Ulysses Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 Feds Collaborate With Wikipedia Editors to Improve 'Wikipedia Entries Related to Government Publications' http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/feds-collaborate-wikipedia-editors-improve-wikipedia-entries-related-government-publications_794261.html Although this is a first-of-its-kind event for the National Archives, it is not the first time the Wikipedia community has hooked up with federal employees. In May last year when furloughs were hitting some government workers, the D.C. chapter of Wikimedia held a "Furloughed Feds Workshop", a "training seminar and edit-a-thon for federal employees interested in learning more on how to edit Wikipedia." Interesting. Very interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manxman1980 Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 Wikipedia has a reputation for being inaccurate and not a reliable source of information anyway. For example; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27586356 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulysses Posted June 6, 2014 Author Share Posted June 6, 2014 Manxman, that link doesn't work. It says 404 - Page Not Found. When I use Wikipedia, I go straight to the footnotes to look for links to reliable sources. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulysses Posted June 6, 2014 Author Share Posted June 6, 2014 Some kind of temporary break in employment. I think the article is referring to last year when the US Government was shut down and some federal employees went without pay. I forget the details of it but it had something to do with the Republicans in Congress refusing to approve Obama's budget unless he included steps to curtail the deficit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Sausages Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 "Fred West was a British serial killer and champion breakdancer" (a genuine entry, now removed). Generally, however, it's pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinahand Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 Wikipedia is only as good as its sources, but even then it is beginning to suffer from Circular reporting. Someone makes something up and puts it on Wikipedia, a journalist or blogger doesn't fact check and passes this information off as authoritative, other people then quote these people and then the Wikipedia entry is updated with a reference sourcing these secondary sources. And so myths are born, all with seemingly authoritative footnotes and sourcing. Examples. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrighty Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 I've made a few edits to Wikipedia, mainly as a joke to see how long they'd last on there, but also in a semi-serious way. I once changed the list of worlds most popular surnames, putting 'Throat-Wobbler Mangrove' as the top entry instead of Smith or whatever it was. It was literally seconds before someone else put it back right. Another time, on Peppa Pig's page (One of my kids was of an appropriate age at the time), in the 'controversies' section I made up a bit about Peppa Pig being a cannibal as in one episode she ate a ham and pineapple pizza. That got taken down too. Generally I find Wikipedia to be pretty good. There's a huge amount of mathematics there, which I use fairly frequently. The medical stuff is usually pretty good also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manxman1980 Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 Manxman, that link doesn't work. It says 404 - Page Not Found. When I use Wikipedia, I go straight to the footnotes to look for links to reliable sources. That has happened to a few of the links I have posted. Any idea what I am doing wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Sausages Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 The medical stuff is usually pretty good also. Please tell your patients that. Just before the anaesthetic kicks in,,,"Don't worry, I looked the procedure up on wikipedia last night" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sick Moon Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 I once changed the list of worlds most popular surnames, putting 'Throat-Wobbler Mangrove' as the top entry instead of Smith or whatever it was. It was literally seconds before someone else put it back right. Another time, on Peppa Pig's page (One of my kids was of an appropriate age at the time), in the 'controversies' section I made up a bit about Peppa Pig being a cannibal as in one episode she ate a ham and pineapple pizza. That got taken down too. Wikitroll. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manxman1980 Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 Trying again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrighty Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 I once changed the list of worlds most popular surnames, putting 'Throat-Wobbler Mangrove' as the top entry instead of Smith or whatever it was. It was literally seconds before someone else put it back right. Another time, on Peppa Pig's page (One of my kids was of an appropriate age at the time), in the 'controversies' section I made up a bit about Peppa Pig being a cannibal as in one episode she ate a ham and pineapple pizza. That got taken down too. Wikitroll. Yeah, but it got boring after 2 or 3 goes. How do you manage to keep it up, now you're at 307 and counting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quilp Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 I've made a few edits to Wikipedia, mainly as a joke to see how long they'd last on there, but also in a semi-serious way. I once changed the list of worlds most popular surnames, putting 'Throat-Wobbler Mangrove' as the top entry instead of Smith or whatever it was. It was literally seconds before someone else put it back right. Another time, on Peppa Pig's page (One of my kids was of an appropriate age at the time), in the 'controversies' section I made up a bit about Peppa Pig being a cannibal as in one episode she ate a ham and pineapple pizza. That got taken down too. Generally I find Wikipedia to be pretty good. There's a huge amount of mathematics there, which I use fairly frequently. The medical stuff is usually pretty good also. Regarding the medical stuff, Wiki definitely helped when Mrs Q. developed some very odd symptoms. Her GP was very dismissive (arrogant twat, so he is) and sent her off with yet more medication saying she should try to be less stressful and relax more. I wasn't happy with this and entered into researching her overall symptoms using wiki as a reference. Another appointment made, we set off for the surgery and once again we were faced with this GP who, after a while, asked rather indignantly, ''Do you work at the hospital?'', to which I replied yes (Failing to add only on the maintenance side). Anyway, he reluctantly agreed to send her for the list of blood and hormone tests I'd compiled from wiki. Sure enough, the results showed a possible Pituitary Adenoma, which was what all her symptoms pointed to. An MRI was scheduled and showed not only irregular dimensions to her pituitary but also revealed incidently, an 8mm aneurysm in her brain which turned out to be of such a shape and low physical integrity it posed a great danger to her life! Over to Walton we went and a successful coiling was performed. On our return, we made another appointment to see her GP which resulted in him getting an expletive-ridden bollocking from me. His arrogance and dismissive attitude could've resulted in fatal consequences so without the aid of wiki she may not be here today. Don't knock it, it has its uses.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lxxx Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 Wikipedia has a reputation for being inaccurate and not a reliable source of information anyway. For example; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27586356 You wouldn't think so the amount of people on here who quote it as 'evidence.' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sick Moon Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 This seems to be pretty accurate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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