On Wed, Jul 02, 2008 at 09:12:33PM +0200, Wojciech Puchar wrote:
> >>
> >>wikipedia is just a pile of junk. everyone can put in it, and
> >>unfortunately do.
> >
> >Meanwhile, in print encyclopedias, I see that with restricted writing
> >access and strict editing processes there are typically systemic biases
> >and subtler mistakes that are much easier to overlook -- and the mistakes
> >not only persist until the next edition, but often exist for decades,
> >whereas finding a mistake in Wikipedia is fixable within five minutes.
>
> and 3 others are added.
>
> >The key is that an encyclopedia should never be the *end* of your
> >research. It's basically just a place to look for key terms to research
>
> actually what i do - to get the first glance on subject, THEN checking
> more precisely.
>
> but quite often it's crap even at the first glance
I'll add my dime's worth, given the years of pure research I've done in
recent years. wiki-anything is usually *not* my first choice; but if
there
are citations that i can find on-line or at my local library in a wiki
article, I'll use them.
point of fact: i just spent some 45 minutes tracking down an obscure
quote. the citation (from the Feb. 1981 ACM) was in a German PDF file.
no help from wikipedia, but an example of how much effort it takes to
get
things right. (or as close-to right as possible.)
> _______________________________________________
> freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list
> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
--
Gary Kline [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.thought.org Public Service Unix
http://jottings.thought.org http://transfinite.thought.org
_______________________________________________
freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
