On 08/12/05, Anthony DiPierro <wikilegal(a)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]