The Hive and Wikipedia
How does a person reach a reasonable decision about a complex issue with so many different avenues of information, and so many conflicting points of view? First, one must recognize and understand the source of the information, and whether it is a reliable source. For example, on the Internet, most experts recognize educational or governmental Web sites as reliable and quotable sources of information, and most other sites as questionable, at best. The sites most suspect are personal user sites who post opinion or information but have no one to check facts, assess information, and ensure the information is correct. Wikipedia suffers from this same problem. For the most part, it is not a reliable source of information. Anyone can post to Wikipedia, and anyone can edit what someone else has posted, making it a volatile and changeable source of information at best. Recently, a "PhD." contributor who had added hundreds of articles on topics from religion to popular music came clean to the New Yorker magazine and confessed he did not have a PhD., or even a degree of any kind (Farrell). This is the reason Wikipedia's information is so suspect - it is not verified, and it allows anyone, no matter their qualifications, to enter info
Or the creature's claws scraping the sides of the kettle as it thrashes about" (Wallace 62). Poe's personal entry is correct, and even better than when he first entered it. The Maine Lobster Promotion Council survives on the sales and consumption of lobster. It seems Wikipedia is a blend of collaborative and competitive forces. He writes, "And worse is hen the lobster's fully immersed. Are they bothered by the thought of submerging a live creature into boiling water, or are they not? Many lobster fishermen actually believe "'There's a part of the brain in people and animals that lets us feel pain, and lobsters' brains don't have this part'" (Wallace 60). Is the source of the information reliable? For example, author David Foster Wallace is a well-respected novelist and essayist who has published dozens of books and non-fiction works. It does matter whether the effort is collaborative or competitive. One must evaluate the information one finds anywhere, discovers its' biases and purpose, and verify it with other information before accepting it as the truth. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) are directly opposed to the killing or eating of any lobsters. well, that I wasn't worth knowing about" (Poe). "Thus, when seeking information, Wikipedia may help give an overview of information, but when there are so many other reliable sources available, it is simply one to know about, but rarely to utilize. Poe says of his own personal entry, "It didn't take long for my tiny article to come to the attention of Wikipedia's self-appointed guardians.
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Acceptance Essays
