Wikipedia is 10

Wikipedia is now past the 10 year old mark. Who would have believed 10 years ago that a free online encyclopedia would virtually kill most encyclopedia sales. It used to be we all had a big set of encyclopedias, usually more than 20 volumes in number. The book encyclopedias were accurate, a great source of information and even teachers in school let pupils cite remarks and information from them. They have long been an authoritative references, in contrast to the reader generated Wikipedia site.

I remember, about 10 years ago, seeing a beautiful set of Compton's encyclopedias for sale at a Big Lot's discount store at a price at least 10 times less than traditional encyclopedia cost. (I have my trusty 50's set from Compton's and I still use it from time to time) It was a sign that on line versions of Comptoms and the other prestigious encyclopedias had already won the war and would replace the book form. When I am in thrift stores I often see full sets of once valuable encyclopedias for sale. They rarely sell to anyone except book collectors. Too, few companies now publish a book form of encyclopedias, with their sales being on line or CD versions.

But even those are losing appeal to the sometimes inaccurate, but always quick reference Wikipedia. I suppose you use Wikipeda only sparingly, as I do. Wikipedia works best as an introduction to a subject. Since the articles usually cite references, one can investigate further whether the claims are actually true by clicking on links there or using information there to attempt to verify what one sees on the site.

I my view Wikipedia is a microcosm of the internet- it is cheap (free), is accessed quickly, has enough inaccurate information to confuse, is simplified in text and overall complexity, is open to all and is ever changing. It's no wonder so many (unfortunately) rely on it as an authoritative source of information. If any single source of information that is viewed by many as
"authoritative" best typified the anti intellectual age in which we live it is Wikipedia.

As for me, I will stick to my old encylopedias and traditional references as much as I can.