Reading Response # 2 “Can Wikipedia Ever Make the Grade?”

When I first started using Wikipedia, I had no idea that it could be edited by anyone. I believed that all of the information was entirely credible and was shocked to see the little edit icon under the information. In the beginning of this article, when it talks about Mr. Halavais and the total fabrications he was posting to various pages, I was very interested in seeing how the situation turned out. I was relieved to learn that his lies were found within mere hours by Wikipedia fact checkers, and removed. I’m happy to know that there are indeed people checking recent entries, and promptly correcting them. I understand completely that Wikipedia still is receiving mixed feelings and grades; I only refer to it with insignificant queries, and rarely for academics. I like that many professors and scholars are beginning to contribute more to the site. Wikipedia should give scholarly, and professionals a password for the site, and weed out the whole “anyone can edit” policy that they have now. Other websites also, should not be using Wikipedia for their source of information. Looking at the case of John Seigenthaler Sr. it makes you wonder what exactly we can trust on the internet. I believe that there should be more professional editing going on with the site, and even then I’m not sure if people will give the criticism a break. Ill continue to use Wikipedia most likely no matter what… but like I said before, I wouldn’t trust it 100%.