[WikiEN-l] [[WP:V]] and [[WP:RS]] are destroying Wikipedia

[Phil Sandifer]

On Sep 17, 2006, at 2:22 PM, Kim van der Linde wrote:

>
>
> Phil Sandifer wrote:
>> I don't allow my students to cite Wikipedia, but I don't let them
>> cite Britannica either. The reason isn't reliability, though - it's
>> that encyclopedias aren't academic sources.
>>
>> You've seen Alan Liu's guide to citing WIkipedia, right? (Liu is a
>> big name humanities figure - highly respected writer on digital
>> media) http://kairosnews.org/developing-a-wikipedia-research-policy
>>
>> It's a good example of a commonsense citation policy, and should
>> probably be taken as a model for us.
>
> Well, it is a convenient way around the issue of determining whether
> Wikipedia is reliable or not. But it is besides the point. People  
> DO use
> Wikipedia as their reliable source. And thanks for the link. If we  
> need
> that kind of instructions for students before they can use  
> Wikipedia as
> a potential source, it is quite clear how unreliable Wikipedia is.

Nonsense. I could write that many words about using the New York  
Times as a source. You seem to be laboring under the misconception  
that there is some well of magically reliable sources that can be  
cited without critical thought.

-Phil