Wikipedia: do you trust it?
@PumpkinThePIE (217)
Canada
July 3, 2011 11:57pm CST
back in high school, my teachers have always forbidden using Wikipedia for research. They all say that it is not to be trusted, because anyone can edit it. I always thought that wasn't true. when i use wikipedia, I always see good articles written by people who want to share their knowledge. Ive never seen any misleading articles or pages. I trust wikipedia as a source when I'm doing some research for myself... but when it comes to real work, I dont take the risk of using Wikipedia. This sucks for me, since i see so much info stored in Wikipedia that I could use, but simply because it is freely edited I can't use it.
I wonder, what do you guys think about using wikipedia as a source? Do you trust it or not?
9 responses
@moneywinner (1864)
• Brazil
12 Jul 11
I use wikipedia all the time when I'm trying to search for something. I think that 99% of the times, the things that are on wikipedia are trustable. I don't say 100%, because when I was doing a work for my genetic teacher, I saw a mistake about PCR. But, even for my college works, I use wikipedia if I don't find what I want in any other site. Of course, I don't put on the bibliography that I used wikipedia.
@PumpkinThePIE (217)
• Canada
13 Jul 11
haha. I sometimes did that do! it's such a pain when the only information you can find is on Wikipedia but then you know you aren't allowed to use it.
@ilovestool (107)
• China
6 Jul 11
I'll ask you a question,will you edit something if you know nothing about it?I think you won't.So does everyone!We can trust it as I think.
@PumpkinThePIE (217)
• Canada
13 Jul 11
That might be true but some people like to just edit for fun and add in false information. I've actually seen this happen...
@XxshubhamxX (115)
• India
12 Jul 11
yes we certainly doo...it is 99% correct ...or according to me it is..yes there is always a fear that anyone can edit it but it has 'nt given me any wrong information about any thing soo far..soo yes there is a reason to trust it..and yess for real work u jus t cant surf wiki..for real work u need to gather information foem a lot of the places..so dat there is no room foe mistakes.
@THR3000 (6)
•
19 Jul 11
Wikipedia is not an acceptable information source in educational circles, for example when writing a thesis for a college...but for everyday research and quick finding of something or when writing something where you don't need to exactly cite your specific source material, I would say in that case it is acceptaable, since I also think why would somebody who doesn't know about a subject go for all the trouble to write something about it?! I think in the vast, really vast, majority, the articles there are written by people interested in the said subject and by people who really do know somebody about the said subjects, also wikipedia regularly checks its articles whether there are enough citation, whether it is written in a neutral style and so on...
@irishmist (3814)
• United States
12 Jul 11
I have used Wikipedia many times in my serches online to find out information on something of intrest to me. Back when I was going to school we did not have computers like that , nor all the info that is on the web. Lol we were still typing on typewriters.
@Abello (68)
• Philippines
7 Jul 11
I admired Wikipedia the first time I have known it. Some say that it shouldn't be trusted...but, I have my own opinion.
As far as I could examine, Wikipedia provides information with the same context with that those written on the books. Only sound professional judgment, I think is necessary. Whether using print or online references...common sense is still the best counselor.
