about Wikipedia becoming an "important educational resource".

Because it already is. Read this guy's rant.



Would anyone like to go and tell that poor guy he's asking for trouble by making an "education" for himself by reading WP articles?
He'll end up being an expert on anime and manga, and ignorant of anything important.....

That is Wikipedia's primary cohort.

Shouldn't that be part of an adult's self-education, to figure out what is right and what is wrong? He's more likely to benefit from it if he comes to his own conclusions rather than being spoon-fed someone else's

Wikipedia is parading itself around as a reliable information resource. It is not. Journalists, radio personalities, students, teachers, and all sorts of notable figures have gotten their 'information' from Wikipedia and have cited falsehoods just because they happened to be on Wikipedia and looked legit.

Reading real encyclopedias if you want to gain basic knowledge on many subjects is fine. Reading tons and tons of Wikipedia articles with nothing else is quite different.

Which I'm sure he'll find out for himself eventually.

I get the impression that he's more a perpetually bored person who clicks on "random article" (as I do from time to time) and then see how far that takes him.

In any case if he's only doing it for his own self-edification then no-harm no foul.

It's conjecture to say just how inaccurate WP actually is anyway, so all comments similar to yours are based on that conjecture.

Has anyone ever done fact finding mission to find out how accurate WP is compared to a dead tree encyclopaedia such as Encyclopaedia Britannica?

Yes, quite a few times. The most famous appeared in the journal Nature and concluded that scientific articles on WP were about as reliable as EB. I believe that there were serious flaws in that study, and anyway scientific articles tend to be better than in some other areas, notably recent history.

Edit: Further point:
Of course, if someone actually lists errors, they are soon corrected and Wikipedians can say "See, Wikipedia is always improving." They may also berate the study author for reporting errors rather than correcting them.

So, in your humble opinion, what should he be?

If he wants more out of life than being a radio shack cashier and a regular poster of "Muff Wiggler", he should probably invest in some form of legitimate education. Self-teaching is fine, but self-teaching oneself via free internet encyclopedias is not going to fill him with much useful knowledge.

That's a tad arrogant don't you think? Deciding what he should do/be, based what you think is right.

The correct answer to the question was "I don't know".

Jesus, you're such a bleeding-heart pinhead. We're discussing some kitten-lover who thinks he's educating himself by reading Wikipedia articles. I find the idea to be absurd, as what you're going to gain from just reading encyclopedia entries is an inconsequential accumulation of facts.

If you want wishy-washy handholding "suggestions" or "advice" that takes into account the person's happy bunny thoughts and feelings, goto facebook and chat with the rest of the "Kony 2012" hipsters who think they're actually accomplishing something. You asked me a question, I answered directly. A concept anathema to your type, I know.



If you already know...or in your case, think you know...the answer, don't waste our time asking at all.

I wanted to gauge your mindset. Now I've got it.



Of course I knew the answer, I wanted to know if you did.

A spectacular fail I may say.

Says the person who thinks some neckbeard can actually become knowledgeable of, say, philosophy (T-H-L-K-D) by spending his free time reading the Wikipedia page?

I didn't say anything of the sort.

Careful, I hear backpedaling is a dangerous activity.

So is outright lying.

Perhaps you should, y'know, stop lying then.

Barbour highlighted a humorous story about some poor sod trying to get himself ed-u-ma-kated via Wikipedia reading. You argued with him, I posted a pic poking fun at the aforementioned sod, You asked what I think he should do. I replied as to how I'd direct him towards an actual educational institution, and a that point you threw a temper tantrum because you didn't like me "telling him what to do" and that "I don't know" would have been the Golden Answer™.

Do you have anything else to add?

None of which equates even remotely to...

So I offer something concrete to a question posed, while you backpedal even further to non sequitirs.

Better luck next time, kiddo.

You forgot to flush after your post.

Now we know why most want to send you down to the dungeons along with Ottava.

Cheerio.

If you say so, he who knows all.