1. (the wiki factor)in Yahoo! Search, using the keywords wiki

Posted at 5:45AM on Dec 19th 2005 by jefzila

2. The Secret of Wikipedia

"I can't think of a larger publicly-accessible database of people, places, and things than Google. However, its vast database is actually quite disparate and scatter-brained. It does not contain a single, reliable identifying method to link you with what you need to be linked to no matter how good you think it is at finding what you're looking for. Google still has to search through hell and high water for it.

A unique identification code for every event, person, place, and thing is the next logical step. It's where the future is headed and we might as well go there now. There's simply too much to keep track of to not have a unique way of identifying something you're related with.

Wikipedia is the perfect platform on which to bring everything under the sun together. It is already well on its way, with hundreds of thousands of user-submitted articles and bits of information. This could easily be extended to include the man sitting in the cafe, the cafe itself, the event he's waiting for in the cafe, and the book he's reading while he waits.

Every person, place, thing, and event would be assigned a unique ID (this can be automatically done for both new and current entries). One could then form or enable the formation of a relationship with anything in the database merely by copying and pasting the ID. Put it in your blog profile, mobile phone, an email, feed reader, or other field in your client. It will automatically know what it is because of its categorically-oriented ID, and how to organize it in your profile. You could even select the type of relationship you have with it ('relationship key') from a list of relationship types."

http://www.emergic.org/archives/2005/04/04/index.html#wikipedia_and_social_networking

Posted at 5:45AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Dimitar Vesselinov

3. I don't see how Wikipedia is overrated, but everyone has an opinion. Recently searching for a LIST of "record producers" only Wikipedia came to my rescue. Searching for "record producers" on Answer.com leads to Wikipedia AND the same search on Google has a suspect, and worthless, Amazon result near the top of it's over 100,000 results. WHAT'S THAT ABOUT?

Posted at 5:45AM on Dec 19th 2005 by arthur tillery

4. Hello,

The accuracy of the Wikipedia's content is not guaranteed, but reference sites with "editorial discipline" do not guarantee the accuracy the content either! Yes, that includes Encyclop?a Britannica!

Here are some factors that make Wikipedia content so appropriate for the stated purpose:

1) It is free to use and improve, by yahoo or any other individual or commercial entity.

2) It does not belong to a potential competitor (HiBeam or Answers.com). It will remain free forever.

3) Most importantly, the more traffic Wikipedia gets, the faster it will improve! The architecture scales well!

Posted at 5:45AM on Dec 19th 2005 by nairaland.admin