Wikipedia Question #3 Of 3 - If You See Good And Bad To Wikipedia, Tell Me In General What You Think, Pros And Cons.

[Kearne]

The 1st question will be for wikipedia haters, and the 2nd question will be for supporters. If you would like to debate the relative merits of Wikipedia, pros and cons via the discussion board, I'll suggest posting your comments on Q3's discussion board and save the discussion boards for Q1 and Q2 for the die hard haters/lovers of the wiki.

[cinnard]

The nice thing about Wikipedia from my vantage point is that when I am researching a topic--almost any topic--it will pop up if not first, then within the top five because of its size.   Since Wikipedia entries all follow the same format, you don?t have to adjust to the quirks and kinks of a web site. You know exactly what you?ll be getting and you will be able to use it without going through a lot of unnecessary effort. To a large extent, Wikipedia has brought standardization to Internet knowledge, much like Henry Ford brought standardization to manufacturing  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford  Holiday Inn to the hotel/motel business http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holiday_Inn and Mc Donald?s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mc_Donalds brought standardization to the fast food industry.   With Wikipedia, you will get a decent sized helping of knowledge served to you in a well known, user friendly format. Granted, you won?t acquire an in depth knowledge of the subject, but since that is not the function of any encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclopedia it delivers up what it promises.   Also, Wikipedia is free and on-line, which makes it much more accessible than older versions of encyclopedias.   I learned a long time ago that encyclopedias can?t deliver the sum of knowledge in any subject. But, they are a great place to start. Diderot would be quite pleased with this modern expansion of the concept. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diderot   http://www.anisn.it/omodeo/omodeo/images/diderot.jpg

[Branton]

I like it, but I could live with out it. The nice thing about Wikipedia from my vantage point is that when I am researching a topic--almost any topic--it will pop up if not first, then within the top five because of its size.   Since Wikipedia entries all follow the same format, you don?t have to adjust to the quirks and kinks of a web site. You know exactly what you?ll be getting and you will be able to use it without going through a lot of unnecessary effort. To a large extent, Wikipedia has brought standardization to Internet knowledge, much like Henry Ford brought standardization to manufacturing  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford  Holiday Inn to the hotel/motel business http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holiday_Inn and Mc Donald?s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mc_Donalds brought standardization to the fast food industry.   With Wikipedia, you will get a decent sized helping of knowledge served to you in a well known, user friendly format. Granted, you won?t acquire an in depth knowledge of the subject, but since that is not the function of any encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclopedia it delivers up what it promises.   Also, Wikipedia is free and on-line, which makes it much more accessible than older versions of encyclopedias.   I learned a long time ago that encyclopedias can?t deliver the sum of knowledge in any subject. But, they are a great place to start. Diderot would be quite pleased with this modern expansion of the concept. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diderot   http://www.anisn.it/omodeo/omodeo/images/diderot.jpg Sources: personal opinion and cited above   Snow_Leopard's Recommendations Wikipedia: The Missing Manual Amazon List Price: $29.99 Used from: $14.50 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5(based on 4 reviews) How Wikipedia Works Amazon List Price: $29.95 On the net: Wikipedia: a multilingual treasure trove. : An article from: Language, Learning & Technology Amazon List Price: $5.95 Creating High-Quality Products in Open Content Virtual Communities - Exploring Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia Amazon List Price: $64.00 Snow_Leopard 83 months ago Please sign in to give a compliment. Please verify your account to give a compliment. Please sign in to send a message. Please verify your account to send a message.

[Cerdic]

I would like to say pros AND cons of wikipedia. Pros:It is free and available to everyone. Accessible from any place since it is online! You just need an internet connection. That is specifically good for some third world countries that have limited access to books. It is up to date. You can also find important news there! You can write new articles. So if you are, lets say a biologists, you can initiate an article in some terms in your very own field of study, then others might come and complete that. You can find good information on variety of subjects. Even in very specialized subjects you may find good information. Their website is user friendly. Since it is written by different people from different perspectives if there is any serious dispute in any subject you can see that the page has been disputed. This is good to see what subjects are controversial and have this in mind to have a look at different websites about that subject. Cons:I realized that they do not have a good search engine. I think this is something that should be considered. There are some mistakes on their contents since it is open to every one and people could edit their articles. So the content is not 100% reliable. If I am looking for something important I get some general info from wikipedia and double check it from other places. If you are looking for something in a specific field that has a few experts you don't want to use wikipedia as THE only source. because there might be some mistakes and others in the same field didn't care to come and have a look and correct the mistakes. All in all, I think it is good source for general information. I occasionally cruise wikipedia and I think it is a really helpful tool for information especially for third world countries and places where people do not have much access to good books or for those who can not afford buying expensive encyclopedias. Having said all the above Pros and Cons, I might pretty much fall into the category of "Wikipedia Lovers"!

[Dumont]

wikipedia I would like to say pros AND cons of wikipedia. Pros:It is free and available to everyone. Accessible from any place since it is online! You just need an internet connection. That is specifically good for some third world countries that have limited access to books. It is up to date. You can also find important news there! You can write new articles. So if you are, lets say a biologists, you can initiate an article in some terms in your very own field of study, then others might come and complete that. You can find good information on variety of subjects. Even in very specialized subjects you may find good information. Their website is user friendly. Since it is written by different people from different perspectives if there is any serious dispute in any subject you can see that the page has been disputed. This is good to see what subjects are controversial and have this in mind to have a look at different websites about that subject. Cons:I realized that they do not have a good search engine. I think this is something that should be considered. There are some mistakes on their contents since it is open to every one and people could edit their articles. So the content is not 100% reliable. If I am looking for something important I get some general info from wikipedia and double check it from other places. If you are looking for something in a specific field that has a few experts you don't want to use wikipedia as THE only source. because there might be some mistakes and others in the same field didn't care to come and have a look and correct the mistakes. All in all, I think it is good source for general information. I occasionally cruise wikipedia and I think it is a really helpful tool for information especially for third world countries and places where people do not have much access to good books or for those who can not afford buying expensive encyclopedias. Having said all the above Pros and Cons, I might pretty much fall into the category of "Wikipedia Lovers"! Sources: opinion and experience!   Paradise.t's Recommendations Wikipedia: The Missing Manual Amazon List Price: $29.99 Used from: $14.50 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5(based on 4 reviews) Paradise.t 83 months ago Please sign in to give a compliment. Please verify your account to give a compliment. Please sign in to send a message. Please verify your account to send a message.