In response to responses to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/08/AR2006070800...

"Thanks to everyone for taking the time to read and write.

Apologies for the mass e-mail but, as you may have guessed, I got plenty of feedback.

In case you are interested in knowing, it broke down approximately like this:

- 65 percent: You don't get that Wikipedia is not designed to break news, you idiot. - 10 percent: You and the rest of your dead-tree Luddite friends just don't get it, you idiot. - 10 percent: You're the best! Thank you for exposing Wikipedia for the unreliable tar pit it is! (These primarily came from .edu addresses.) - 10 percent: You raise some good points. For an idiot. - 5 percent: I can tell from your writing that you are a masculine and virile male specimen and that greatly arouses me. (Typically, that's about 30 percent of my e-mail, FYI.)

Just to clarify: My point was NOT that Wikipedia is a place to go for breaking news. Everyone knows that. My point was that this breaking news EXPOSED the weakness of Wikipedia, which is that anyone can go in and write anything. I realize such rantings/inaccuracies may only last minutes or hours, but then again, they may not. Because there is no expert peer-review, single editor or board of editors and experts who approve or discard entries, it can be a Wild West.

I acknowledged that this is Wiki's greatest strength, as well. It is dynamic and vibrant and draws from expertise and points of view far beyond that which could be assembled on any editorial board. In many ways, Wiki approaches the ultimate editorial board. But it is still board by gang, subject to the currents and eddies of political bias and inaccuracy.

To recapitulate: I like Wikipedia. I just want it to be better. And it will become so. I have no desire or ability to stop Wikipedia; I enjoy it, find it entertaining and a useful first-dive for information.

Finally, to the one wittily sarcastic e-mailer: No, it has not escaped mynotice that I write about TECHNOLOGY for a NEWSPAPER. Soon, however, The Post will be a Web site with a newspaper attached, not the other way around, if that hasn't already happened.

Thanks much and please keep reading. You may feel free to post this on any and all forums. (fora?)

Best,

Frank Ahrens"