BW’s Heather Green has a nice tidbit about the problem with people posting biased and just plain wrong information anonymously at Wikipedia. (Originally via Dave Winer.)
Now, to try to resolve that problem, Wikipedia will not allow anonymous postings.
Big deal.
That won’t stop people from posting wrong or, worse, purposefully biased entries.
Yes, there is a lot to be gained from the collective knowledge of society (at least those who have Internet access). But, nothing done by committee gets done. At least it doesn’t get done right. Too many cooks can make for a bad-tasting soup. (Sorry to butcher that cliche.)
There will always be problems with Wikipedia — and all things wiki — as long as there is no “champion” or a dedicated someone to oversee entries. As I mentioned in my comment, the Wikipedia is simply the ‘net version of society without laws and law enforcement. It relies on vigilantes to police itself.
Usually, that will work. But, there will be plenty of times that it won’t.
The real shame is that many won’t see the information in Wikipedia for what it is: a best effort to provide information — that is naturally biased, even on purpose, at times — and possibly incomplete.
The Internet is a great source of information. It’s just that you sometimes have to weed out what you see to get to the real truth.
– Mike
Technorati tags: Wikipedia, Blogspotting, Dave Winer, Wikis
