Sometimes the articles seem catty. Is Wikipedia legit or a tabloid version of an encyclopedia?
2007-03-02 19:48:20 · 7 answers · asked by britlynn18 3 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
Well, wikipedia isn't a very reliable source though it has got a whole lot of good in4. I don't know exactly, but I too find the articles akinda catty. As these articles are available to be edited by anyone, we cannot just rely on it completely.♫
2007-03-02 19:53:37 · answer #1 · answered by Sk8erGurl 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I believe it's reliable, as reliable as any paper encyclopedia or history book for that matter - they're all written by human hands.
Wikipedia is available, readable and written by humans.
** Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia and, as a means to that end, an online community of people interested in building a high-quality encyclopedia in a spirit of mutual respect. Therefore, there are certain things that Wikipedia is not.
1 What Wikipedia is not
1.1 Wikipedia is not a paper encyclopedia
1.2 Wikipedia is not a dictionary
1.3 Wikipedia is not a publisher of original thought
1.4 Wikipedia is not a soapbox
1.5 Wikipedia is not a mirror or a repository of links, images,
or media files
1.6 Wikipedia is not a blog, webspace provider, or social
networking site
1.7 Wikipedia is not a directory
1.8 Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information
1.9 Wikipedia is not a crystal ball
1.10 Wikipedia is not censored
2 What the Wikipedia community is not
2.1 Wikipedia is not a battleground
2.2 Wikipedia is not an anarchy
2.3 Wikipedia is not a democracy
2.4 Wikipedia is not a bureaucracy
*** Wikipedia (coined by Larry Sanger) is a multilingual, Web-based, free content encyclopedia project.
Wikipedia is written collaboratively by volunteers; its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the Web site.
The name is a portmanteau of the words wiki (a type of collaborative website) and encyclopedia.
Its primary servers are in Tampa, Florida, with additional servers in Amsterdam and Seoul.
Wikipedia was launched as the English Wikipedia on January 15, 2001, as a complement to Nupedia, an expert-written and now defunct encyclopedia.
The project is now operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization created by Jimmy Wales, and has over six million articles in 250 languages including 1.6 million in the English edition.
Wikipedia has steadily risen in popularity since its inception and currently ranks among the twelve most-visited websites worldwide.
Wikipedia's reliability and accuracy have been questioned. The site has also been criticised for its susceptibility to vandalism, uneven quality, systemic bias and inconsistencies, and for favouring consensus over credentials in its editorial process.
Wikipedia's content policies and sub-projects set up by contributors seek to address these concerns.
Two scholarly studies have concluded that vandalism is generally short-lived and that Wikipedia is roughly as accurate as other online encyclopedias.
2007-03-03 05:08:01 · answer #2 · answered by birdwatcher 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I believe there is nothing "absolutely" reliable when it comes to information we find in the internet.
Anybody can publish a website or put up a page that says this and that. Any body can put articles on wikipedia for that matter, as well as on other site on the net.
that is why no matter how easy and efficient it is to find info's on the net we should not rely to it completely. We should double check data to verify the accuracy of it.
2007-03-03 04:18:28 · answer #3 · answered by tachabei 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no
the ability to edit articles by any person discredits the academic value of the site
besides, encyclopedias aren't generally a good source to begin with
2007-03-03 16:27:47 · answer #4 · answered by Go Blue 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure but in some areas i think it is a bit unreliable because people can join wikipedia and put their own info on the site so it might not be true
2007-03-03 03:54:02 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is not always reliable. For instance, much to my regret, my son had told me he had entered information on a famous person that showed up for a few days until someone removed it. I would not trust information on the site 100%. I hadn't realized that just anyone could update the information.
2007-03-03 03:55:30 · answer #6 · answered by helpme 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, its constantly being updated and in my humble opinion is probably the most up to date encyclopedia around, which makes it the best encyclopedia around as you wont get outdated information.
2007-03-03 06:17:46 · answer #7 · answered by Bigeasy 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋