Wikipedia, Friend or Foe?

[Liz]

It could've been bigger.

[likeafox]

shut pu

[Caoimhin]

I always liked the way Wikipedia articles are organized. A well written article on there is really easy to navigate. I didn't have time to fully read this, but it goes to show you how good organization can look:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_D.C

(I picked a well, known city and capitol)

I'm interested in the poll results so far.... They're turning out to be a surprise...

[Segovia]

Geez! I'm the only person who voted no.

[Caoimhin]

I expected alot of choice three... I voted Rutebegas by the way. I wanted to stay non-biased .

[Dr. Sticks]

I love you Caoimhin. No one else ever includes that in polls anymore

[Caoimhin]

It started to get moldy... But then I realized that if we replaced it with a NEW rutebega it would cease to smell and resume its normal function by the way...
Interestingly enough I spelled rutabega wrong... However, it being a cross between a turnip and a cabbage mystifies me... I think the Wiki failed on this point...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/rutabega

Edit:Cross reference it checks out http://www.vegparadise.com/highestperch4.html
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/afcm/rutabega.html

We can apparently trust the Wiki on rutabega knowledge... Rejoice!

Also who are you Dr? You act like you've been around a while... Its odd...

[Dr. Sticks]

I just had a hell of free time last week before christmas, so I got myself acquainted with the more important threads since the beginning of Define Cynical.

Also, I think DCS himself misspelled rutabega in the comic where Millie managed to answer every answer "Rutabegas are cool" on a multiple choice test.

[Caoimhin]

I remember that... DCS is in our BRAAAIIINNNNNSSS by the way click the link at the bottom of my sig... its quite interesting...

[Doc Sigma]

tl;dr

tl;dr

[citation needed]

[Archaemic]

Wow, I'd forgotten about the CowboyNeal option here at DC. I've been gone too long.

[klimt]

i use it for general information gathering on things i am interested in, brief summaries of things i'm only slightly interested in and to double check things i already know, but don't really remember properly...

never used it at school, my parents have a set of encyclopedias from the 80's (which are still accurate on anything that happened before it was printed...like everything in high school history)and the text books typically had enough information in them to cover it.

[Dr. Sticks]

you can always just get the yearly supplements, I don't see why people complain about old encyclopedias when they release those for them

[Arloest]

Of course Wikipedia is generally useful, anyone who says otherwise is objectively wrong. Again, like Jason says, it comes down to using common sense when deciding what's legit and what's not - but it's usually legit. Wikipedia has never, ever steered me wrong in all the times I've used it, whether academically or for recreational uses.

Of course you shouldn't cite it in your papers, that's an obvious no-no, but all you have to do is cite the sources it references (after checking that said source is legit, of course). Really, Wikipedia makes everything easy.

[datherman]

Also, I think DCS himself misspelled rutabega in the comic where Millie managed to answer every answer "Rutabegas are cool" on a multiple choice test.

I nearly ordered a strip print of that one a few years ago, ended up with the 9-11-02 one instead.

Back on-topic, I usually use Wikipedia to get a general idea of what the topic is about, then use the sources it references for the more detailed data, as they're usually legit.