Wikipedia [Was: recent francophobic slur]

[Jonathan Lighter]

Wiki is less an encyclopedia than a continuing gabfest among enthusiasts. As such, it's most useful for getting leads to be checked out, but many surfers undoubtedly take its articles as gospel.  The articles I've looked at are better than abysmal, but not always well balanced or especially trustworthy.  Perhaps the more interest and controversy surrounding a topic, the less reliable the article.

JL

"Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Baker, John"
Subject: Wikipedia [Was: recent francophobic slur]
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I've been surprised at how often Wikipedia articles are
demonstrably superior to articles on the same subject in Britannica and
Encarta. This does not apply just to popular culture topics, where you
would expect more thorough coverage in Wikipedia. The key seems to be
the selection of a topic that attracts input from knowledgeable editors.


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Sam Clements
Sent: Sunday, June 19, 2005 9:07 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: recent francophobic slur

From: "Fred Shapiro"

> Wikipedia has a great little article on "Cheese-eating surrender
monkeys."
> This is actually, in my view, an outstanding example of Wikipedia at
> its best, writing authoritatively about something that no traditional
> encyclopedia would ever think of having an article about.

One of very few, in my opinion. Wikipedia still receives my scorn.
They post articles which the average person take as gospel, even though
they're contributed by well-meaning people who aren't necessarily
scholars. The scholarship is very deficient in my experience.

Instantly available mis-information is worse than slow moving correct
information.

Sam Clements


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