Is Wikipedia inaccurate?

Question

My friend swears up and down it is.
I say it's not, since everyone is required to cite their sources for information, and any wrong info is disputed almost immediately it seems.
What do you think?

Answer 1

No, it is not. Your friend for most part is right on this. There are many reasons why also, but basically on Wikipedia you can get anyway with ANYTHING as long as there a so called "source" backing it up. However, most of the time these sources are usally not very athuorative, outdated, wrong, or plain stupid. So many times you will have Wikipedia Articles contridict them selves on certain parts of the article. You will also feel that they are repeative or that they are all over the place. Why? because on todays internet i can find a source backing up just about anything these days, like saying the color blue is actually the color purple (LOL) and thats why Wikipedia is inaccurate. On top of that most of the people who are on it are mostly people who are addicted and can not stop using/contributing, so they become "Wiki Nazis" if you will and dont let other smaller users add to the article. So in the end basically take Wikipedia for what it is and if you are especially doing research or looking something up on a place make sure to go to another source because it will most likely be different. There are exceptions to what I am saying but generally this is true for many many wikipedia articles.

Answer 2

Well lets look at it this way, Wikipedia is listed under the GNU License, it is open source, meaning that anyone can contrbute and pitch in to build/ or edit articles. Because of this, editing is easily accessible for anyone, and some people may add content on these articles that may not exactly be true. Even though Wikipedia is an ideal source for research, in short, Wikipedia is not always right, and Wikipedia itself agrees on this 100 percent. Some schools and colleges have in fact banned the use of wikipeda for reserch because of this. It is better to use a proprietary source such as Encarta for example.

Answer 3

Yes. It is super accurate. Yes, anybody can edit it, but very few lame people do. I always go there to see biographies, if there is gonna be a sequel to a movie I like, and other stuff. Take Pirates 3 or High School Musical 2. I saw them all on wikipedia and they happened. I also found out about theThat''s so Suite Life of Hannah Montana before the commercials even started! So, I think it really is good.

Answer 4

Wikipedia is written by whoever wants to write it, so there is always a chance you'll get misinformation. Generally the type of misinformation you'll get will just be something some pissed-off teenager wrote, and will be caught within 24 hrs by the moderators. Only problem is sometimes google caches the page before it gets caught. Other than that, it is an excellent source of information. Someone did a survey and decided that Wikipedia's average error rate is about the same as most encyclopedias written by "experts". I can't remember who did the survey, I read it in a magazine.

Answer 5

Of course it's inaccurate! People like you and I can modify it. Citing sources doesn't mean you represented the subject accurately, it's easy to misrepresent even the most simple of facts.

By knowing it's inaccurate means you can use it to find the accurate information and explore a subject on your own. That's what rocks about Wiki!

Answer 6

I have a friend who said Wikipedia is inaccurate. In fact, her school even BANNED it.

Well, I guess all the essays I wrote must be inaccurate too. Kinda depressing.

Answer 7

The fact that anyone can edit or add things up makes it a bit un-trustworthy however, the admin keeps a look-out for these sort of things which is very common and removed those false facts. So if I were you, before you trust what you read on wikipedia, be sure to have read other references as well.

Answer 8

Here's the way I look at it, as a teacher: I tell my students that it's a wonderful source for general information, but it better never be cited in one of their research papers. Wikipedia does require one to cite sources, and if you want genuine answers, you ought to follow those links and get it straight from the source. I think we all know how easily something can be taken out of context.

Answer 9

Yes it's inaccurate. Anyone can go on wikipedia and change an article.

Answer 10

the ingredient approximately Wikipedia is that any one and positively everyone can edit or upload to the area, which potential it extremely is totally unreliable. some people seem to think of it extremely is exciting to flow on and write a load of rubbish a pair of undertaking they comprehend no longer something approximately in basic terms for entertainment, which i assume may well be exciting as long by way of fact the guy examining it is spectacular sufficient to no longer take it at face value. Or, some people think of they're helping yet grant innaccurate information with stable intentions, devoid of realising it extremely is not somewhat precise. on the different hand, there are people who comprehend a heck of lots on the subject of the subject remember they're writing approximately and grant impressive information this is sweet and genuine - to that end inflicting issues in what articles are precise or incorrect. the ingredient that fairly concerns me on right here however is while somebody solutions a query with the help of pasting a extensive article from Wikipedia, that's then picked as terrific answer by way of fact it seems 'genuine' and subsidized up/nicely researched, while it could't be (of direction, some situations, it could nicely be surprising, yet no longer consistently). I in basic terms desire definitely everyone seems to be clever sufficient to no longer take that by way of fact the only answer to their question and additionally seem someplace else. it extremely is a stable place to look out of known/hassle-free interest, yet once you're finding for a real and precise source, then you're terrific finding someplace else. and on no account quote it in homework/essays/thesis/dissertations - by way of fact you ought to heavily get some marks knocked off for utilising Wikipedia, regardless of if the object you have used is actuality!