Why can't Wikipedia be trusted anymore? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by leonardrua@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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[-] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago

Academically it's not considered trustworthy because "anyone can make edits to it".

Functionally, it's one of the best sources of information there is, period.

It's not perfect - malicious actors can indeed make fraudulent entries; but I've only seen a real example of that once, and it was corrected super fast.

If ever in doubt, every page lists its sources, so you can always get your info directly from those... and back to academics: while it's generally taboo to cite Wikipedia directly, you can cite the same pages Wikipedia does as an easy work around.

[-] rikudou@lemmings.world 4 points 1 year ago

I remember when I was doing a paper on Al Capone in elementary school and I was using Wikipedia. In the part about his youth there was this gem: "Like every teenager he liked to jerk off." Gave me a chuckle. Also, removing it was my first and only contribution to Wikipedia.

[-] Bloodwoodsrisen@lemmy.tf 3 points 1 year ago

My favorite example of fake entries was the guy who just made Missouri slightly bigger on its page every time he got drunk

this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2023

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