Unless you live under a rock... hmm, in this case even that might not be true... you have heard of the
Muhammad cartoons controversy. The cartoons are poor even by political cartoon standards, for your time you are much better off with
The Boondocks. While I do have an opinion on the issue (mostly how a few Muslims are once again paining the color of all Muslims), this post isn't about that. Instead, this is about
Wikipedia.
Wikipedia has had some trouble of late. Critics have been quick to point out it's flaws and lay claim that it should be shut down. If you have never been to the site, Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia that you can view... and edit. Now one would think it would be easy to spin a wikipedia article into a tale of lies to make the subject into something it's not. It's not easy though. Everyone can edit, everyone can view, therefore everyone can review. Congress was just woken up to this fact as several
congressmen got caught editing (deleting) information from their own articles (a big no-no to edit your own article).
So try as they might, the critic's claim that Wikipedia is full of incorrect information is just not true. Sure there will be articles wrongly changed, but they will be discovered and changed back. The reason I mention the Muhammad cartoons is the
talk page. Talk pages on Wikipedia are pages "behind" the article that discuss changes to the article. It is on this page you can see first hand the discussion of should Wikipedia display the image causing such a stir (and it does display the image). The talk page serves a very functional purpose for the article, but also adds color of life to an otherwise black and white encyclopedia. Reading the talk page will gives you a sense of the controversy and a surprising amount of information support each view point. This is what makes Wikipedia truly great, it is the implementation of the ideal of freedom of speech.
Posted By Mike On Thursday, February 09, 2006
Filed under politics |
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