Kat Walsh wrote:

I disagree on this, and I wonder why so many people state it: a good encyclopedic article on a broad subject I am only casually acquainted with is very useful, and in fact Wikipedia is often the first place I'll turn. There are plenty of basic subjects for which I do not know most of the information contained in a decent encyclopedia article; I'd imagine this is true of most people.

Also, for many basic subjects for which one is not a specialist, an encyclopedia article is a very helpful place to turn for confirmation of things you *think you know*, but aren't absolutely certain that you have remembered correctly.

--Michael Snow