Wikipedia - how much do you use it? |
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Topic: Wikipedia - how much do you use it? Posted: December 16 2007 at 14:24 |
Do you depend on Wikipedia? Do you trust it? Do you contribute?
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Raff
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: July 29 2005 Location: None Status: Offline Points: 24429 |
Posted: December 16 2007 at 14:38 |
I must admit I use it quite a lot for factual information, such as dates of birth and death of writers, artists and historical characters, or details about events or places. If I need something a bit more in-depth, I always check the info I found on Wikipedia against other sources, because I know how it works, and that it can be unreliable.
As to contributing, I only did for a very short time, and in a very limited context - the Italian entry about JRR Tolkien. However, I lost interest very soon, and had other things to occupy my time. |
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Posted: December 26 2007 at 14:47 |
I personally thank Wikipedia for my growing knowledge in music, and in everything else a bit. I just don't want to say "if Wikipedia weren't, I..." The whole world would be different, no doubt...
I depended on Wikipedia almost 100% until the day I became a member of PA. Actually, PA tremendously decreased my interest on Wikipedia, both on editing and reading. I was really an active member there, but PA did it's effect... But again, if Wikipedia weren't..... (Whoopss!!! ) Edited by Aeternus - December 26 2007 at 14:48 |
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Mikerinos
Forum Senior Member Joined: August 11 2005 Location: Planet Gong Status: Offline Points: 8890 |
Posted: December 26 2007 at 14:53 |
A few times a day on average probably. It's misleading though, people act like you can add or edit anything in the articles on wikipedia but I believe the revisions need to be passed by moderator-like people before (correct me if I'm wrong...). I mean I'm sure faulty stuff gets passed but probably not as often as the librarians at my school say..
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Peter
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: January 31 2004 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 9669 |
Posted: December 26 2007 at 15:00 |
Very rarely -- I just Google any given topic, and (depending on the nature of the subject) tend to then click on links to government, university or other such "reputable" sources.
Plus, I already know almost everything, anyway....
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"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy. |
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Slartibartfast
Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / In Memoriam Joined: April 29 2006 Location: Atlantais Status: Offline Points: 29630 |
Posted: December 26 2007 at 15:18 |
Of course it's entirely dependent on what you're looking up. Good for the non-controversial stuff.
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Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...
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darkmatter
Forum Senior Member Joined: November 23 2006 Location: New Jersey Status: Offline Points: 2760 |
Posted: December 26 2007 at 15:22 |
I use it somewhat frequently, but I'd never use it for a source for a project or report, just for random stuff.
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Vibrationbaby
Forum Senior Member Joined: February 13 2004 Status: Offline Points: 6898 |
Posted: December 26 2007 at 15:29 |
After seeing so many errors I don`t even bother. In fact I don`t use the internet for a source of information. There`s books and libraries for that. It`s more of an entertainment thing for me. I even joined Queen Elizabeth`s Royal Channel on youtube.
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ClassicRocker
Forum Senior Member Joined: March 02 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 894 |
Posted: December 26 2007 at 15:32 |
You're right. Apparently there are people checking new and revised articles round-the-clock. And besides, people don't need Wikipedia to mess up topics and write goofy articles: that's what Uncyclopedia is for! (http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) |
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Dick Heath
Special Collaborator Jazz-Rock Specialist Joined: April 19 2004 Location: England Status: Offline Points: 12812 |
Posted: December 26 2007 at 15:40 |
I've banned its use as a reference for coursework, research projects in our undergraduate and post-graduate programmes - just too unreliable, worse ,wrong too many times to be a safe reference. |
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The best eclectic music on the Web,8-11pm BST/GMT THURS.
CLICK ON: http://www.lborosu.org.uk/media/lcr/live.php Host by PA's Dick Heath. |
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N Ellingworth
Forum Senior Member Joined: April 17 2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1324 |
Posted: December 26 2007 at 17:09 |
I use it to get a general view of what I'm researching and then find specialist sites to get more in depth knowledge, interestingly I recently discovered that my great grandfather has an entry on wikipedia detailing how he won his George Cross
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laplace
Prog Reviewer Joined: October 06 2005 Location: popupControl(); Status: Offline Points: 7606 |
Posted: December 26 2007 at 17:12 |
wikipedia's great for the sort of things I'm interested in - nerdy or arty rubbish that no-one hates enough to deface. not so much for political or national info ;P
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ProgBagel
Prog Reviewer Joined: May 13 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2819 |
Posted: December 26 2007 at 17:36 |
Everyday...one of the most useful things on the internet. Even though it is inaccurate at times.
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Philéas
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 14 2006 Status: Offline Points: 6419 |
Posted: December 26 2007 at 23:08 |
I use it a lot, but I'm not really dependent on it.
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Abstrakt
Forum Senior Member Joined: August 18 2005 Location: Soundgarden Status: Offline Points: 18292 |
Posted: December 27 2007 at 12:16 |
Quite alot, both for schoolwork and for fun.
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer Joined: July 04 2005 Location: Malaria Status: Offline Points: 89372 |
Posted: December 27 2007 at 12:52 |
I use it to look up deceased Baseball and/or American Football and/or Basketball and/or NFL (former-) coaches/players in the "Recent deaths" section.
Let's see... this month alone:
I've never heard of any of them... Actually, I do have an account on there, but it's been a while since I've edited an entry on there. Edited by Geck0 - December 27 2007 at 12:59 |
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Barla
Forum Senior Member Joined: April 13 2006 Location: Argentina Status: Offline Points: 4309 |
Posted: December 27 2007 at 13:02 |
I use it a lot for school, and many of the information is good, but you know, there always are mistakes. It's incredible the amount of info they have!
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JJLehto
Prog Reviewer Joined: April 05 2006 Location: Tallahassee, FL Status: Offline Points: 34550 |
Posted: December 27 2007 at 13:53 |
Alot.
I don't care what everyone says...I still think it's a great source.
I mainly use it for factual info as well, but also as a way to get to other more "scholarly" sources.
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stonebeard
Forum Senior Member Joined: May 27 2005 Location: NE Indiana Status: Offline Points: 28057 |
Posted: December 27 2007 at 14:02 |
I use it a lot. In high school, it eventually got banned by most teachers, but I only had to do 1 or 2 research projects a year, so by that time it didn't even effect me really. My WW2 History teacher didn't care if we used it or not, and for a variety of other reasons, mostly because I write papers very well, I used only wikipedia and maybe 1 or 2 other sources to write a few research papers. The class was set up like a college class in high school, and since I wasn't getting college credit for the difficulty of the coursework, my using wikipedia reflects my contempt. In college, I haven't had to write a research paper yet. So, I use wikipedia if I'm curious about something.
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bhikkhu
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: April 06 2006 Location: A² Michigan Status: Offline Points: 5109 |
Posted: December 27 2007 at 14:14 |
If I get a hit during a search, I will check out the entry. I don't use the information they provide. I just use it to guide me to other sources.
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