Wikipedia - how accurate is the online encyclopedia?

This is imaginable but still shocking!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-441432/Wikipedia--accurate-online-encyclopedia.html

Wikipedia - how accurate is the online encyclopedia?
Last updated at 22:00 10 March 2007

It is one of the 12 most visited websites in the world, indispensable to millions of users. From Aa ('an 80km river in northern France') to ZZ Top ('an American blues rock band'),online encyclopedia Wikipedia has entries on just about everything.

But last week the website was engulfed in controversy after it was revealed that one of its main contributors had faked his qualifications.

Writing under the pseudonym Essjay, Ryan Jordan, who had edited more than 20,000 pages of information, claimed to be a professor of theology.

But when a magazine published an article on Wikipedia two weeks ago, many were puzzled to see 'Essjay' also had a specialist knowledge of American pop singer Justin Timberlake. It transpired that Jordan was actually a 24-year-old college dropout from Kentucky, and three days later he resigned from Wikipedia.

The scandal has thrown the authority of the encyclopedia into doubt. Critics argue that anyone with access to the internet is allowed to edit the entries, though Wikipedia insists that the sheer number of users ensures errors are swiftly corrected.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-441432/Wikipedia--accurate-online-encyclopedia.html#ixzz1saelCl00