Viability of Wikipedia

Ok, so I am sick and tired of all this disrespect of Wikipedia based on the reliability of its data. I would like to make a few things very clear to those people who keep telling everyone that Wikipedia is not a good reference material because anyone can edit the data.

First, it is true that anyone can create a Wikipedia account and put false information into whatever article that they want. This means that some of the information on Wikipedia may not be entirely accurate. Have you ever noticed that Wikipedia requires that references be sited for information posted there? Those references are there to validate the data. If some of the data presented in an article does not have a reference, there is usually a note on that line stating that no reference was posted with the data. If you doubt that Wikipedia information is valid, you can look at the reference to validate it. If there is no reference, then you are justified in doubting the validity of the data. So, while anyone can post information on Wikipedia, there are rules that require some amount of validation, otherwise the information will eventually be removed.

Second, do you know how the internet works? The internet is not a government owned network where all of the information, except Wikipedia, is validated by officials to make sure it is accurate. The internet is, on the whole, owned by private entities. What I am saying is that it is almost as easy to make your own web page with false information as it is to post false information onto Wikipedia. So, if you distrust the data contained on Wikipedia, you should also distrust all of the data contained on every web page on the entire internet! Basically, the data posted on Wikipedia is no less accurate than information that you will find anywhere else on the internet. The major difference is that if I post incorrect data on my own web page, no one else can change it. If I post incorrect data on Wikipedia, it will probably get fixed pretty quickly.

Third, the internet aside, even the information that is published in books is not always accurate. Some people write books with incorrect data, but since the publisher is not an engineer, it gets published anyway, because the publisher assumes the engineer who wrote the book knows what they are talking about. A good example is a book I bought at a library discard sale. I forget the name of the book, but it was a guide on graphics programing under some version of Windows. In the first chapter of the book, I came across a section about fonts. It distinguished some common font types, specifically serif and sans serif. It defined a serif font as one where the horizontal and diagonal lines are thinner than the vertical lines and a sans serif font as one where all the lines are of similar thickness. It did not even mention serifs. In case you do not know, pretend like you are going to leave me a comment. Type some random letters into the comment box (try things like a capital "I", and a capital "T" for prime examples). Take a look at the letters. Notice how most of the sharp points have a little line capping them? These lines are serifs. Strictly speaking, the only factor that differentiates serif from sans serif are those lines. Sans means without, in this context. Also notice that all of the serif letters you just typed have similar line thickness throughout? Wait, wasn't that defined at sans serif in the book? Anyhow, case in point, even printed books are not always accurate. Again, the main difference between the books and Wikipedia: If inaccurate information is posted on Wikipedia, anyone can correct it.

Besides all of this, information changes regularly. Remember in your high school science class how you learned that airplanes fly because the shape of the top of the wing produces a low pressure area that lifts the airplane off the ground? You may also remember that complex chart they made you memorize about what parts of the tongue taste which flavors? Try looking up the most recent research on these two subjects. It may surprise you to know that both of these have been proven wrong. While the tongue may be more sensitive to certain flavors in some areas, the difference is not significant. In other words, generally speaking, each area of the tongue can taste different flavors approximately equally. The reason airplanes fly is because the air deflecting off the bottom of the wings increases in pressure enough to push the airplane up. The low pressure on top helps, but cannot produce more than 14lbs per square inch of lift and airplanes weigh way more than that. If you have any children or teens in school currently, take a look that their science and health text books and see if you can find these subjects. Chances are that they still teach the old beliefs, even though the airplane one was refuted nearly 8 years ago and the tongue one between 3 and 5 years ago. I am taking a physics class in college and my text book has that diagram of the airplane wing, with subtext telling how the primary lift is coming from the low pressure on top of the wing, with only very minor help from the pressure underneath. In this case, it is not stupidity or maliciousness that caused the error, but rather a increase in our understanding of a subject.

This quote from Wikipedia shows that Wikipedia's data may often be more accurate than text books: "Contrary to the popular myth and generations of schoolbooks, there are no distinct regions for tasting different tastes." (This is from the "tongue" page of Wikipedia.)

I hope this helps you understand that Wikipedia as a reference material is no less accurate than any other source. While it is true that Wikipedia may occasionally contain inaccurate information, it is constantly being updated and reviewed by an enormous number of people, many of whom are willing to take the time to correct errors. The real difference between Wikipedia and other reference materials is that Wikipedia articles can be edited by anyone and that means that anyone can correct inaccurate information posted there. Either way, it is probably still wise to check the references listed at the bottom of the page to validate the information. In any type of research it is wise to obtain information from multiple sources. The more sources make a claim, the more likely it is to be accurate.