Wikipedia
 

Is anyone else addicted to Wikipedia? I've been trolling the "random page" links for the past month or so, and just started editing and adding articles. There's something cool about the structure of the thing. I know the accuracy leaves a bit ot be desired, but it serves as an interesting starting point for further research.

-sm

I've used it off and on for about a year now. While the accuracy may be a little fuzzy because of the nature of how it gathers its information it makes a great jumping off point or to look in other directions.

The idea of the Wikipedia is great... it's a collection of social knowledge. A similar concept is demonstrated at Everything2.com, although Everything2 seems a lot more open about what constitutes a topic, for better or worse.

Of course there are inherent flaws... an article's data may be innaccurate in whole or in part, incomplete, theories may be presented as facts, rumors and urban legends might creep in... but what it does do well is find a "general consesnsus" on just about any topic you might want info on. Just consider each article to be about as factual and trustworthy as any other legitimate-looking web page, and you should be fine.

If anyone's curious, my first article is posted there. Do a search for 7Q5.

or follow the link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7Q5

-sm