Wiki Bias

It's like media bias, only electronic!

...our close observation of Wikipedia points to the company's willing participation in efforts to promote biased material into "fact." The company's business relationships give it high page rank in many search engines, so searches on many terms, disputed or not, naturally draw consumers to Wikipedia material. (Google in particular, a growing icon in politically left-leaning circles, gives high priority to Wikipedia entries.) When controversial topics are 'frozen' by Wikipedia editors, they are apparently done so in a form most beneficial to the left wing view, without disclaimer warning a well-intentioned researcher that he or she may be incorporating disputed or unsupported material. When journalists accept such material, whether innocently or by knowingly giving faint diligence to an obligation to get 'outside' authoritative sources, the quality of material presented on Wikipedia becomes inappropriately boosted in the eyes of the public. The net effect is a 'bootstrapping' process, in which the quality of material which tends to serve liberal political needs is artificially inflated and distributed.

I love Wikipedia. It's full of fascinating topics I could never access otherwise without major effort, and its often reference-rich entries makes a great jumping-off point for general topic research. But in my experience taking Wikipedia entries as a definitive source in itself is a great way to end up looking like a complete idiot.

My leftie and rightie friends agree with me on this--any remotely charged Wiki topic is prone to be loaded with misleading and biased and just plain false information. Even topics that aren't terribly contentious at first glance can be subtly (and not-so-subtly) infested by pranksters and spinners. I've watched their entry on Chinese history change frequently, often loaded with scatalogical invective, as various ideologues re-wrote it to reflect their own views and agendas.

Bottom line is that if you Wiki for real knowledge, dig deeper, and don't mistake the Wiki for real research.

[Hat tip to Glenn Reynolds. When does he sleep?]