Wikipedia founder issues warning
Updated on 12 April 2007
The online encyclopaedia Wikipedia should be taken with a pinch of salt, a spokesman has insisted.
Wikipedia founder Larry Sanger told The Times it contains "frequently unreliable content" and is "broken beyond repair".
But Wikipedia's UK spokesman David Gerard said critics take it too seriously.
He said: "The problem is that sometimes people take us to be more reliable than we are. If you read it with critical thinking you'll get value out of it. It's not reliable in that you can trust every word."
Wikipedia bills itself as the "free encyclopaedia that anyone can edit". It is an internet phenomenon, publishing information in more than 100 languages and has more than 1.7 million English-language articles.
Its egalitarian nature is the secret of its appeal. Contributors are less likely to be tweedy academics than the office know-it-all who has found an outlet for his obscure passions. Anyone can write about anything.
Famous gaffes, as reported in the UK press, include reports that ex-Wet Wet Wet frontman Marti Pellow had died and the ridiculous story that the Irish town of Mayo had acquired a militia to fight off werewolves.
There have also been cases of "vandalism" where bogus or abusive information has been posted, although errors are removed.
Mr Gerard said: "Every single objection you can think of actually happens and we deal with it.
"Wikipedia is more reliable than it ever was but you can't get away with not thinking. Anyone can edit it."
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