Google vs. Wikipedia

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Wiglaf
So, every site on the web competes with Google.

Google probably thinks so .

[Wiglaf]

It's a meaningless statement. In that broad sense, every product competes with every product.

[Proteus_MST]

Most of the times I search for a subject on google,
one of the first entries in the google search results is the wikipedia article for the subject

[Traianvs]

It was quite useful for me recently, to find further works on a certain topic.

That is because sometimes Wikipedia has a useful bibliography. Actually I mostly use the German wikipedia for that as the Germans tend to add more of that, while the French wikipedia (in my field anyway) sucks donkehballz. English has most information on most topics, but is lower on references than the German version.

Winston: Yeah there's a lot of bias, but it depends on the article. You can usually notice bias a mile away in wikipedia articles, so it's not much of a problem for me anyway. It's not like you'll find information there that you would need to use in a paper or something. It's more about refreshing your mind about things you've forgotten etc.

[Apocalypse]

I usually search "topic wiki" in google because google is faster than wikipedia.

If the wiki article has info I want, I look at the references and then go there for the actual citation.

[Dis]

I love wiki. use it all the time. But you have to take things with a grain of salt. especially recent events, or stuff about people who are alive or recent. As they can contain bias. As anyone with political motivation can edit them.

my homepage is wiki. I like to see what happened on this date. I see something interesting, click on it, and learn more about it.

sometimes I'll read stuff about a certain Roman battle. But I don't want to go to a website and read a 30 page discussion of a battle. I just want the highlights. Great for a low attention span person such as myself.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Asmodean
Still, in a strictly business sense, every click that goes straight to Wikipedia, because the information there is so easily accessible, is a click that Google loses

Not really - I usually use google to find the appropriate wiki page faster.

[dannubis]

Originally posted by Winston
Wikipedia generally sucks donkey balls, except for those cases where you're in search of the exact date at which a person

a) was born

b) turned gay

c) was first commended in a NY Times editorial for being such a wonderful person

and

d) died

I can't think of any other site that quite equals Wikipedia's level of horrendously biased and brain-dead blabbering on about things, despite all the supposed efforts to the contrary.

It will never work as a credible source for wider topical information. Not for me.

Well, there is always conservapedia to siut your needs

[Japher]

Isn't wiki working on a search engine? I thought I heard that. In the event that it releases one, then it will compete.

As already stated, they are both different right now. However, the two are the most use tools more me on the internet. One serves as my information resource, the other as my portal to the world via the interweb. Then, there's Poly, which is my social network and place to goof off.

I doubt I will ever go to one spot for all that even though there's MSN, Yahoo, and AOL which attempt to do all those.

[ColdPhoenix]

If you're not careful you can get sucked into Wiki, start with one article find a link to another interesting article and click through to it. Good if you're bored!!

[Thue]

Originally posted by Japher
Isn't wiki working on a search engine? I thought I heard that. In the event that it releases one, then it will compete.

No WIkipedia is not.

Wikia, which is a completely separate project which happens to be owned by Wikipedia's founder, is however working on a search engine.

[OzzyKP]

Originally posted by DrSpike


Not really - I usually use google to find the appropriate wiki page faster.

Me too.

[Tattila the Hun]

Originally posted by ColdPhoenix
If you're not careful you can get sucked into Wiki, start with one article find a link to another interesting article and click through to it. Good if you're bored!!

8 hours, about two hundred links. What's your record?

[MORON]

Googling wiki is the right way to do the job.

just add the "wiki" string in the search string. *runs*

[Agathon]

Re: Google vs. Wikipedia

Originally posted by Asmodean

I find myself using Wikipedia more and more. The information that is presented there is easily accessible, mostly comprehensive, and the range of information is of quite a large scope.

That's funny. I find myself using it less and less. It was good 3 or 4 years ago, but the administration has become stale and cliques have formed which have destroyed the open nature of many of the articles.

I'm hoping that someone will sue them for defamation, and destroy the site, so that a better encyclopaedia with proper checks and balances can replace it.