Congress Blocked From Wikipedia

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Wikipedia allows everyone to edit everything, just as all Wikis do. Everyone who is surprised by this hasn't bothered to look up how a Wikiworks. I am surprised, not that Wikipedia has run into problems, but that it reached its current size and quality before those problems occurred.

I toatlly agree - additionally, I've always wondered why wiki got such a reputation as serious source.

I mentioned links how wiki works in my previous responses here; perhaps some just don't want to believe it.

I guess it's because many of the articles there are informative, reasonably well written, and up-to-date. I frequently use Wikipedia as a first stop for information; it works astonishingly well, compared to what I expected when I first heard about Wikis. Recent disappointments say more about the unrealistic expectations of the disappointed than they say about Wikipedia.

I contributed (and edited, but that officially ) a bit to wiki myself in the beginning. (On the German as well as on the English site.)

No wonder it worked so well in the beginning then.

The success of Wikis rests on an important insight: Most malicious edits (removing a post, spam, obvious abuse) are easily reversed through software. At the same time, most benevolent edits are easily retained by doing nothing. As a result, good edits tend to accumulate in a Wiki, while bad edits add only a limited amount of noise. The difficult conflicts and abuses arise from benevolent persons who disagree what a `good' edit is, and each one fights for his version. Another problem occurs with topics that almost nobody cares about, and the few who do care slip some kind of agenda into a responsible looking post.

Or in other words, Wikipedia has the same problems as any other publishers, and they will probably resolve them just like they do -- with some fact-checking filter between contributors and users. I'm fairly optimistic about Wikipedia.

Wiki isn't bad at all - not that I get misunderstood.
It's pro's (e.g. vs. Britannica) definitely are the fast actuality and the small setails you can't find otherwise so quick.

However, becoming great and bigger, it now takes ages (in the "monitor group") to discuss wether some sentence is correct or should be altered or what sources are more realible than others or ...

So, some crap really is online, gets copied all over the web and is mentioned on other websites/offline media .... while it's still not clear if it should stay in wikipedia or not.