Wikipedia FAQK at Wired
Wired has a great Wikipedia FAQK that really digs into the popular encyclopedia. I don’t view Wikipedia as flawless, far from it, but I do find that most everything I run across has a pretty good grounding in reality. Most times what you get is pretty good, but there are clearly some hot topics out there, for the Today In History I am working on about New Coke being launched I checked the Wikipedia article on Coca-Cola and found a huge article on the companies accused political sins, rather than an in depth on the company. Not that the sins should be skipped, but the focus of the article is clearly skewed*. On the other hand if you get into more obscure areas, often what you find on Wikipedia is the best you can easily find on the net. Bottom line is use with caution and be aware of the possibility of heavy bias, but if I had to pick a site to save from drowning from Wired or Wikipedia, I would save Wikipedia…
*also a problem is duplication of article content, here is the article on the Coca-Cola Company, which rehashes much of the same ground as the other article.