[alexander_busek]

Same with wikipedia. When some one says they got any pertinent info from them, it should raise a red flag.

And the alternative?

In many cases (like when you want fast, up-to-date info), there is virtually no alternative.

Wingspan of the Space Shuttle? Number of ceramic tiles on its underside? Unusual features discovered on the surface of the dwarf planet Ceres last week? Production of wheat last year in India? List of U.S. states with no state income tax? No. of base pairs in the genome of the Monarch Butterfly? List of land-locked countries?

Twenty years ago, you couldn't have found out all those things without access to a good, open-stack library - and even then, it might have literally taken minutes.

Today, with Wikipedia...

Regards,

[rktman]

LOL! “Wingspan of the Space Shuttle? Number of ceramic tiles on its underside?”. You could ask some of us here on FRepublic. Of course I’d have to dig out my Space Shuttle users manual/guide. :>}

[HiTech RedNeck]

Up to dateness might be iffy. Does the landlocked country list include the split between Upper and Lower Buffoonia last week? Ok, the article containing it might have been touched since. But that was an unrelated edit about East and West Circosity.

[Jeff Chandler]

Twenty years ago, you couldn't have found out all those things without access to a good, open-stack library

I remember when quests for knowledge required trips to the library — usually the local library, but often a different local library, a regional library, or a university library.

Now, I click.