[ANSTHRLD] Wikipedia
Mike C. Baker
kihebard at hotmail.com
Wed Mar 22 10:18:22 PST 2006
If I may offer a slightly disputative alternative to HE Robin's analysis:
Wikipedia is still a source -- for tertiary / guiding / preliminary
material, with an expectation and "logical requirement" to not be the *only*
citation used. Individual articles at a fixed point in time may indeed
prove to be fabulously useful in a given research, just as the same article
at a second point can be demonstrated as a complete fiction due to later
"helpful" revisions. To the extent that they lead us to previously unknown
and more readily provable resources, Wikipedia articles can be "priceless".
As a monolithic source, say no to Wikipedia. As a potentially useful
collection of sources yet-to-be-proved, I will hold that there is worth in
even a false map, if we can but determine the manner in which it was made to
be false. (Paraphrase from a source I just can't directly remember at this
instant: know a man's truth, and you know only half the man; know a man's
lies, and he reveals himself completely.)
Adieu, Amra / ttfn - Mike / Pax ... Kihe
Mike C. Baker
SCA: al-Sayyid Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra, F.O.B, OSCA
"Other": Reverend Kihe Blackeagle PULC (the DreamSinger Bard)
Opinions? I'm FULL of 'em
alt. e-mail: KiheBard at hotmail.com OR MCBaker216 at cs.com
Buy my writings!: http://www.lulu.com/WizardsDen
http://www.livejournal.com/users/kihebard/
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jay Rudin" <rudin at ev1.net>
To: "Heralds List, Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA,Inc." <heralds at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 9:27 AM
Subject: Re: [ANSTHRLD] Wikipedia
> Once you think it through, it becomes clear why Wikipedia cannot be used
> as a source.
>
> That's because it isn't a source. It's millions of sources, some
> competent and some not competent, gathered together with no clear,
> consistent rules or editing.
>
> You can use a source if it's been proven to be consistently correct.
> Wikipedia isn't a single source, and has proven *not* to be consistently
> correct.
>
> Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin
>
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