Poll: Do you use Wikipedia?

[Paragon Fury]

Wikipedia is great for research.

The article's page sums up all the relevant information, but if you need the sources, you can always go to the bottom and look at those.

 

[Xelanath]

how do we know that anything posted on the internet is true?

Because academics use the internet too?

yeah but anyone can hack into a web page and change shit

How easy is it to get into a database like JSTOR, access a journal, and then modify the PDF, say, compared to editing a Wikipedia page?

 

[ICantBelieveItGoesBoom]

Now from what I have been told, Wikipedia is not a reliable sourse for information because of its user generated content. So my question is, when you do research, do you actually research or do you just Wiki it?

That's just stupid.

99% of everything on the internet is user-generated content.
At least with Wikipedia, if someone screws up, someone else will probably correct it.

So yes, I do. It's pretty easy to tell when something has been vandalized anyway.

Also I don't get what kind of people would just spend their time putting "not" in front of a few words. It's most likely going to be stuff like "staceys a slag lololololololololool!!!!1!1!!11!!1!111!1!1!1 oneoenoeneoneoeneoeneoen

 

[IamQ]

I use wikipedia wuite alot.

 

[sirdanrhodes]

I use wikipedia as PART of research.

 

[Kiutu]

I love using it, for fun mostly, but I take it as fact unless otherwise stated. I recently have been using it alot for Marvel related info.

 

[Easykill]

It depends what you mean. I wouldn't use it in a report or something, but it's a convenient source of information that is almost always right. The average troll isn't discrete enough to fool a careful looker anyway. I use Wikipedia all the time, and I'm much more knowledgeable for it. Everything has SOME inaccuracies, don't trust everything a textbook tells you.

 

[Merteg]

I use Wikipedia for almost everything.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

wikipedia has a fun law of averages thing going. the fact that everyone can edit it actually helps make it more accurate. i do find it funny when people try and discredit your argument cause "you used wikipedia" it shows how little they actually know about the process

there was a philosopher that said that lower class people shouldn't vote cause they were stupid and didn't have the ability to rule properly. so he proposed a test to show that he was right. he had them guess the weight of a cow. now no one single guess was correct, however if you took the average of all the guesses they got it right.

the fact that the not one person was correct but the whole group was correct

Yeah I also like the fact that after a trip through wikipedia, dipshits suddenly turn into e-geniuses (what the fuck happened to hard work and actually studying?)...

Seriously I only use it for recreational, I refuse to use it in debate, and actual research due to not being a fully reliable source.

actually you're wrong on both your points and missed my point totally and i'll explain it in basic english

it IS a reliable source of information because of the fact that everyone can edit and change it.

they've actually done several blind tests against the encyclopedia britantica and to everyone's surprise wikipedia actually came out on top in a couple of the tests and was more accurate than britanica is.

also that little parable doesn't come from wikipedia, it actually comes from nova science now

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0301/04.html
or here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-FonWBEb0o

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

I use it for fun and for looking up track listings on cd's.

 

[Julianking93]

I use it only if I want to look something up real quick.

 

[Bigeyez]

Well if your trying to prove something over the internet it's not like you can shove a book through your computer and show it to someone. And I'll trust Wikipedia over just about any random site I find on google. So yes I use wikipedia in discussions on forums because well its the only real option you have.

 

[Ophiuchus]

Our lecturers tell us not to use it as a source, but they're happy with us using it as a starting point to find more reputable sources. That said, I tend to trust it more - the way I see it, the sort of things I'll be looking up on there for essays are unlikely to be vandalised because there'd be no point or entertainment in doing so.

For online discussions, though, it's the obvious go-to source for anything you're trying to tell people about.

 

[Snuggle]

I rarely use it for school-stuff, mainly to get a quick overview of the situation.

 

[ZonerZ]

Hell yes I use it! Wikipedia is my time-sink when this site fails to keep my interest.

 

[historybuff]

I use it to look up quick things but not for real research. For real research, I go to the library.

 

[G1eet]

I fucking love Wikipedia. I use it all the time. I can't even count how many times I used it just today.

I second this notion. If I really need reliable information, I'll google it.

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

if there is a term i'm not familiar with I might wiki it,otherwise I would of never found out what kawaii means.

 

[UltimatheChosen]

I frequently use it. If it's for something like school or work, though, I'll generally check the sources to make sure they're accurate.

 

[ffs-dontcare]

If I'm curious to see what it has to say about certain bands/artists, then yeah I use it. Also, when I want to know what information it has about up and coming games.

I also mess around with the Power Rangers: RPM pages in order to correct the abominations of grammar and spelling that are often present there right after a new episode has aired, occasionally going so far as to rewrite entire sections just to stop it from looking like it was written by a dyslexic 12 year old with Tourettes. -_-

Think what you will.