On 6/2/06, Anthony DiPierro wikilegal@inbox.org wrote:
On 6/2/06, Steve Bennett stevagewp@gmail.com wrote:
On 6/2/06, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
I essentially agree. Some people still argue that Wikipedia itself is not a reliable source. On the other hand "Scientific American" for this month used [[Sudoku]] as a reference in an article on the same subject.
A good example - it depends how you use Wikipedia whether you would call it a "reliable source". If it makes a definitive, unsourced claim, I would not call it reliable. If it provides the source further upstream, and you check them out, it's a very useful source.
If you're checking the source "further upstream", you should be citing the original source, not the encyclopedia article.
I just looked at the new Scientific American (ah, the advantages of working in a library) and skimmed the article. I may have missed it but I don't see any instances of the author citing Wikipedia as a source. The article does include a link to Wikipedia under a list of "More to Explore" weblinks, which seems an entirely proper use.