On 08/12/05, Anthony DiPierro wikilegal@inbox.org wrote:
So should anybody, anywhere, be using Wikipedia for any purpose?
Sure, but not for fact checking. For getting a broad overview, maybe. For pointing you to other sources, sure. But not for fact checking.
I think this is a very good point - WIkipedia can *provide* facts, but it definitely can't *verify* them, on it's own. After all, we reject original research, so we are only ever a secondary source, by policy.
Anyone who thinks they know something and reads Wikipedia to check it is going about things the wrong way round. They should be using Wikipedia either because they don't know the facts at all (and want a starting point), or because they want to see what brilliant authoritative sources Wikipedians have cited. ;)
[I guess that last use could be classed as "using it to check information", but more accurately it's using it as a tool to find resources which can be used to check the information.]
-- Rowan Collins BSc [IMSoP]