Wikipedia is 10 years old. Its amazing; but the famous say it makes mistakes.

[GabbyLoggon]

Wikipedia....at 10

well it probably does make mistakes on biography. But I have found it reliable on other things.

I think they allow you to correct mistakes.

Do mumsnetters use the serivice much?

I love it. It's far from perfect, particularly as you say on biographies, and that's not just because of mistakes but also because of biases in the people doing the editing. Some people and organisations spend a lot of time and effort making sure that revelations about their more egregious indiscretions are swiftly deleted.

But as a resource to go to when faced with a DC asking a "How does so-and-so work?" or "Who was such-and-such-historical-figure?" question it's great. I've recently kindled an interest in history largely through randomly following Wikipedia links.

I love it too.

One of my friends says that he makes a point of looking up something every day because it is now there, as a resource for the curious, more easily accessible than anything we've had before (even (public) libraries - which must have been pretty revolutionary).

It's a brilliant starting-point. And a great springboard for going off and finding out more, elsewhere. Yes, it can be inaccurate, but then ... it's a good point from which to reflect on the fact that all information is held in a kind of field, and if you really want to know something accurately, you have to look at the wider field in which your particular fact-thing is held.