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View Full Version : Wikipedia is really dumb sometimes


phuckphace
August 5th, 2014, 08:59 PM
the more I read Wikipedia the more I notice how goofy a lot of its "editors" are. trying to find useful info about, say, the declension of a certain foreign word is hit-or-miss, but if I want to read 10 rambling paragraphs about an obscure anime series or nerd comic franchise, Wikipedia has it in abundance.

even some of the more well-written and sourced articles often have useless nerd trivia tacked on at the end. from the article on stratocracy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratocracy):

Fictional stratocracies

Fullmetal Alchemist: The government of Amestris is an autocratic stratocracy under Fuhrer King Bradley, as the Amestrian state military performs all governmental functions and nearly all social functions. For instance: the military performs all necessary police activities, administers all regions of the nation as the effective government, alchemists bound to the military have sole access to many of the most advanced alchemical research materials, the constitutional position of head of state/head of government (the Fuhrer) is always the top general in the military, social and political advancement is almost impossible without a corresponding rise through the military ranks.

although Wikipedia has "notability" guidelines, their idea of "notable" apparently includes shitty anime series that 99.5% of people have never heard of or care about. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_anime :lol3:

the article on talking robots who save the world (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers) is considerably longer and more sourced than the article on the Schengen Agreement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement), and the article on Lady Gaga (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_gaga) is only slightly shorter than the one on the war in Kosovo. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_War)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Feminism - you probably knew already that women can and do accomplish things, but are you exhaustively familiar with every single one of them? THANKS TO THE PATRIARCHY, PROBABLY NOT :lol3:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weightism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_shaming)

The causes of weight stigma are complex, as many factors seem to play a role. For instance, the degree to which heavy people are stigmatized (or revered) is highly variable across cultures and historical periods. However, research on social stigma offers some clues.

:lol3: ah yes, the tantalizing mystery of why people who pathologically overindulge in unhealthy food are looked down upon in normal societies. we'd better consult a sociologist to help us unravel the clues!


the appeal of dead-tree encyclopedias has never been more obvious.

Aajj333
August 5th, 2014, 11:14 PM
Wikipedia is awesome

LouBerry
August 6th, 2014, 12:06 AM
Every month, my friend Jake changes the name of the mayor of our town to the name of our AP English teacher. Every month. And even in a town as small as mine, someone goes on there and fixes it every single time.

Gamma Male
August 6th, 2014, 12:11 AM
Wikipedia is fucking awesome.



Every month, my friend Jake changes the name of the mayor of our town to the name of our AP English teacher. Every month. And even in a town as small as mine, someone goes on there and fixes it every single time.

It's probably just the automated antivandalism computer system thing.

LouBerry
August 6th, 2014, 12:15 AM
Wikipedia is fucking awesome.





It's probably just the automated antivandalism computer system thing.

Well, you know how you can pull up a page of all of the changes made to an article? The person who changes it back every month has an account and their username pops up on there, so we're pretty sure it's someone in town.

Gamma Male
August 6th, 2014, 12:16 AM
Well, you know how you can pull up a page of all of the changes made to an article? The person who changes it back every month has an account and their username pops up on there, so we're pretty sure it's someone in town.

Oh, wow, that's cool. Maybe I should try vandalizing my home towns wiki page too. :lol:

LouBerry
August 6th, 2014, 12:26 AM
Oh, wow, that's cool. Maybe I should try vandalizing my home towns wiki page too. :lol:

You definitely should. Change the location to somewhere in Africa or something.

Emerald Dream
August 6th, 2014, 12:48 AM
This isn't really a debate.

Ramblings of the Wise :arrow: Tech Junky's Paradise

TheMatrix
August 6th, 2014, 04:07 AM
Wikipedia is only what people put on it: never more(but sometimes less). If the contributors happen to want to write more about pop culture than science, then that's what you'll find.

If you want a reliable and educational-institution-approved online encyclopaedia, use Britannica or another. Some require a paid subscription, though, but quality always comes at a price.
That being said, Wikipedia is not bad. It almost always contains accurate information, sufficient in almost all situations that we(the members of this forum) will come across.

Gandhi is famous for saying "be the change you want to see in the world". You, too, can and have taken advantage of this, it seems.
Should you happen to write a report on a particular subject, you could become internet-famous by linking to it under "External Links".

CosmicNoodle
August 6th, 2014, 09:23 AM
Oh, wow, that's cool. Maybe I should try vandalizing my home towns wiki page too. :lol:

I did that to the wiki page of my high school, didn't change any info, but I made it sound super sarcastic and weird, like change "the head pupils where Andrew Mar and Jessica Yates" to "The teachers pets....I mean, head pupils, where Andrew Mar and Jessica Yates, Timothy Garston, I formally known as fuck face. Was unsuccessful in his application"

phuckphace
August 6th, 2014, 09:37 AM
can't trace the Phace

Stronk Serb
August 6th, 2014, 09:45 AM
I will change the bio of our president and say he was a great supporter of kebab removers during the Yugoslav Civil War and Kosovo War. He bought... worked his ass off and got a doctorate in three days and (il)legally owns a villa on the Sava coast bought by the taxpayers' money. Most of it is true, except the bought from taxpayer money part.

TheLivingLie
August 16th, 2014, 07:41 AM
I edit on Wikipedia but only plane related things so when I edit I am as cheesy as possible

Babs
August 18th, 2014, 02:09 PM
One time my dad went on the wikipedia page for an author whose name I can't remember. There was a line that said "some consider him to be a talented author" and he added "(who?)" To the end of that sentence.
Wikipedia is fun to mess around on, whether it be reading random articles or editing them.

nikkissippi121
August 22nd, 2014, 01:25 PM
For foreign languages, I use Wiktionary instead - the German, Icelandic and Latin languages are very accurate, from what I could tell.
Whenever I use Wikipedia for other purposes, though, I frequently use the references and Google things independently to make sure it's accurate. That's how I get away with using Wikipedia as a source in schoolwork! :lol:

phuckphace
August 27th, 2014, 09:13 AM
One time my dad went on the wikipedia page for an author whose name I can't remember. There was a line that said "some consider him to be a talented author" and he added "(who?)" To the end of that sentence.

yeah a lot of articles on el wiko are packed to the brim with stupid weasel words like "experts say/agree" or "feminists believe" etc. oh and hilarious kiddie-tier malaprops like "in the manga, Prince Jifujijokofu [B]commandeers his army of magic warrior-goddesses from the Far Realms" I guess because it's like "commands" but cooler-sounding? ayyy lmao.