[WikiEN-l] Is Wikipedia a News Portal (among other things)?

Thu Sep 21 18:09:34 UTC 2006

Peter Jacobi wrote:
> "Stephen Bain" <stephen.bain at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> The articles on last year's London bombings are also good examples.
>> [[2006 transatlantic aircraft plot]], within a few hours after the
>> story broke, was just about the best source available.
>>     
>
> If a Wikipedia article is "the best source available", it has
> become original research. 
>   

I don't think that's true at all.  The entire point of Wikipedia is to 
produce a good reference that didn't previously exist.  We take the huge 
amount of information out there and produce high-quality, reliable, 
referenced summaries.  If we do that, we become the best reference on a 
number of things---not because we're conducting original research, but 
because we've summarized widely-spread information into a readable 
summary all in one place.

-Mark