On 12/30/05, wikipedia2006@dpbsmith.com wikipedia2006@dpbsmith.com wrote:
When people complain about inaccuracies in Wikipedia, the stock answers are that such complaints are invalid, or involve a misunderstanding of Wikipedia, because:
--It's a work in progress
--It's not an encyclopedia yet
--Every page has a wee little "disclaimers" link that potentially would display a huge bold all-caps "WIKIPEDIA MAKES NO GUARANTEE OF VALIDITY" if you clicked on it.
But when we ask for money, do we say:
--"Give the gift of an open wiki-community?"
--"Give the gift of process, not product?"
--"Give the gift of a whipped-up blend of tasty knowledge spiced with a few foul nuggets of misinformation?"
We do not. We say "give the gift of knowledge."
Small wonder that we're starting to see some hostility from the outside. We're trying to have it both ways. We set expectations ("give the gift of knowledge") and then are surprised when people have the expections we set.
We should teach people to be critical. Far too often people take what they read for granted without any thought or double-checking. We should work to keep featured articles accurate (because they're supposed to be the best). To get rid of other inaccuracies we should look for sources. If we don't have any, people should be naturally untrusting and try to verify the info another way.
NO ONE can guarantee absolutely correct info. Look at Britannica.
Mgm