Is Wikipedia Dying?

I didn't know why it wasn't .......

Do you know now why it isn't a reliable (direct) source?

Ironically this article:

(take a guess where this link goes)

is even longer than the MIT Technology Review article that is waaay longer than my interest level can tolerate.

You had Wiki in high school? I'm feeling old.

I'll use it for maps, graphs, etc, that are culled from reliable sources, or as a starting point if I'm researching something.

Unfortunately, on things like AGW, there is an emotional bias involved that is allowed to stand, and opinion is presented as fact.

So no...I would never rely on Wiki alone.

...too many people blindly accept just about anything/everything they see/read/find on the web...much to their own failing.

I remember being told in high school that Wikipedia was not a good source for a report. I didn't know why it wasn't...

I'll echo Kramarat's astonishment of having the internet in high school. I was well past my formal tertiary study phase and into my career before internet research became a new luxury reference.

You've highlighted something in your opening paragraph. That is, you didn't know why....that was because you weren't told why, most probably because your teachers didn't know either and were just parroting policy to you with no clue as to how to discern quality citations from the dross, or how to impart this ability to their students.

Eighth wonder is a bit lofty.

Darn useful as a place to start or to help refine your search criteria though.

I remember being told in high school that someday a man might walk on the moon.

I remember being told that communism was taking over the world (seeing a world map of the 60's and 70's and comparing to the early 80's, it sure seemed like it).

In High School, some of the kids took a computer class. I think I had to do one computer programming assignment in math class. The funny thing is that the teacher had no clue how to use a computer. This must've been senior year, so 82-83.

Yeah....and they told you that one day there might be horseless carriages that would shuttle people around.

How about space shuttles. Or tubes to shoot people from Northern CA to Southern CA, where the sled rides on a cushion of air? Or a car that runs on electricity with a range of over 200 miles on a single charge? Of a private company shooting satellites into space?

I remember thinking how cool it was that they could fit an entire album on a little cassette tape...and celebrating the death of the 8 track.

Those 8 tracks were horrible. I remember all that blank silence before it shifted to the next track. And the sound quality! You could jiggle the tape to help align the heads. We sure have made some huge improvements!

I don't know where you lived in 1961, but there were no TV's in the school I attended. None.

This was rural Arkansas and the nearest TV station was 40 miles away. There would have been no reception anyway. I'm not joking.

We were informed of JFK's assassination only after someone called the principals office by a telephone. That's a telephone, with wires and a dial.

I'm sure this is all foreign to most of you, but it's the way we lived then.

Yeah - our 2 TV stations were 45 miles away, but the yagis on the roof actually received them fairly well. We sat a bit higher than the broadcast town. Never realized that the "little hole in the wall" I grew up in in the middle of the Keystone state was so progressive.Although I don't know what they bought the TV's for, as that was the only time I remember them being used. So the school district was progressive, but the teachers were old one room school house types.

Bit rhetorical, but does anyone rely on information that they only get from watching a book or reading TV ? A lot of people do, but they are the types who have usually decided the answer before they look for research to back up their view.

Yes, the above word-swap was deliberate - what person 'A' informs may not be how person 'B' understands it.

The more useful question might be about what other sources people use.

CR4 discussions can be quite good. Do I get my free CR4 coffee mug now ?

The question mentions report. erm, that's not quite the same as original thinking or crital evaluation. A pad of paper and a pen is no bad place to start when baffled by a question.

Science has been polluted by consensus, and opinions can be bought. It's a problem that exists in Wiki, and just about everywhere else.

Kris, you hit the nail on the head! Why are most of our Presidents elected? It sure isn't due to the majority of voters doing research and understanding the candidate's positions.

I remember thinking, just out of High School, that 8 track tapes were the coolest thing ever....prior to that you had the 1 or 2 cool fm stations that you had to find in any geographic location you happen to find yourself in.....not an easy task because some of them changed at certain times of the day, or certain days of the week....that's back when free roaming concerts were rare....Your only source of information was the encyclopedia set that every home had, and the dictionary...beyond that was the library and your teachers and the network of information shared by other kids, that of course, was the main source of everyday general information, what other kids had heard, or determined must be true by simple logic...Compared to that, Wikipedia and well the internet in general, is like the 8th wonder of the world....

prior to that you had the 1 or 2 cool fm stations that you had to find in any geographic location you happen to find yourself in.....

You had FM?....... you lucky dog.....

I hated the "clunk" in the middle of a song, while it was changing tracks.

Like "Deep Purple" which took up more than one track..........

More than a few 'concept albums' when that place.

What I recall, there was a few bars that had 12 notes,........ that went on and on for a whole track....... It was pretty cool...... but over done.

...sorta depends what one was smoking (and some of it certainly demanded being on another planet)

Absolutely! And the 8 track "clunk" ruined everthing...especially through headphones.

You spoiled little brat!

At least you didn't have to carefully place the needle on the phonograph drum and wind the crank to listen to music!

Young people!! What's this world coming to.

Yeah,.... it really sucked in school too, when your clay tablet and sharp stick broke too, right.........

Yeah, those wax cylinders were a bitch

Don't have any wax cylinders, but I do have some very thick Edison disks and the machime to play them, and yes, you do have to crank it.

The disks are just under 1/4 inch thick.

Ha,...... what if I told you it was my older brothers tape......

Ina Goda DaVita (SP???) and "Time, by the Chambers Brothers, come to mind

I can't help it... I always hear that as "I'm the bhaga gavita, baby!"

Wikepedia is my go to place for quick information (well relatively quick depending on the page(s) as a starting point)..The site has me floored by the shear beauty of the logical flow from topic generalities to details within that topic and directs to appropriate starting point journal articles where available..A great site and i hope it continues to evolve..

we live in interactive times if we choose to participate..or we can sit on the sidelines and grumble...

Wiki is not an approved source for "school" references because almost anyone can edit any entry at almost any time. Which makes it unreliable and unstable. As an instructor checking work you need long term stability and reliability in the sources your students' use.

Plus, it's too easy!

'....because almost anyone can edit any entry at almost any time....'

.

I have heard this many times, and in fact, I use to say it.

.

I challenge you to document making a significant detrimental edit to a less-than-obscure Wikipedia article. Perhaps take a screen shot before the edit, once it has been edited, and then periodically while the bad edit remains uncorrected. I suspect you will be surprised at the speed with which the edit is redacted.

.

In some ways Wikipedia is better than many other sources. The 'talk' page is a good example. Being able to review not only the material and references, but also the debate that eventually brought about the final decision can be very informative.

The roll out of Wikipedia is evolving all the time. And the value is there.

Back on topic. My eldest son couldn't use Wikipedia but my youngest can. It was always far more recent than published books. That might not matter for Roman history but for timely topics, it is far better.

The problem with helping Wikipedia is you have to deal with other personalities. The nit-pickers have taken over. I intend to complain about someone removing all my external links to first hand accounts the battle of Gettysburg. He claimed they were not necessary (for him). I almost always want to see first hand accounts of battles so I know what the battle was like. They had been there for years. Granted, I do not have a Wiki web page so he could have contacted me and the links were added years ago so I can't be too irritated. Still, I see Wiki moving away from interesting to concentrating on being 'safe' - pushing grammar and semantics while removing interesting information.

I am aware of when Wikipedia was having trouble with Scientologists putting bizzare claims in an article about L Ron Hubbard as fact. Because of the way they delt with them they altered the 'sole' of Wikipedia for the worse. They could have easily allowed the statements to be qualified.

Well, I remember years ago this was addressed and the conclusion was that Wiki is about as reliable/accurate as the Britannica encyclopedia. I don't think Britannica was ever blacklisted. Of course, not everyone believes it.

When I was growing up in New York City, other than encyclopedias, dictionaries, libraries and school, most of my knowledge came from magazines like Popular Science/ Mechanics, Radio and Electronics, Mechanics Illustrated, Science and Mechanics and several other technical magazines. Magazines were a good source of up-to-the-minute information. I still browse old copies of the Popular magazines of the time on Google books. They even revive knowledge that was once know, but forgotten. To understand the present and the future, it is necessary to look into the past.

I did and still do the same thing....

"I read somewhere......."

Who needs Wiki when there is a Solar Eagle nearby?