On 3/2/06, jayjg jayjg99@gmail.com wrote:
One of the brilliant things about Wikipedia is that it is not so arrogant as to presume it can or should present "the TRUTH"; instead it presents verifiable information from reliable sources, which is far more useful, and almost always more truthful, than "the TRUTH".
It may not seek to determine a single truth on controversial issues, but it generally aims to present "true" facts on noncontroversial topics, rather than simply references. *That* is the value - not, "here is a list of 30 websites about topic X, knock yourself out", but instead, "200 editors contributed what they believe to be true about topic X, and we also have 3 references to high quality websites that back that up".
Verifiability and sources are great, and are a good goal to be aiming for. But if we don't have them, let's at least have make sure Wikipedia contains "true" "facts" in the meantime.
Steve