Re: [debian-user] Re: Wikipedia
On Tue, Aug 19, 2008 at 10:00:13AM -0600, Ted Hilts <thilts@mcsnet.ca> was heard to say:
> I hope this message is not OT and forgive my ignorance but I received a
> very informative response to some of my questions and several people
> recommended that I make better use of everyones time by first going to
> Wikipedia. The messages were more or less as follows:
>
> See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi_core for more information
>
> So, I am being told by some to use wikipedia as a credible reference for
> technical questions.
>
> It is my understanding that use of wikipedia may subject the reader to
> faulty information. There were several blurbs in the news and in news
> letters that very clearly indicated a "user beware" warning. Also,
> there was recently an internal conflict between several individuals
> working at wikipedia and the conflict was over the growing content some
> of which was mis-information and in one case submitted by someone using
> false credentials.
Other people covered this, but since I was one of the people who gave
you this advice, I feel that I should echo them a little. :)
Yes, Wikipedia is not a totally reliable source. But then, neither is
anything else. In my experience, Wikipedia articles on technical topics
are a good way of getting a general overview of the subject. On specific
details they may be wrong, poorly stated, or out of date -- but no more
so than any other source of information (textbooks, magazines,
general-interest books, newspapers, lectures, journal articles, etc...).
If you really want to learn about a technical subject, you'll generally
want to consult multiple independent sources of information to make sure
you're getting a complete picture...but if you just need to get the
general picture, my experience is that Wikipedia is quite reliable.
Daniel
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