Plus, fun fact: studies have shown that Wikipedia has /fewer/ errors than Britannica.

In everything else that you say you are right… Wikipedia doesn’t make you learn, and many times information there is wrong… As a student who gets good grades I do what you say: research from many sources and then drawing up and writing down my personal conclusions.

As for the 5th-grader thing…I’m not saying everyone on the show is an idiot. I’m saying that since most of the adults don’t know the answers to most of the questions, they obviously wouldn’t be qualified to write the Wikipedia article on whatever topic the question happens to be. All I was trying to say was that schoolchildren shouldn’t necessarily be counted as less of a valid author than an adult.

But no, I don’t think we disagree, we’re just not wording the same way. Lawlessness cannot be a permanent state, just as anarchy cannot be a permanent state. Eventually, somebody will gain an upper hand, take power, and govern the rest, which nullifies the anarchy, and likely creates a new system of law out of lawlessness. Poetry does this with language, but poetry as a field must therefore be a lawless one so that the poet can step in and establish a new order.

By the way, words that are a combination of two or more other words are called “portmanteau,” and yes, Jabberwocky is rife with them.

Wikipedia is a good resource for informal information, but it’s a good lesson in the importance of evaluating the credibility of your sources and thinking about bias – which should be part of every history class.

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Wow, someone really loves the wiki

Yes, some articles are written by schoolchildren. And some of these schoolchildren *shock* don’t know as much as they think they do. This is not to say schoolchildren are stupid so much as it’s to illustrate the point that wiki alone is not a reliable reference.

As has been mentioned, it’s a good starting point, but by no means a reliable standalone reference, by virtue of its “anyone can edit” nature.

As for the assumption that if someone does not do well on a TV show, they’re an idiot … wow, I’d like to see someone who knows everything about every subject and remembers everything they ever learned in school.

Most people forget what they don’t use regularly; people tend to have their areas that they’re good at, and as such may well be qualified to write an insightful article on that topic even if they can’t remember what the capital of Nigeria is.

Yes, some articles are written by schoolchildren. And some of these schoolchildren *shock* don’t know as much as they think they do. This is not to say schoolchildren are stupid so much as it’s to illustrate the point that wiki alone is not a reliable reference.

As has been mentioned, it’s a good starting point, but by no means a reliable standalone reference, by virtue of its “anyone can edit” nature.

As for the assumption that if someone does not do well on a TV show, they’re an idiot … wow, I’d like to see someone who knows everything about every subject and remembers everything they ever learned in school.

Most people forget what they don’t use regularly; people tend to have their areas that they’re good at, and as such may well be qualified to write an insightful article on that topic even if they can’t remember what the capital of Nigeria is.

Not to mention, “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader”, while, even though real 5th-graders might not know the answers to most of the questions, a 10th-grader certainly would. And it’s a bit obvious that most of the adults on there would not be qualified to write a Wikipedia article about anything.

And paper encyclopedias may make an effort to be current, by the time they’ll come out they’ll already be behind the times. Wikipedia articles are updated so fast. I checked a few hours after I heard about Michael Jackson’s death, and it was already changed.

Yes, I agree. However, that’s exactly it — you can’t be an outlaw if there’s no law. Poetry is lawless because it has no rules except for the sense of purpose. But that’s partly it. Poetic license is almost an act of civil disobedience, where the poet is allowed to break a law in order to make some sort of point. And yes, it did greatly enhance the reading, but we never saw it that way in Highschool. It was more like a Karate Kid moment, where we were too busy being annoyed that we were painting the fence to realize exactly how practical the training was.

But even in this sense, the true power of language is found in bending or breaking the rules with some form of intent. The power of language is not in how it “should be” used, but in how it IS used, but the one is enhanced by the other.

a) a point at which a search begins
b) the first stop
c) the point at which you start, hence the term “starting point”

Many times I have started at Wikipedia, got the gist of the topic, gone to another site (say, Encarta), searched the info there, then cross-referenced it via another source.

After doing this with several sources, some yoinked from wikipedia, some researched via Google or my old dusty encylopedias, I will gain the general consensus and use this to form an opinion or gain understanding.

I never use wikipedia as a standalone reference, but I often use it as a starting point.

It has the potential, and always has had that potential.

Like anything of this nature, though, that potential is not realised due to those who misuse the tool.

At least paper enclycopaedias make a heart effort to be factual and current, as their income rides on their reputation for reliability

Considering some of the “articles” I’ve read, I’m inclined to believe this is true

This was in response to Viscount’s very well-worded response to the anal grammar nazi LOL

*sigh*

To reiterate:

“Woot!!! You tell ‘em!”

Spelling fail, my dear Watson.

And when I say “discipline” I don’t necessarily mean behavior (thought that needs some work too.) Rather, discipline as in the drive to work hard and do your best. Not to just scrape by. “When can I be done?” “Is this good enough?” “I just don’t feel like it.” Yeah, I know we are all guilty of that from time to time, but come on! When that attitude starts in ELEMENTRY school these days? Sad.