Guess and Check

10/19/2005

I’m a Wiki-Fiddler

Filed under: General,Technology — 8:05 pm

Fun quote from The Register‘s recent “Wikipedia founder admits to serious quality problems” article:

Meanwhile, criticism from outside the Wikipedia camp has been rebuffed with a ferocious blend of irrationality and vigor that’s almost unprecedented in our experience: if you thought Apple, Amiga, Mozilla or OS/2 fans were er, … passionate, you haven’t met a wiki-fiddler. For them, it’s a religious crusade.

Via Slashdot.

One Response to “I’m a Wiki-Fiddler”

  1. Stu Says:
    November 11th, 2005 at 7:08 pm

    I like this comment from slashdot:

    it is the fault of the ‘hapless individual’ if they rely dogmatically on an editable webpage; more so since it’s so easy to cross-check facts on the web once you know what they are. If you search for a fact from wikipedia, it should – other than in the most obscure areas – be findable on the web, as simply as googling for the fact.


    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=165699&cid=13824939

    That is exactly how I feel about the wikipedia.

    Don’t get me wrong, I love wiki’s to death (and the machines they usually bring down with them), but trying to argue accuracy with such a dynamic system is pointless. Every single page, with some minor exceptions, is open to anyone’s interpretation. If you don’t like the look of an article, change it. If it says something negative about your beliefs, change it. If you want to say something bad about someone else’s beliefs… change it?

    The wiki should be a starting point, not an ending one.

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