From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Jul 2 21:05:25 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B08301065680 for ; Wed, 2 Jul 2008 21:05:25 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kline@thought.org) Received: from aristotle.thought.org (ns1.thought.org [209.180.213.210]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4C01B8FC13 for ; Wed, 2 Jul 2008 21:05:23 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kline@thought.org) Received: from thought.org (tao.thought.org [10.47.0.250]) (authenticated bits=0) by aristotle.thought.org (8.14.2/8.14.2) with ESMTP id m62L5LrP027663; Wed, 2 Jul 2008 14:05:23 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from kline@thought.org) Received: by thought.org (nbSMTP-1.00) for uid 1002 kline@thought.org; Wed, 2 Jul 2008 14:05:14 -0700 (PDT) Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2008 14:05:13 -0700 From: Gary Kline To: Wojciech Puchar Message-ID: <20080702210513.GA64418@thought.org> References: <539c60b90806301348l4b09cd90n3972b41339276d6f@mail.gmail.com> <20080702143434.J9414@wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl> <20080702184345.GC4709@kokopelli.hydra> <20080702211133.Y2931@wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20080702211133.Y2931@wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.3i X-Organization: Thought Unlimited. Public service Unix since 1986. X-Of_Interest: With 21++ years of service to the Unix community. X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.4 required=3.6 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.2.3 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.2.3 (2007-08-08) on aristotle.thought.org Cc: Chad Perrin , FreeBSD Mailing List Subject: Re: OT: anyone been crazy enough to mirror wikipedia? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:05:25 -0000 On Wed, Jul 02, 2008 at 09:12:33PM +0200, Wojciech Puchar wrote: > >> > >>wikipedia is just a pile of junk. everyone can put in it, and > >>unfortunately do. > > > >Meanwhile, in print encyclopedias, I see that with restricted writing > >access and strict editing processes there are typically systemic biases > >and subtler mistakes that are much easier to overlook -- and the mistakes > >not only persist until the next edition, but often exist for decades, > >whereas finding a mistake in Wikipedia is fixable within five minutes. > > and 3 others are added. > > >The key is that an encyclopedia should never be the *end* of your > >research. It's basically just a place to look for key terms to research > > actually what i do - to get the first glance on subject, THEN checking > more precisely. > > but quite often it's crap even at the first glance I'll add my dime's worth, given the years of pure research I've done in recent years. wiki-anything is usually *not* my first choice; but if there are citations that i can find on-line or at my local library in a wiki article, I'll use them. point of fact: i just spent some 45 minutes tracking down an obscure quote. the citation (from the Feb. 1981 ACM) was in a German PDF file. no help from wikipedia, but an example of how much effort it takes to get things right. (or as close-to right as possible.) > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" -- Gary Kline kline@thought.org www.thought.org Public Service Unix http://jottings.thought.org http://transfinite.thought.org