Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

radieck t1_ja8optv wrote

Scholarly work should not use Wikipedia as a source but the sources wiki uses can be a great starting point. I 100% agree.

I used to tell my students that Wikipedia is great for general information since the site has clamped down on the whole editing process, and made it much more difficult to add misinformation without sources.

For non-scholarly work, Wikipedia is amazing. It’s the end all, be all of all arguments and general information about organizations and people. I think because schools say you can’t cite it, many people don’t trust Wikipedia. I’d trust it over most news sites (except AP and Reuters).

132

thatgoddamnedcyclist t1_ja9f0i4 wrote

You should never cite encyclopedias because it never is original work and that the requirements for peer revision is not adequate to be made into a source itself.

But if you just want to know something, they are all great.

30

popejubal t1_jaau0ym wrote

Very good explanation.

Wikipedia is not where you should stop looking but it’s a fantastic place to start looking.

13

laplongejr t1_jabuo6v wrote

It's also wonderful for less serious works, like history of some video games, where the original sources may not even exist anymore besides the latest snapshot of the Web Archive and their only use is on Wikipedia. There's a probable 0% chance that you would find an equivalent with a regular web search.

Source : I'm the guy who wasted 3h of their life trying to find a non-primary source about Hypixel's four Guinness Records to know what granted them the "most games on a Minecraft server" record. Ended making an account on the Guinness to access their free search engine and it turned out the authoritary source is incomplete from the start. I assumed somebody better would find a good alternative, but the "free registration required" link and the technically unsourced warning about the missing info still stands there years later.

It's crazy how hard it is to comply with *usually* sensible Wikipedia rules when there's no third-party media coverage of a fact. ^(If you want to help with wikipedia, don't fear asking in the talk page! It's there for a reason!)

7

QueasyAd1142 t1_jabnlha wrote

I always make a little contribution when they ask. It’s kind of like PBS but for information, I use them all the time and I feel less guilty if I contribute. I’m not a scholar or anything, just a regular old lady.

2