[Wikipedia-l] An idea

[Andrew Venier]

Guaka wrote:

>>In a world that is moving to greater transparency, wikipedia is, in 
>>fact, a model. Consider being able to earn one's degree by writing on 
>>wikipedia.
>>    
>>
>
>But if you accidentally find out something that wasn't known before
>you'd have to erase it from Wikipedia and move it somewhere else... :/
>Which also implies you could never earn a PhD by writing on Wikipedia.
>I hope Wikiresearch and/or Wikiversity will become a bit bigger to
>tackle this inconvenience. :)
>
>  
>
How does one, in the course of documenting what is known on a topic, 
"accidentally find out something that wasn't known before"?

If one does indeed have brand new ideas about a subject, these ideas 
warrant the testing and maturation that comes with peer review and 
publication before they warrant being repeated in an encyclopedia.

(assuming you want the encyclopedia to develop a reputation for 
reliability, that is.)