wikipedia

do you use wikipedia as cited reference on your articles?

 

I'd never consider it... they're not a reputable source.

 

Nope, I don't. Better to look for other resources.

 

QFT!

I'd cite my cousin's sister's boyfriend's crazy drunk uncle Tolbert before I cited Wikipedia.

 

Never. I'd be embarrassed to attach my name to an article that cited Wikipedia.

What's sad is that there are people out there who actually trust Wikipedia as a credible source of information. I've had debates with people who swear by the site.

 

Wikipedia is the free encyclopedia, editable by anyone who can get into, so not reputable or relaible source to cite in a serious job. Just llook at the marketing forum to find people suggesting update the Wikipedia with spam.

However Wikipedia is a good example of people profiting and making a name from the work of fellows willing to do a questionalbe job for free.

 

Wikipedia is fine for some quick background info and as a starting point on a subject. Some of the external links will give you the beginnings of a research trail.
I would never cite Wikipedia as a reliable source though - always look for corroboration. Take a look at Checking Your Facts on the Internet - the Research Risk.

 

Anyone can write stuff for them, so you have no way of knowing if it is good content, on the other hand that goes for lots of text on the net

 

No, but I do use it to start off my research.

 

I wouldn't ever cite wikipedia for anything. I don't think you'd technically have to cite them anyway since all of the information is considered common knowledge (nothing real on their cite is unique and you should only be using it for background information anyways).

Don't be to rough on wikipedia though. It is actually a decent source for your own personal knowledge and for things like television shows and actor biographies. Even controversial stuff like political information is "usually" reliable since those categories are locked or at least edited well. Just take everything with a grain of salt and rely on it as a means to get the old juices flowing. They actually have some really good links in the related links section.

 

Wikipedia's copyright terms allow anyone republish its content but you are asked to keep an attribution anchor linking back to Wikipedia and citing the URL of any article you are taking an excerpt from.

People who adhere to copyright terms are giving Wikipedia a way to increase pagerank for free, as contributors do their job without credit where credit is due, great deal! People receive dubious content and founders fundraising money for nothing because Wikipedi servers and resources are mostly donated as well.

 

Ditto. Wouldn't site it as a reference even if they were holding my favorite guinea pig at gunpoint.

 

I wouldn't cite wikipedia as a source.

I wouldn't blindly use anything from wikipedia, however there's actually some good info there which you can use. But you need to know what you are doing and your subject. You must know the fool's gold from the gold.

 

Wikipedia can surely serve as a reference, but then I would not cite it as a source, cos i m not very sure of its credibility.

 

Seems to be very popular with school-teachers though.

 

Yes, I use them. My site is listed in a page in Wikipedia Cheers

 

Not exactly citing but, are you promoting it as a reference source? http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showpost.php?p=8212499&postcount=2

 

Nothing wrong there. Wikipedia is a good place for reference.
For example, you could find out accurate information about most music band's albums there. Or madonna's albums or so on ......

Not good for citation as a source for articles though. To be cited as a source requires more credibility, which it lacks because people with incomplete/inaccurate understanding of a subject can and do edit wikipedia.

 

Umm.. wrong uderstanding here, I use them but never as a source to quote, I'll take its original source. They are a bit strict on sharing PR links. but traffic is nice.

 

Good example and makes me see clear what you mean, because was writing on musicians in early 2000 and it was pretty hard find information regarding almost unknown bands.

However a few months back I was asked for an update on their current recordings and Wikipedia provided me with that information, not cited but indeed the only reference source I could find online.