Daniel · 13 answers · 1y

Is wikipedia a good source of knowledge?

I use it when I want a quick basic understanding about something. but not for anything in depth. I wouldn’t think it would be that reliable.

Not for me, at least not when I search for stuff about my country's history. AFAIK anyone can edit any page in Wikipedia. My country's government has employed lots of people to skew historical facts to their benefit. I don't want to be fed lies about history so I usually don't trust Wikipedia as my go-to source of information.

I still have it instilled in my mind that it isn't but if nothing else, it's a decent starting point

Yes. I remember reading a long time ago that Wikipedia was compared to some standard encyclopedia, I think Oxford, in terms of percentages of erroneous facts, and I forget the exact numbers but it was something like Oxford had 6% errors and Wikipedia had 6.5% errors.

It is a mixed bag since there is no independent editor and not so many different sources cited usually. Also some subjects are filled with bias, propaganda and palin misinformation here and there. You have to stay critical of the info found there and do not take it at face value.

It's a starting place, I wouldn't lean on anything that I couldn't verify independently

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