[Wikipedia-l] NYT to forbid use of Wikipedia as a reference?

Thu Dec 8 17:18:41 UTC 2005

Sean Barrett wrote:

>So should anybody, anywhere, be using Wikipedia for any purpose?
>
>If so, then why are the editors at the New York Times "of course"
>different from those that should?
>  
>
I use it to find facts, not to verify them.  I've used many of our 
mathematical articles, for example, to get an overview of various areas, 
explanations of concepts I'm only vaguely familiar with, and so on.  I 
have never used those articles, or articles in any other encyclopedia, 
to actually verify statements that any of my work depends on, 
though---my papers would get rejected pretty quickly if I started 
sourcing my facts to encyclopedias rather than to articles in 
peer-reviewed journals and conferences.

-Mark