Wikipedia: You Still Can’t Trust It by Lance Ulanoff
Later, someone else went into my Wikipedia page and added new detail about my life and background. I’d served in the French Foreign Legion. My hands are deadly weapons. I was a chef. I dated super models. The fresh content went on and on and was pretty funny — and also 100% false.
. . . Inaccuracy is one thing, but point of view is another. Search for Microsoft on Wikipedia and you’ll find a voluminous entry, which starts with an unusual diatribe. It calls Microsoft an “American multinational corporation” which sounds oddly sinister (Apple is described the exact same way), talks about its dominant position in the OS and offices suite markets and then spends a paragraph talking about Microsoft’s alleged monopolistic practices and troubles with U.S and European governments. The author is clearly trying to make a point about Microsoft. Is that the role of an encyclopedia?
. . . Apple’s Wikipedia entry starts almost the exact same way as Microsoft’s but then follows a cleaner path, describing the company’s work, foundation and growth. No front loading of controversy and hints and monopolistic practices.
. . . Every page on Wikipedia is different and depending on who wrote the entry (and who edited it) it can read like an oral interpretation of the yellow pages, or like a Dashiell Hammett novel, full of intrigue and excitement.
My gut says this is a bad thing. Wikipedia at 10 is really no more trustworthy than it was at two, five, or eight years old. However, the reality is that this is how the world prefers its information now: interpreted through the prism of belief and self interest. We get our news from web sites, blogs and television networks that, whether stated or not, have a point of view. It’s not “The Truth.” It’s “His Truth. Her Truth. Your Truth.” Why should we expect our new primary source to be any different?
. . . So this self-created, self-funded public interest information site isn’t going away any time soon. Nor is the fact that you simply can’t trust it.
