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[El Macho]

 

[Leon Purvis]

I must confess something. Once, I did a Wiki search and found a page open for editing. I couldn't resist. I edited it. The article contains very wrong information about a certain profession.

I wonder if I might have ruined someone's life for having committed this egregious act.

[Invictus]

for what it is wikipedia is amazing imo

you can look up pretty much anything and get a rundown. the amount of things i've learned from there is staggering. it should absolutely be banned from being used as a source for study because it just isn't, but it isn't meant to be that.

personally if i was marking uni papers and someone used wiki as a reference page i would treat it the same as if someone cited 'something i heard in the pub'

i absolutely love it tho, for example last few months i have been interested in ancient gods and i have spent all my breaks reading up about egyptian, roman, zoroastrian etc gods on wiki. it isn't the same as reading a book about them of course, but thanks to wiki i have a rough idea what loads of them are called and what they did

I second that! No way should this site be used in an academic paper but wow, is it great to have around for easy reference. I have probably spent hours in the past few years just exploring so many incredibly interesting things. I remember the days of Encarta. That site just wasn't as good, plus I don't think I should have to pay for knowledge.

I have also heard of some less than scrupulous individuals who take advantage of Wikipedia's free-for-all editing functions by engaging in juvenile antics. Such as, say...going to the Obama guy's entry and changing every instance of his surname to "Osama"... but the over-zealous little editors whose lives revolve around the page they edit soon emerge from their slumber to correct these things and restore balance to the universe, so no harm done keeping them on their toes a wee bit, aye.

[Tai_Li]

I LOVE Wikipedia! I mean, look, I'm not in school anymore, but when I was even, it was a great place to start learning about the basics on a project. Nowadays I let that Random Page button take me all around the site to learn things I never would have known about. So, I mean, it's not perfect, and people should know that Wikipedia shouldn't be the be all and end all of research, but for what it is (an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit), it can remain pretty informative and neutral.

[Con ate dog]

Wikipedia is for a quick overview, pure and simple.

BTW Tai Li, hats off for that avatar of yours.  Creepiest I've ever seen. 

[Senor Boogie Woogie]

I like Wikipedia because anyone can write an article about most anything. It can be edited, but is monitored by the staff of the website. If nothing else, they are very politically correct, and will not allow slander (Abraham Lincoln, Illinois Asshole) or great love (Hitler, one of the greatest men who has ever lived.)

I have written two articles on Wikipedia, which has been edited by others over time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiasha

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongyang

[ericthered]

Tai Li, just wait until you have spent oodles of hours trying to explain to 120 students why plagiarizing is bad and then you sit down with a big pile of essays which are all pilfered, nicked, snarfled and purloined from Wiki...then you will get to hate that site too. I hate Wikipedia as I find it is nor a reliable source at all.

[Pashley]

I have written two articles on Wikipedia, which has been edited by others over time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiasha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongyang

You might consider writing those up on Wiktravel, a free online travel guide:
www.wikitravel.org

[aznbapo]

Wikipedia is not totally reliable, but how hard is it to double check the sources cited for the Wiki article and cite those instead?  I just don't understand.