The Wikipedia Website?

How much of Wikipedia is actually accurate information? It lets whoever wants to edit it and that makes me fuzzy about the overall quality of the site and its ramblings.

True, in principle anyone can introduce nonsense into a Wikipedia page, but in practice the information on Wikipedia is generally more comprehensive and complete than any other comparable source, at least in fields like mathematics which have a high presence on the site. As for citing in papers, it is inappropriate to cite encyclopedia articles as references under most circumstances -- anything printed in an encyclopedia is "common knowledge" and needs no citation.

70% or so

Good, keep that fuzziness, and don't rely on it as your sole source of information on anything.

The pages that provide links and references can have value.

Some infromation isnt accurate. they do have people checking it constantly to get rid of errors. you can test this by editing it yourself by adding something to a page that you know isnt true. it will be taken off really quickly.
i personally think wikipedia is a pretty good source for information, but probably shouldnt be used for reports and stuff like that.

People debate this all the time. There's no *guarantee* anything on wiki is at all accurate. Alot of times it's the only info you can find, so it becomes the self-made expert of sorts. But really the only way misinformation gets fixed is if someone takes the time to challenge it. I wouldn't put my life on anything from wiki, but it's great for trivia. :))

The thing about Wikipedia, like you said, lets anyone add information onto its web pages so the credibility of some of the people adding the information is questionable. You really don't know for sure how well researched and accurate the information is you receive from the site. I have even been told by my professors to never site Wikipedia for any information needed to write my papers or any other work for my course because it is not a certified information site.

I think it is so accurate. Because if one person writes a wrong info. The other one can correct that.if any one who want to cheat people he writes anything. But that should be changed by a right person. So wiki... Is so good.

98.99% is true the leftover is used to spice up the information given so that the reader is not bored

If you don't think wikipedia is accurate then look it up on another website. They DON'T let just anybody edit things. They MODERATE it to make sure that no one keeps come and deleting a bunch of stuff. They also need to CITE information, just like when you have to turn in a research paper. They do lots of things to make sure it is as accurate as can be. If you don't trust it then that is just your opinion. Don't let it be your only source of info though!!

See my answer to this question:
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind...

The amount of errors contained on wikipedia is not much higher than a print encyclopaedia or academic journal. What wikipedia lacks in terms of contributor credentials it makes up for in having millions of proof-readers.

And of course, it does have a complex system to ensure that the site is reliable; it isn't quite as simple as letting whoever wants to edit it change the information.