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Yes, Wikipedia is notably unreliable in numerous areas. It's supposed to be good for maths, anyway. Fixing errors and omissions has become difficult.
by moloch-hai 4y ago
Yes, Wikipedia is notably unreliable in numerous areas. It's supposed to be good for maths, anyway.
Fixing errors and omissions has become difficult.
- LarryMullins 4y agoIf wikipedia says something is controversial, then that something is controversial if for no other reason than because there is controversy on wikipedia about it. This is different than claiming "wikipedia says it's [right/wrong], so it must be [right/wrong]" Demonstrating that an idea is controversial is much easier than proving that idea right or wrong.
- moloch-hai 4y agoCertain individuals are very diligent at scrubbing out whatever they disagree with. The YDIH page is "curated" by a retired professor who insists it lead with a 19th-century speculation, and no doubt will be for a few years more. Wikipedia "controversies" often carry on for many years after the pros have settled down, until retirees with an axe to grind move on.
- LarryMullins 4y agoBe that as it may, that still makes the subject controversial. FWIW, I do tend to think the bolide hypothesis seems right. But I wasn't there so I don't really know.
- moloch-hai 4y agoWikipedia does not define what is controversial. Often it just blows smoke, pretending to fire.
- LarryMullins 4y agoIf somebody is blowing smoke about a subject, that's controversy. Controversy doesn't mean "wrong", "debunked" or anything conclusive like that.
- moloch-hai 4y agoYour threshold for "controversy" is way below anybody else's. Is it controversial whether the Earth is flat? Whether people walked on the moon? Whether they found alien spacecraft there? Whether viruses are involved in AIDS and cancers?
- sidlls 4y agoThis trivializes the meaning of "controversial" in the context of science, at least, and at the same time places Wikipedia on a level of authority I'm unconvinced is justified. I'm sure there are Wikipedia articles suggesting that climate change is "controversial", too: that doesn't mean it is.
- LarryMullins 4y agoYou have it wrong. There is substantial controversy about climate change, but that doesn't mean climate change is wrong (it isn't.)
- sidlls 4y agoThere isn't any scientific controversy about climate change. There is made-up politically motivated obfuscation in service of certain industries, which is controversial.