Our thoughts about Wikipedia

In keeping with the Answers.com principle of including only the most reliable reference sources on our AnswerPages, the request by many of our users to integrate Wikipedia's community-run reference project prompted an extensive debate amongst our team.

As most professionals familiar with the reference industry know, Wikipedia's open content model yields entries that are dynamic and current, but also susceptible to misinformation. Tens of thousands of grass-roots content editors yield impressively up-to-date information that the conventional encyclopedias cannot match. While the Wikipedia community provides an ongoing process of checks and balances, the content - especially the more obscure or controversial material - is prone to vandalism and at times sloppiness. Thus there is no possibility of an academic stamp of approval.

After much analysis, the Answers.com team decided that the breadth of Wikipedia coverage is unsurpassed, and that even with the challenges outlined above, Wikipedia makes a strong addition to the Answers.com library. Thus far, most feedback that we have received indicates that teachers and students use Wikipedia as a source and appreciate having easy access to it on our pages.

We urge teachers and librarians to educate their students about the process by which Wikipedia is maintained (yes, we have a nice entry about Wikipedia within Answers.com), delineating both the benefits and drawbacks of a community-run reference source. The fact that we have integrated Wikipedia with our more than 180 "traditional" content sources allows students to compare some of the material in Wikipedia with these content sources. If students access and use Wikipedia content with this background in mind - cross-checking facts when appropriate - they will certainly benefit from the diligence and the devotion of the Wikipedia community.