ChatterBank1 min ago
How many read wikipedia?
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Frankly, it's one incident after which they changed their policies. Tests have shown that inaccurate information tends to be very quickly redacted in most cases, but inevitably, any sort of open system like this is potentially open to abuse, but the benefits of the system outweigh the negatives.
It's a very useful resource but I doubt that many serious researchers would treat it as that good a source. It's fine for using on a website like this, but not something where your professional reputation is on the line.
Hi Gnisy, I always trusted Wikipedia until I came across a question about King Edward II of England and encountered some very dubious information.
Now, I use it to give me a flavour of a subject and no more. I don't know the story of Brian Chase, so cannot comment on that particular incident.
Another one to watch out for is the film site, uk.imdb.com. I know for a fact some of their write ups are fantastical.
Hope you're well by the way and have a lovely Christmas.
In short, Brian Chase wrote and posted a false article that implicated someone influential ( a friend of the Kennedy family ) in the Kennedy assassination incident. He did it as a joke to prank one of his working colleagues. This caused the person he wrote about to write an op-ed to USA Today questioning the credibility of Wikipedia and the people that contribute to it. When investigators traced the IP address to that of Brian Chase's employer, he stepped in to confess what he did and resigned from his job. Wikipedia made a few change to its policices because of the incident.
P.S. Hi Drusilla! I'm fine and well here. Hope you and your kids will have a wonderful Christmas this year!
Jenstar, since answerbank is a site for everyone to express their opinions, I can think of no better place to ask this question.