Wikipedia is something extremely rare - something brand new, never seen before in the history of the world.
I use them fairly often for basic stuff.
Google recently up ranked their pages, their hits must be tremendous.
I read, The Register, that Google is going to come up with their own.
I think so. I admit I use it if I need to quickly know the synopsis of a movie to decide whether it is worth seeing or not. It is also useful if I need to quickly see something like the top speed of a type of car or something like that (something that isn’t up to debate).
In a word; yes.
Misinformation is worse than lies.
But of course the ignorant never know that they're ignorant so it works out --- sorta. Positive negative feedback reinforcement.
Read Wikepedia's entry about Free Republic. No bias there, huh?
My daughter’s middle school does not allow Wikipedia to be used as a citation in the papers kids write.
Actually, the site is a useful source of information - as long as the subject is not controversial! If you want to know what the Fields Medal is or who Kevin bacon is, then it is a good source. If it is anything political, controversial or regarding things like “Global Warming(TM)”, forget it. The bias is distinctly left.
Wikipedia is great for any non-political issues (period)
It's a great site, I don't know why FReepers get so worked up over it. If you don't like what an entry says, you can try to change it.
Meanwhile, on non-politically charged entries, you can find out about popular culture, literature, music, just about everything because it is open to everyone to be an author.
I use Wikipedia as a starting point for many topics that are unknown to me. I also allow my students (grad level) to use entries that give a good overview of an issue. Should they look at other sources? Of course, but as I said, Wikipedia is a great starting place.
And word to the old fogeys out there - all the young people use it. Forget Britannica or World Book, for better or worse, they are going to Wikipedia first. The trick is to teach them also to use authoritative sources so that they aren't taken in by inaccurate or biased Wikipedia entries.