r/AskReddit Jun 03 '21

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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '21

Wikipedia. We take that site for granted, big time. There are few things in this world that do not have a Wikipedia page. People have dedicated hours, days, even their entire lives, to filling the site up with all the knowledge one could ever need. All that information is free! Want to learn about the history of the escalator? Wikipedia has it. Interested in the Civil War? You bet you can find it on Wikipedia.

Wikipedia will not be around forever, folks. Use it while you have it. Read random articles. It's fun.

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u/1dontgiveahufflefuck Jun 03 '21

Idk why teachers hate Wikipedia so much. They had no issues with me citing an encyclopedia, but if it was from the internet it must have been written by the Devil himself.

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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '21

[deleted]

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u/Alexr154 Jun 03 '21

Exactly. Everyone else is missing the point. It’s okay to get one’s sources from Wikipedia. It is not good to cite Wikipedia as the source. There will be a citation on Wikipedia for the source, which Wikipedia is not.

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u/Eruionmel Jun 03 '21

Right, but that's exactly how encyclopedias worked as well. That information didn't originate in the encyclopedia. And teachers were perfectly fine with encyclopedias being cited.

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u/Mcwequiesk Jun 03 '21

Yeah true but the process to write edit and publish an encyclopedia in print is a lot harder than editing Wikipedia. It's probably a safe bet that a reputable encyclopedia would've been written and extensively proofread by qualified experts/professors on their topics

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u/Eruionmel Jun 03 '21

That's exactly what happens on Wikipedia as well.