People say Wikipedia is garbage.

[skiing-in-jackson]

I went to the library with the gang and picked up a Wired to read. There was an article about this sculpture. I didn't have time to read the whole article and wanted to find out more. I went to Wikipedia.

I believe Wiki gave a good answer as to what Kryptos was. By some, Wikipedia is regarded as a dubious resource.

Your thoughts?

[TheGreekSauce]

Personally I believe that Wikipedia is an excellent resource when searching for basic superficial information on a subject. Unfortunately, due to it's "user-created" nature, many articles include tendentious counsel as well.

[always wright]

there's a difference between being useful and informative and being a dubious resource. Anyone can edit wikipedia, so your information may be written by a high school student with too much time on their hands. Also, many pages lack citations of any sort, so you only have some anonymous person's word that the info is true.

That said, wikipedia can be a useful starting point for research, especially when it is cited. Often, you can find books or articles on wikipedia, and go straight to the source. Find a library and get those articles, and see for yourself whether the wiki is true or some editorialized account. I find wikipedia to be generally accurate, but often find glaring errors.

[skiing-in-jackson]

...written by {somebody} with too much time on their hands...pages lack citations...anonymous person's word that the info is true

So.

Is there a problem with this? Is it different that this page?

[TheGreekSauce]

or this page http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...d.php?t=158209

[deliberate]

i like it for some obscure math

I got an algorithm off of it for solving a system of equations by taking nested determinants and it was wrong, so there is always that.

But if I search something and a wikipedia link shows up, I tend to click it.

I cited it once as a joke, but my advisor didn't laugh.

[Arno]

depends whether roo has been fucking around with it. if he has, the item will have been made/thought of/written/been the Random Chas Factor

[bptempleton]

It can be a fantastis resource, with the risk of being completely dalse or misguided. Good starter for alot of projects to get foundational knowledge to then move on to more credible resources.

[Skidog]

I went to the library with the gang and picked up a Wired to read. There was an article about this sculpture. I didn't have time to read the whole article and wanted to find out more. I went to Wikipedia.

I believe Wiki gave a good answer as to what Kryptos was. By some, Wikipedia is regarded as a dubious resource.

Your thoughts?

Wiki is ok...

Article on Kryptos...MONEY!!!

Keep those fuckers thinking.

[toast2266]

People have done studies comparing the accuracy of wiki to other encyclopedias. Apparently wiki isn't too much worse than the Britannica.

Just to keep everyone guessing, here's the cite for the above info... in wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia

[BigLeagueBrian]

http://www.urbandictionary.com/defin...alex+rodriguez

the only information you need to know.

fyi there are some choice words in the definition

[SkiCougar]

Wiki is awesome !

Novaya Zemlya is an island off the coast of Russia that nobody would want go to(except me and other people that live for extreme coldness) , has less people on it than are in my zip code and is so remote that its claim to fame is a military site and nuclear test zone.

Wiki has several pages on it and a write up of its unique inhabintant, the pak mozg, or brain crab. Where you going to find info for free in 2 minutes like that ? NO WHERE !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novaya_Zemlya