[WikiEN-l] The Nature of "Facts"

[wjhonson at aol.com]

The other day I ran across what is perhaps for me, one of the most bizarre situations with references I've yet to encounter.

Webster's has produced a book.? I found it in some random Google books searches I was doing on a subject.? It states certain facts and a few of them I knew to be without evidence, which made me wonder where they'd come from.? After a few minutes of scanning back-and-forth I realized that their source citation, which is only cited as (WP) stands for.... Wikipedia.

Checking the Wikipedia article on the same subject, that "fact" is no longer present.

I hope we can all see what horror Webster has now unleashed upon us, by this act of intellectual graffiti, not to mention amateurish citation.? They need to be taken to the woodshed.

Will Johnson