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fredystairs
Guest
When I was taking some history classes at the local community college, at least one of my professors said that he would NOT accept any research done on Wikipedia. He said that we could use it to find other sources (those which were referenced in the Wikipedia article) but we could not use it as a source itself.
He said the reason was that anyone could go in and edit the articles at anytime making the content of the Wikipedia article of questionable veracity. I guess there’s another reason now…
He said the reason was that anyone could go in and edit the articles at anytime making the content of the Wikipedia article of questionable veracity. I guess there’s another reason now…
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F_Marturana
Guest
Same for my children.
Wikipedia sources are not to be used in any school assignments.
Wikipedia sources are not to be used in any school assignments.
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gam197
Guest
That may be what the students are told but everyone uses Wikipedia as number one source. It is the encyclopedia and history books all succinctly at your finger tips.
In response to Kindle’s debut…
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po18guy
Well-known member
It is decidedly left-wing, as is all of tech. Why is that? I suppose that controlling the content and dissemination of information is a sure way to reduce opposition and program popular thinking in alignment with one’s progressive goals. But, on the flip side, anyone can join and suggest edits to articles.
Who writes the articles? Mostly the same liberal (OK, leftist progressives) who are activists in all other aspects of human existence. I opine that it is a form of self-centeredness, an immaturity actually - to force-mold reality into that which is personally desired. There is no defense of self required - only the continuous, if not exactly vociferous, attack on dissenting thought.
Do we see that in society today?
In decades past, we used to say that such persons were living in a fantasy world. Sadly, the fantasy template seems to have been forced upon reality.
Who writes the articles? Mostly the same liberal (OK, leftist progressives) who are activists in all other aspects of human existence. I opine that it is a form of self-centeredness, an immaturity actually - to force-mold reality into that which is personally desired. There is no defense of self required - only the continuous, if not exactly vociferous, attack on dissenting thought.
Do we see that in society today?
In decades past, we used to say that such persons were living in a fantasy world. Sadly, the fantasy template seems to have been forced upon reality.
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0Scarlett_nidiyilii
Guest
In general, the more emotional the topic, the less accurate the information.
Even if there weren’t a top-down bias, wiki is known for its editing wars.
Even if there weren’t a top-down bias, wiki is known for its editing wars.
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1Lord1Faith
Guest
I’m not exactly a senior citizen, and I can recall when thinking outside the box was considered a good practice. That was of course a largely academic/left thing to espouse. Today the same academic/left doesn’t allow any thinking outside of its own box. A very well defined, square box. Does that mean it’s hip to be square?
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sealabeag
Guest
I don’t know about the owners/founders of Wikipedia themselves, but it is absolutely true that the majority of editors on there are left leaning, and so the content is biased towards their point of view. It’s fine for basic information about non-controversial topics, but don’t use it for any serious information or information about a divisive topic. What really made me begin to go off Wikipedia years ago was when they added graphic, realistic illustrations to their articles on certain sexual topics, without any warnings on the images, and knowing full well that curious children will be searching for those topics. But such things have become so normalised it’s hard to be shocked anymore.
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po18guy
Well-known member
There is Conservapedia, but it is smaller in scale so far and, as we all know, it’s only the propaganda arm of FOX News. 
Strangely enough, FOX is now media non grata as it threw its principles under the bus. Hope they didn’t hitch their star to CNN…
Strangely enough, FOX is now media non grata as it threw its principles under the bus. Hope they didn’t hitch their star to CNN…
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sealabeag
Guest
Did you see the Fox news George Soros thing? Very strange. I’m definitely done with Fox. Newsmax are their new competition. Even better, turn the news off entirely… Note to self. 
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TC3033
Guest
Really…I guess if you want to fail.
I don’t know anyone who ever tried to use Wikipedia and get away with it. It isn’t worth it, it’s just as easy to go to google scholar and pull reputable sources that a person can site as it is to go to Wikipedia.
Personally, I thought that was common knowledge that you’re not going to get away with using Wikipedia as a source…and that was 15ish years ago.
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Feanor2
Guest
Well there’s always Conservapedia. Someone used that as a source here before.
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gam197
Guest
I am sure that is the case but once these students leave college, Wikipedia will be used. .gam197:
Really…I guess if you want to fail.
I don’t know anyone who ever tried to use Wikipedia and get away with it. It isn’t worth it, it’s just as easy to go to google scholar and pull reputable sources that a person can site as it is to go to Wikipedia.
Personally, I thought that was common knowledge that you’re not going to get away with using Wikipedia as a source…and that was 15ish years ago.
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TC3033
Guest
I guess it depends the context of the data I’m looking for. I don’t write speeches or term papers anymore, but still, I personally don’t use Wikipedia for anything of substance. I use it a couple times to look up rough estimates on dates movies came out, stuff like that. It’s a Wiki that can be edited by anyone, so any info needs to be take “with a grain of salt”.
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whatistrue
Guest
First, I dispute that “all of tech” is left-wing. IBM, for one, is quite conservative and yes, they are still in business and doing quite well.
Well, there you go. Supposing things isn’t the way to get to truth. Maybe education is. And no, “The Left” doesn’t run all of education. Most engineers and scientists don’t give 2 figs for either left or right; they just want to discover and/or build things.
One more time for old time’s sake: Truth has no ideology.
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pnewton
Guest
Just using that Golden Rule thing, or as they say, turnabout is fair play, especially as the OP linked an op-ed, which is by definition, not neutral. I get the point, but I also know that they are a target of journalist for whom the whole of the internet is a competition for attention. And Wikipedia does one thing most journalists do not do - they link source documentation, allowing a reader to read sideways across browsers and think for themselves. I have given a green light to use it, but only as a type of search engine. It has its uses, limited though they may be. So far, there has never been any issue from a teacher using it this way.
It is amazing how many sites that do give links link only back to themselves, and their previous articles, or to similar sites that sometime link back to them as support for the same news. The internet is weird. As CAF closes, I hope all will remember to read news sideways, across multiple tabs with different views, always seeking source documentation. Discard anything that starts to look circular.
Speaking of circular logic, has anyone appreciated the irony of discussing how anyone can edit Wikipedia on a forum that is just opinions as well? If Wikipedia is a useless source (and I do not believe it useless) how useless is this discussion of Wikipedia? Or for that matter, how useless is an op-ed opining about how Wikipedia includes opinions?
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JimG
Guest
My niece was a high school English teacher before her children were born. She often assigned students to research and write essays. What drove her crazy was not that students used the internet for research, or even used Wikipedia. It was that they copied and pasted directly from the source to their homework without even bothering to change fonts or to write anything in their own words! She got papers with no original writing from the student whatever–just copy and paste. Her students soon learned that she could use Google as well as them.
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AlNg
Guest
Wikipedia is free and no one has to use it. Although it may not be the last word on any subject, still it has a lot of helpful information and references and is one source among many others.
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