Wikipedia

I don't understand what the fuss is all about? Wikipedia is a useful tool when the operator is aware of what sources may be true and what may be false. But the current system, which allows users to edit facts and add citations, is what separates wikipedia from that any other informational website such as Britannica Online. Aaron Shwartz quoted Jimbo Wales saying, I expected to find something like an 80-20 rule: 80% of the work being done by 20% of the users, just because that seems to come up a lot. But it's actually much, much tighter than that: it turns out over 50% of all the edits are done by just .7% of the users.” So it seems to me that even though there are average users making edits, they are probably just editing small spelling grammatical errors, and this small demographic rarely influences the “truthiness” of the article. In case someone wasn’t aware whenever you’re going to try to write a research paper or you’re attempting to obtain factual knowledge, an open based web forum probably isn’t your best bet. It was interesting however, to see that Wikipedia actually has a pretty extensive laundry list explaining all of the things that are contradictory to the intended use of the site. Colbert had some pretty hilarious comments about the site, but he make a very relevant point, wikipedia has allowed us to create a reality that we can all agree on, whether it is true or not.