Wikipedia

[colubridae]

Plaese please plaese

Bitte Bitte Bitte

Je vous en prie



stop using wiki to learn complex physics or any other science.

It is an extremely useful reference work, like the 'encylo-brittanica' but that's all.

Quoting random articles from wiki followed by

Wiki says tachyons are the anti-matter version of ...

is not going to get an understandable answer.



[/rant]


phew that's better.


That's very unfair of me. It's ok to ask questions but don't get surprised or pissed if you don't like the answer....

[AshtonBlack]

I've always seen wiki as a starting point, rather than a reliable source.

[colubridae]

I've always seen wiki as a starting point, rather than a reliable source.

Yeah but what bugs me is when you answer someone. They then reply 'Wiki says something different... look at this link'

AFAIC see scientists (not me) give really good answers.
They then get shot down in flames by 'But wiki says...'

If someone wants to learn SR or QED or...

[/rant]

I'll stop now, got it off my chest. Got a fuggin' ed code, so bit cranky.

[Feck]

It is a handy thing for looking up stuff you have no fucking Idea about .I'm not going to learn quantum physics from Wiki but it is invaluable for helping translate what experts say into English ...

And BTW was It you that gave me a cold

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I know the guys who ride herd on the Pearl Harbor attack page. They keep it honest.

[colubridae]

It is a handy thing for looking up stuff you have no fucking Idea about .I'm not going to learn quantum physics from Wiki but it is invaluable for helping translate what experts say into English ...

And BTW was It you that gave me a cold

Hope not. it's a real drip fest...

cant' find a sneeze smilie

[ficklefiend]

On the upside, it's free.

It's pretty good for pharmaceutical stuff. I use it for a quick look up all the time. Mainly it's errors in that area are gaps in the info, rather than flaws.

[Rum]

Not that long ago you would have to go to your encyclopaedia (if you had one), take the trouble to look it up, discover it wasn't in there, get down to the town centre and go to the library, look up an index and finally find a book on the subject, which would tell you to look at another book and so on!

You had to work to learn when I were a lad!

[Gawdzilla Sama]

You had to work to learn when I were a lad!

It was probably easier then, there were only three books.

[colubridae]

On the upside, it's free.

It's pretty good for pharmaceutical stuff. I use it for a quick look up all the time. Mainly it's errors in that area are gaps in the info, rather than flaws.

Absolutely It's wizard used in that way. But occasionally there are posters who are clearly trying to learn complex stuff via wiki and WWW.

e.g.
the topic from farsight... time explained

Is complete cock.
The trouble is he's gone to a lot of work on it. bravo but tragic waste.
if it's correct send it in to nature or any other journal, he will gain much kudos.

Why bring it here.
If there are people here who are bamboozled by his crap and sort of murmur agreement, does he think that constitutes peer-review?

Does he think that his twaddle thereby becomes theory?

fuck just dripped a big snot on my keyboawrjlljc;lckdjscads;lfjs;fdj;ljdsklsjdfkld.
Cleaned it off.



I just smell jesus in there somehwere. I don't think jesus likes c being constant.

[ficklefiend]

I just smell jesus in there somehwere. I don't think jesus likes c being constant.

I can imagine the catholic church going "Don't you know GOD is the only constant in the universe?!"

[colubridae]

I just smell jesus in there somehwere. I don't think jesus likes c being constant.

I can imagine the catholic church going "Don't you know GOD is the only constant in the universe?!"

Is that worth a topic

Can jesus go faster than light?

I'll try see if anyone bites....

[Ayaan]

One of my teachers actually had to tell people not to use Wikipedia as a research source for papers. Some of them didn't know that it could be edited by anyone.

[hackenslash]

I tend to think of Wiki as a good place to quickly bone up on terms, prior to going off and doing some actual research. Really, it's just a good place for arming oneself with keywords to limit searches for decent articles and papers. Some of the explanations of principles are good, and I do link to them, although I make damn sure they're reasonably accurate first.

[colubridae]

Don't get me wrong I'm one of wiki's biggest users.

But... you have to keep in mind doing open-heart surgery from wiki instructions might be unsafe.

The other strange thing, most of the wiki stuff that gets quoted is to do with GR and SR rarely QM, QED or QCD.