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How much do you trust Wikipedia?

The concept of "collective knowledge" is often lauded as the next step toward truth in online media. But recent scuffles over inaccuracies in Wikipedia entries call into question the reliability of the medium. Some scathing press and ongoing abuses of the site's open format caused Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales to limit the article submission process. But doubts about whether these changes will mean more accurate entries are still circulating. Do you consider Wikipedia a trusted source of factual information? Share your thoughts in our TalkBack section.

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Add a Comment (Log in or register) Showing 1 of 2 pages (34 Comments)
Why now?
by December 6, 2005 6:45 PM PST
I can't believe the accuracy of Wikipedia's articles are just now being called into question...
Reply to this comment
Trust?
by Mark Morrill December 6, 2005 6:56 PM PST
Trust is odd when it comes to a source of information. Every
source is coloured by its bias. Ask a source about the origins of
the universe. Its answer will depend on its religious,
philosophical, and scientific bias. How about something simple -
why is the sky blue? How many different answers can you
imagine when you put the questions to different sources - a
scientist, an artist, or a child.

The strength as a source for wikipedias is its fluid democracy. I
can't edit a CNET story. I can't correct any errors in the 30 year
old encyclopedias sitting on my bookshelf. And if I add pages to
that dusty tomb, it just looks silly.

As for trust, wikipedia is just another flavor of bias. But at least
it can be edited.

http://mutantjedi.blogspot.com/2005/12/wikipedia.html
Reply to this comment
Wikipedia is cool
by Roman12 December 6, 2005 6:57 PM PST
I like the idea of wiki, and I've made contributions. However, I would rather turn to other sources when serious reaserch is required.
__________________________________
R.K.
http://www.Remove-All-Spyware.com/
Reply to this comment
More than I trust the corporate media
by December 6, 2005 7:22 PM PST
Wait. I don't trust Wikipedia. I trust most of the articles that I go to Wikipedia looking for. What, exactly, were the countries involved, and the issues involved in the Thirty Years War? What was the Sokal affair again? Do I have post-modernism right? Who were George Gershwin's lyricists? What was the connection between Gurdjieff and Madame Blavatsky?

Wandering the web, I find lots of stuff that I don't know, don't remember well, or am pretty sure that I've got wrong. Wikipedia's just great for setting me straight with that kind of stuff. If it's a subject about which I sense controversy (and wandering the web tunes your controversy sensors pretty good), then Wikipedia is only one step in the research, and I'll use it more as a source of links than as an authority. I'm glad to see the subject coming up, and I'm glad to see that Wikipedia is responding so quickly, so undefensively, and so appropriately. It was pretty good early on; it's gotten real good by now; and it's going to keep getting better - richer in content, more complete and more authoritative, and more resistant to being gamed by ideologues and ego-trippers.

I've posted my take on the recent news on my blog, at http://richard.blumberg.org/2005/12/04/what-do-you-know-for-sure/

Richard
Reply to this comment
These views are not new
by Derek Parnell December 6, 2005 9:37 PM PST
I've had a few times now where I've had discussions about the futility of Wikipedia, in as much as it contains inaccuracies and any attempt to fix them can just be removed by the 'next' person. So why bother fixing things and in fact, why bother using it all!?

My position is that I use it daily and have very rarely seen inaccuracies (that matter). It is just another source and if you are doing serious research one always uses multiple, independant sources before deciding what is 'truth' or not.

And I think that fixing entries can only improve things, even if occassionally it provokes a debate. Once I fixed something only to be shown later that I was in fact wrong. So both I and Wikipedia benefitted.

What I don't understand about the bad data in the biography that kicked off this round, is why didn't the guy just fix it up when he found it to be wrong.
Reply to this comment
Not at All
by slave2reason December 6, 2005 9:56 PM PST
It is rife with error. Amateur editors vary widely in talent and knowledge, but mediocrity nearly always prevails at Wikipediaby the very nature of the open editing process, where consensus of opinion is valued over knowledge about the subject matter. Most troubling of all, there is no accountability, given the anonymity of nearly all of the editors. Vile, untrue, and sometimes libelous comments are made about real, living people. Even though such matters are often removed from the main articles themselves, they persist on various discussion pages, and they are replicated throughout the internet on numerous mirror sites. Wikipedia should not be used as a legitimate source for research. If it has any use at all, it would be to prompt further research. However, I think its disadvantages far outweigh its merits and that its founder should cancel his experiment and return to the original plan he invisioned with Nupedia, which relied on expert editors who were not anonymous.
Reply to this comment
wikipedia is great
by December 6, 2005 11:10 PM PST
I often look to wikipedia for some definitions, historical event and Information.
I trust wikipedia and why not? Do you want us to trust web sites whose authers are not know?
I would prefer to check wikipedia where some of contents are updated by myself :)
Reply to this comment
A voice from the past
by ciropabon December 7, 2005 1:11 AM PST
"The French Encyclopédie had been accused, and justly accused, of having disseminated far and wide the seeds of anarchy and atheism. If the Encyclopaedia Britannica shall in any degree counteract the tendency of that pestiferous work, even these two volumes will not be wholly unworthy of your Majesty's attention."

I wonder if attacks on Wikipedia are a reminiscence of this very old quotation.
Reply to this comment
Like a Friend...
by sevanthson December 7, 2005 2:57 AM PST
I treat Wiki like a knowledgeable friend. Someone who knows a lot
about a lot, but not everything about everything. And they happen
to be wrong on occasion.
If honest research is being conducted, then multiple sources
should always be used. If inconsistencies are found in more reliable
sources, the researcher should take it upon themselves to update
the Wiki, thereby allowing the next reader to find more accurate
information. Isn't that the whole point of Wiki anyway?!?!?!
Reply to this comment
You have to be kidding?
by December 7, 2005 6:00 AM PST
No...I trust very little I find on the Internet.
Reply to this comment
Wikipedia is worthless
by December 7, 2005 7:22 AM PST
Most entries are drowning in obvious bias. Wikipedia is an
interesting time waster but not much more.
Reply to this comment
Wikipedia is not really about truth
by ReyBrujo December 7, 2005 9:13 AM PST
As a Wikipedia contributor, we are requested to follow some guidelines and official policies. One of those is the WP:V, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:V#Verifiability.2C_not_truth , where it states that "The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth." In other words, if you have a source from a relatively known source which isn't likely to lie, you can include it.

Wikipedia doesn't hold the truth. Only the facts and links to how to verify the information. I use the Wikipedia as a quick guide, to learn what is something about, and then use the cited References to expand.

This is something many wikipedians and non-wikipedians get confused. What you find there are just verifiable facts which may or may not be true.
Reply to this comment
Wikipedia is fantastic - just be selective
by kaiwen1 December 7, 2005 11:29 AM PST
Wikipedia is far more informative and useful than any other encyclopedia in existence. The vast majority of information presented is correct, expert and useful. But, because of it's open nature, the whole thing should carry a User Beware sign. After researching something in Wikipedia, it might be necessary to corroborate the findings elsewhere. Wikipedia's value is enormous. To throw insults at it demonstrates a complete lack of logical thinking.
Reply to this comment
I just used it for an undergrad paper on Sikhism!
by December 7, 2005 11:36 AM PST
Hi,

Just last night, I turned in a paper in my Asian philosophy class covering the basics of Sikhism. I proudly used Wikpedia as one of my resources -- I also used two other websites and two books. Wikipedia's article on Sikhism was accurate, at least according to my other sources.

It's funny... we had to do a synopsis of our papers for the class, and one of my classmates also chose Sikhism for her report. While she was presenting to the class, the teacher had to interrupt her presentation because she said (and wrote in her paper) that Sikhism is a combination of Hinduism and Buddhism -- in reality it is a combo of Hinduism and Islam.

Anyway, my point is that Wikipedia gave me a quick and accurate picture of Sikhism that I then used to research the topic further in books and other websites. NO source is 100% accurate and the only way to keep from getting the wrong information is to THINK during the research process!

rawbertow
Reply to this comment
Wikipedia is the dumbing down of knowledge.
by driftwolf December 7, 2005 1:25 PM PST
Wikipedia is not a "peer reviewed" publication, and is therefore suspect as a source of any valid information. Anyone putting a well researched article on there is not being reviewed by peers, but by a group of anonymous editors with questionable pedigrees and even more questionable agendas.

Wikipedia is more of a rumour mill than a valid scholarly resource. The anonymous editing, the revert wars, and the "in" people choosing popularity over correctness of content makes it more of a sideshow circus than what it purports to be.

To put it more bluntly, anyone using Wikipedia as a scholarly reference in any form of researched paper is a fool. Wikipedia is a form of entertainment, not a trustworthy repository of knowledge.
Reply to this comment
THE EARTH IS FLAT ...
by ssme December 7, 2005 1:27 PM PST
... this is what Wikipedia would say about Earth, if it existed 600 years ago, that is.

Wikipedia is NOT about truth or facts, it is about what PEOPLE think is true or factual - "democratic knowledge".

For mundane stuff or common knowledge or high school level projects - it's ok.
Reply to this comment
Wikipedia can be corrected, unlike bonehead statements made elsewhere
by tbc0 December 7, 2005 3:03 PM PST
See, for example, "Wikipedia springs into action after M&G Online article" [1]. On the other hand, this message board won't even let people modify their postings. How quaint. How Web 1.0. How very 20th century.

Wikipedia is simply amazaing. But as much as some contributors and project champions would like it to be an encyclopedia, it is, first and foremost, a wiki. That can change easily. Snapshots could be taken of reviewed articles and published as a pretty interesting encyclopedia. I was one of a few who tried to get the ball rolling [2], but it's taking a while. [3]

[1] http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=256606&area=/insight/insight_tech/
[2] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Tim_Chambers/Wikipedia_configuration_management
[3] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_on_CD/DVD
Reply to this comment
Still trust Wiki
by dlc3007 December 7, 2005 6:56 PM PST
Wikipedia is as or more trust worthy than any other source of information on the internet. Is it perfect? Nope. Neither is the Encyclopedia Britanica, the New York Times, CNN, or USA Today. Just like every other reference source used for research, facts should be verified from multiple sources. I?m sorry, but it doesn?t take a genius to figure this out.

I?m sorry that some old man is upset about Wikipedia. Was the posting intentionally malicious? Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps the author was misinformed. Maybe they got their information from another publication.

I don?t really know or care who John Seigenthaler is, nor would I now if he wasn?t throwing a hissy-fit. Since this is Wikipedia, he should have simply corrected the entry himself and made a note in the talk section. Then others would have been on the look-out for the incorrect information and made sure it didn?t get back in.

Of course, maybe he just wanted the additional attention created by making a lot of noise in the media. I guess someone should add to his biography and point out that he?s best known for making a stink about on-line encyclopedias.
Reply to this comment
There is nothing to trust......
by Earl Benser December 8, 2005 4:54 AM PST
.... Wikipedia is a constantly changing compendium of popular
opinion. It can be interesting reading, but Wikipedia is not any
sort of credible reference source. The simple fact that any
person at any time for any reason can edit any article in any way
simply destroys the concept of credibility for Wikipedia. There is
no doubt that most Wikipedia articles are probably is close to
accurate most of the time, but 'most articles' and 'most of the
time' are the reasons Wikipedia is not trustworthy. You never
know where or when the errors exist.

I don't know that Wikipedia could exist in any other form. IT's
premise is excellent, in a perfect world. Users would ensure that
every article would evolve into highly accurate content. But, this
is not a perfect world, and any evolution toward accuracy is
more accidental than deliberate.

So consider Wikipedia to be an interesting artifact of the Internet
Age. Read it for what it is. But trust it???? Yeah, like a used car
salesman.....
Reply to this comment
Good Stuff
by Lance Peterson December 8, 2005 10:48 AM PST
I use it all the time and it is awesome. There is potential for inacurracies in any dictionary, but the overall quality of the writing in Wikipedia has been high.
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (34 Comments)
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