, political sites, and blogs by people who are just making things up. It never ceases to amaze me what people will believe just because it's on the Interweb. But I guess that's not new - my Dad used to say (speaking about newspapers in the early 1900's) don't believe it just because it's in the paper - editors have opinions too.

As to Wikipedia - critics should try writing an article sometime. I have. You get challenged almost immediately and constantly by the "community". Check the editing and comment history on almost any article on the site and you'll see what I mean. Because tens of thousands of people are reading most articles over a year, it's really hard to get away with an unsubstantiated statement or publishing just an opinion. And questionable sources are jumped on almost immediately. The exception are REALLY obscure or highly technical subjects.

I wrote some articles for Wikipedia on the history of the early micro computer industry. I was writing about things I personally lived, companies I was part owner of, and much of what I wrote was taken down because I couldn't cite published references. It was, frankly, a little frustrating - but taught me the value of crowd edited content.

I routinely correct articles where I spot an error or incomplete content - sometimes on things as mundane as an article on a Georgia State Park (pretty much all state and national parks in the U.S. have entries). Sometimes on more technical articles on some aspect of computer science or entrepreneurship.

Earlier today I made a $20 donation to the Wiki Foundation to support the non-profit that pays the server bills for Wikipedia. I do so every year because I think this is an important resource.