Let's put dpbsmith's insight about the newspaper vending machine on the wiki somewhere. It's a variation of the "honor system" that can be used to explain to CRITICS why we are so confident that Wikipedia can be relied upon.
It all comes down to trust. Who is worthy of your trust? And how do YOU decide this?
Uncle Ed
Thanks Ed. That actually puts this in good perspective, for me at least. A bit of a "lightbulb" moment.
Ian