HugeNerd - 5:17 pm on Oct 6, 2008 (gmt 0)

Having graduated from university in the past 5 years, I can tell you that Wikipedia is a strange phenomenon. So many of my fellow students used it as a sole resource! Most professors would not accept papers and thesis which cited Wikipedia; would not allow it to be a resource at all. So...students would simply use it as the resource and then cite the sources quoted in Wikipedia. While I admit it is very handy in the same way the Guiness Book of World Records is useful -- for solving disputes on random topics like the wardrobes of tv characters, etc. -- it is not the academic journal many appear to accept it as. If academics won't trust it on their own topics of expertise, why is the public so willing?

I can see exactly what Mr. Byrne was up against; haven't companies like Microsoft and IBM already gotten into trouble for manipulating entries? This example seems to be a bit more personal and malicious, but the methodology has been evidenced before.