There has been discussion about how 'good' Wikipedia is since it started...
Much of it has to do with whether the platform allows for different perspectives:
Jay Doubleyou: other views: aspect and perspective
In fact, there are several 'other wikipedias' out there:
Jay Doubleyou: alternative wikipedias
One of these alternatives was set up because it found there were too many different perspectives:
Most of Wikipedia's articles can be edited publicly by both registered and anonymous editors,[2] mostly consisting of teenagers and the unemployed.[3] As such, it tends to project a liberal—and, in some cases, even socialist, Communist, and Nazi-sympathising—worldview, which is totally at odds with conservative reality and rationality.[4]
Perhaps this is why some don't like Wikipedia - because it is 'crowd sourced':
"Crowd Sourced" Information | A Research Portal
Wikipedia is a crowdsourced encyclopedia, which means anyone can create and edit Wikipedia entries. This is both a strength and a weakness...
Wikipedia does an admirable job of evaluating its own strengths and weaknesses on its About page. It’s interesting to note that the strengths and weaknesses alike are linked to the fact that Wikipedia is “…open to anyone, has a large contributor base, and its articles are written by consensus.” Unless you yourself are already an expert on the topic you’re reading about, there’s no way to quickly verify the accuracy of a Wikipedia article without consulting a number of other sources on the subject.
How should you use Wikipedia? Wikipedia itself suggests it be used only as a starting point and not an end. It can be used to learn vocabulary or technical terms for a topic you’re not familiar with, and find citations to reliable sources such as scholarly books and articles.
2.3 Wikipedia: Crowdsourced Information – LIB 160: Information Literacy
Wikipedia can probably be said to be the father of internet crowdsourcing. Building on a non-for-profit business model, Wikipedia launched a free, web-based, multilingual and collaborative encyclopedia in 2001. Aiming to be “The sum of all human knowledge in one place” and with 17 million articles written collaboratively by the community, Wikipedia is now the most popular reference site on the internet. All of the pages are written collaboratively by community members without pay. Anyone with a computer can create or rewrite Wikipedia articles and users can choose to contribute anonymously. “SuggestBot” further enables and entices users to edit other related articles to which they are reading or have edited. Although Wikipedia’s credibility has been questioned due to it’s open sourcing of content by anyone, studies have shown it to be as accurate as traditional encyclopedias like Britannica.Wikipedia, the Father of Crowdsourcing - Digital Innovation and Transformation
Here are some 'internal' views on that:
Wikipedia:Why Wikipedia is so great - Wikipedia
Wikipédia:Pourquoi Wikipédia est un concept génial — Wikipédia
Reliability of Wikipedia - Wikipedia
Here are some further views:
Wikipedia Is the Last Best Place on the Internet | WIRED
“Wikipedia Is Good for You!?” by James Purdy | Thematic Reading Anthology
Opinion | Science shows Wikipedia is the best part of the Internet - The Washington Post
Wikipedia is 20, and its reputation has never been higher
Is Wikipedia a good source? When to use the online encyclopedia – and when to avoid it
In some countries, students are told not to use it - but perhaps they need to learn how to use it instead:
Students are told not to use Wikipedia for research. But it's a trustworthy source
5 Reasons to Actually Encourage Middle and High School Students to Use Wikipedia | Edutopia
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