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Your views on wikipedia

coolguy721coolguy721
edited May 2011 in General Chat
What does everyone think of Wikipedia? Do they consider it a source? I always use it and consider it real? What do you think?

Comments

  • DAISHIDAISHI
    edited May 2011
    Professors will tell you not to use it in papers.

    In truth, we use it in academia, and often. Just not for references.

    Serious papers cannot reference Wikipedia, and not just because anyone can edit it, but because encyclopedias, even Wikipedia, are often outdated. There's been plenty of times I've read Wikipedia and been irked by the content.

    To be honest though, the broad, general content is often correct. The minute details important to researchers may very well not be, but you're generally getting good content. Nature magazine did a research article on it and said it is 98% accurate, and again, there's not a one of us in the history department that doesn't refer to it for broad refreshers.
  • splash1splash1
    edited May 2011
    Wikipedia is hardly accurate, they have no dignity and they show everything that can be taken in a picture (nudity, blood and gore).

    I find it great for facts about television and video games, other then that it's all disgusting garbage and shouldn't be read.
  • FalancaFalanca
    edited May 2011
    He was my homework bro for the entirety of my high-schooler phase. Good times really, now I'm not really hanging around with him anymore. Dunno, duncare.
  • SHODANFreemanSHODANFreeman
    edited May 2011
    It's a good way to gather sources and information, if the article happens to cite sources well enough.
  • JohroJohro
    edited May 2011
    it has it's place.... wouldnt exactly consider it set in stone though.
  • Sausy GibbonSausy Gibbon
    edited May 2011
    I'd say wikipedia is accurate 9 times out of 10. On the whole most information on the internet is inaccurate or completely fabricated, I would trust wiki over the majority of sites.
  • DAISHIDAISHI
    edited May 2011
    I have an online subscription to Encyclopedia Brittanica which is also nice.
  • dumpling321dumpling321
    edited May 2011
    I NEVER use it for academic things, since some professors WILL fail you if they even THINK you've used wikipedia, however; I use it constantly to look up info about movies, books, games, etc... It's great for a person like me who not only wants to read a book, play a game or watch a movie, but also wants to know everything about the book, movie, or game in question ^_^ I know it's not 100% accurate, but it's still got some great material there =D
  • doodinthemooddoodinthemood
    edited May 2011
    It is slightly less accurate than EB, but also slightly less racist. :D
    I use wikipedia. I also edit it, particularly the maths articles.
    I also occasionally enter deliberate falsehoods onto topical articles for big days, in the joyful knowledge that someone, somewhere, will have likely followed my fabricated "tradition".
  • DAISHIDAISHI
    edited May 2011
    doodinthemood wrote: »
    It is slightly less accurate than EB, but also slightly less racist. :D
    I use wikipedia. I also edit it, particularly the maths articles.
    I also occasionally enter deliberate falsehoods onto topical articles for big days, in the joyful knowledge that someone, somewhere, will have likely followed my fabricated "tradition".

    Thank you for posting this. It'll be good for my students to read.
  • jeeno0142jeeno0142
    edited May 2011
    When I was in college I used wikipedia a fair amount, but since I know anyone can edit it and that does make a good lot of information unreliable, I always found another site or source to compare it against. This helped my work be more accurate, and sometimes I would get differing opinions on a subject which helped. Nowadays I just go to wikipedia if something pops in my head and I'm curious about it. For example, the filmographies of actors. I recognise them and then can never place where I had seen them before. Wikipedia is rather handy for that sort of thing.
  • RibsRibs
    edited May 2011
    Simple English Wikipedia on stupid things like Power Rangers is the best.
  • Prime EvilPrime Evil
    edited May 2011
    I use it as a springboard for my research, but I don't cite it. Most of my professors at CSU (Chicago State University) don't allow us to use it as official research, but also don't understand the hate for it that some professors have.

    RE: Dumpling321

    Wowzers, they'll fail you even if they have only a sneaking suspicion? Sounds more like snobbery on their part than anything.
  • The-J23The-J23
    edited May 2011
    splash1 wrote: »
    they show everything that can be taken in a picture (nudity, blood and gore).

    I don't see that as a bad thing. History isn't always a pretty and happy thing, hiding that is lying, and in turn, makes things less accurate. The last thing we need is more PC garbage, cluttering places that it doesn't belong in.
  • coolguy721coolguy721
    edited May 2011
    they also don't censor profanity
  • caeskacaeska
    edited May 2011
    Me, I get all my information from Uncyclopedia.
  • coolguy721coolguy721
    edited May 2011
    ^

    thats almost the exact same thing
  • DAISHIDAISHI
    edited May 2011
    Well now that Encyclopedia Dramatica is dead, there's no wiki worth reading, really.
  • doodinthemooddoodinthemood
    edited May 2011
    http://encyclopediadramatica.ch/ orly? :)
  • RetroVortexRetroVortex
    edited May 2011
    Wikipedia is pretty good if you need a quick go-through of a topic you are unfamiliar with.
  • The-J23The-J23
    edited May 2011
    DAISHI wrote: »
    Well now that Encyclopedia Dramatica is dead, there's no wiki worth reading, really.

    They are some of the biggest trolls the internet has to offer. What with all the useless and inaccurate information that covers the site(not to mention all of the bashing that goes on). I used to use it a lot, whenever I wanted internet related info, but now I know better, and realize that barely any of it is accurate.

    That was really off-topic. So back on-topic.

    I like Wikipedia, I use it whenever I need quick information on anything media related. Yes, anyone can edit it, but if the information is wrong wiki will remove it and ban the person from editing anymore. So usually it's pretty accurate.
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