Wikipedia

Wikipedia

I was aware that Wikipedia could not be trusted but never really thought about how companies could use this to better their rep on the web. But it makes perfect sense you can change how millions of people who research your company on the internet feel about you. Wikipedia could be a great source for a paper but you have to understand that the info you think is correct could have been altered by the people that you are researching. Look at the example the article gave you on Wal-Mart




From:


Wages at Wal-Mart are about 20% less than at other retail stores. Founder Sam Walton once argued that his company should be exempt from the minimum wage.

To:


The average wage at Wal-Mart is almost double the federal minimum wage (Wal-Mart). However, founder Sam Walton once argued that his company should be exempt from the minimum wage.



now think about it if you were researching Wal-Mart on how they compared to other retail stores in paying their employee's. The way they changed it would have you believe that they paid their employee's double what the others did but in fact they pay 20% less than the others. You also have to think about how much propaganda could be put on there by people who are trying to push their views on you. I mean a white supremacists could go on Martin Luther King's bio and change it so it makes him look like a person who hated white people which we know it isn't true but if you didn't know anything about him you could be led to believe that he was a horrible person.

You can use Wikipedia for research you just have to check the facts more. But think about this how do you know that the info in a printed encyclopedia is true were you there to witness them researching the facts. This is something that us as human beings have been dealing with since the dawn of time. It's just like the bible when the first bible was put together at the beginning of the roman catholic church the people who were putting it together knew to get it started that they had to make it so rich males liked it because if they didn't then it would never catch on. I know I'm going t catch hell for that but it's OK I can take it. I have used Wikipedia for papers before but I always had other sources just to check each other out. So yes I do think you can use it you just have to be more careful.