Wikipedia Dependence

Deepika
Member • Jan 6, 2011

Wikipedia Dependence

Wikipedia is a site that provides a good stuff of information on almost all the topics.I have noticed this fact that most of the people (even on ce) searching net for some piece of information generally rely on wikipedia. In fact sometimes google search also shows the wikipedia link on the top.

But this is also true that everyone is free to make changes in the wikipedia document. So some one may knowingly introduce some incorrect information in the document.:!:

I want to discuss with other ceans: How much is it safe to depend on wikipedia only :?:

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ISHAN TOPRE

Member • Jan 7, 2011

😀Its true.But after all we all are responsible for what is wikipedia today.We Should always make correction in wkipedia data if we notice any irregularity.
To reach a golden mean we should also search other sites to cross check the info.😀

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Abhishek.Tony

Member • Jan 7, 2011

Depending entirely on Wikipedia will be laziness I think.
Wikipedia has extremely high standards. Check it out on "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia"
But still one cannot neglect self analysis. If someone is dissatisfied with Wikipedia, he/she should check out other sources which he/she considers reliable.

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Deepika Bansal

Member • Jan 7, 2011

I agree with you laziness point abhishek. But how can we come to know that the information we are checking out at wikipedia is correct or not.

Actually this happened in my 6th semester. We were given one assignment. Some of my friends referred wikipedia for the assignment content and I referred some other site which I found from google search. And our assignment was totally different as we have chosen altogether different topics. 😒

And recently my interviewer also discussed the same thing with me in while interviewing me. He told me that sometimes they also have to suffer from the consequences of wrong information available on net.😔

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Deepika Bansal

Member • Jan 10, 2011

Come on friends, we need more points.. Lets do something for wikipedia

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shreyasm89

Member • Jan 15, 2011

Wikipedia is generally trusted worldwide for its authenticity of information. But this trend is so deep rooted that recently while referring a book I referred Wiki for some clear explanation. Surprise surprise! The statements used in the book were same word by word. I hope the author didn't use Wiki as his reference. Also Wikipedia doesn't explain concepts properly. Also since a particular post is edited by many the concept could be twisted. So for understanding of concepts it is better to use books and for general informative purposes Wikipedia rocks.

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Deepika Bansal

Member • Jan 29, 2011

Same was the case with me, Shreyasm. One of my teachers used to make the notes from wikipedia. When we noticed this, we left making notes for that teacher.

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gohm

Member • Jan 29, 2011

I think Wikipedia is a great STARTING POINT in research or looking for information on a topic to get a basic understanding. From there, an individual can delve deeper to explore a topic in more specialized, detailed research.

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silverscorpion

Member • Jan 29, 2011

Well, you would use any other encyclopaedia just as a reference, right?

Say, if you have a hard copy of the Britannica or the Encarta encyclopaedia..

You would use it to refer to any info you need. You would not use it to understand
the concepts or to try and learn something totally new... Because, an encyclopaedia is just a book for reference..

Similarly, Wikipedia should also ideally be used for getting to know something new or to refresh our memory about something we already knew..
And, wikipedia also does a very good job of verifying the info that's present. I have not encountered many erroneous info in it til now..

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Deepika Bansal

Member • Jan 29, 2011

Absolutely gohm and silverscorpian. I complete go with your statements.😀

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Abhishek.Tony

Member • Feb 1, 2011

Same case here too..
I have a teacher who teaches Theory of Machines to us. But when he finds himself lacking in explanations for some, he usually tells us to refer Wikipedia to know more..!?
As it seems its a way for him to escape from our questions.:razz:

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