User: Sopoforic

Misunderstanding of Wikipedia

On: Wikipedia Breeds Unwitting Trust (Says IT Professor)

Dr. Lichtenstein's comments betray a fairly severe misunderstanding of Wikipedia. I wrote a small blog post commenting on this, and I'll quote the most relevant portion:

Dr. Lichtenstein has some fairly odd ideas, though, in my opinion. For example, she is said, in the article, to be leading a team of researchers looking at how Wikipedia operates, but she is then quoted: "People have invested a lot in becoming an expert and they are trying to earn a living and you can't expect experts to contribute without pay." I wonder how she and her team of researchers missed the large number of experts that we do have contributing--without pay, even. Perhaps she blindly trusted some critics of Wikipedia, rather than checking it out for herself.

It's not hard to find plenty of other incorrect statements, either. I'd guess that she's just trying to promote herself by 'taking a stand' against Wikipedia, really.