Thoughts on Wikipedia

Ever since Wikipedia started showing up in more and more bibliographies in high school and college, teachers and professors alike have been discrediting its authority. Honestly, it has no authority. Allow me to take a few minutes to rage about Wikipedia.

I have a big paper due on Tuesday but as soon as I ran across a scholarly resource that cited Wikipedia, I lost all faith in the assignment said "FUCK THIS SHIT" and spazzed for a little bit. Then I decided to complain here.

Look closely and you shall see that Kim Armstrong directly cited Wikipedia in her work. There are so many things wrong with this. I'm not saying that I want to be able to cite Wikipedia in my papers, but allow me to bitch for a moment. I graduated from high school in 2007 when Wikipedia was just starting its rise to prominence. We had been told over and over again by teachers that we were not allowed to use it in papers without any reasoning against it. When I got to college, however, we were suddenly made aware of the "sudden death" rule. The sudden death rule goes like this: If you are caught using Wikipedia as a source in your papers you will die... Well you won't die but you'll fail this assignment and possibly the class. I had one professor go so far as to tell us that it was cheating and that we would got to Hell. I don't believe in Hell in the religious sense but I believe in Historian and Librarian Hell. I will explain those two concepts later, but first let me explain why Wikipedia is not a credible source for ANYTHING.

Wikipedia contains user-created information. It allows its readers to edit information and while this is revolutionary, it is not credible. My grandma could edit something on Wikipedia. Your idiot neighbor could edit something on Wikipedia. The internet group "Anonymous" often declares war on Wikipedia by choosing a page at random to screw up. Do you seriously want to cite a moron in your paper? No. Let me send you to the following link for an example of why you should not cite Wikipedia: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/06/the-funniest-acts-of-wiki_n_522077.html#s224977&title=Blood_Libel_Entry

What really bothers me is that this person, Kim Armstrong, was able to publish in a scholarly journal even though she cited Wikipedia. She is a moron. I feel like this not only discredits her but also the journal that agreed to publish her: The Serials Librarian. I'm wondering if anyone else who reads The Serials Librarian has noticed this and has experienced the same rage and disgust for not only the author but also the publication.

Through the years I have realized that using Wikipedia is a cop-out for someone who is too lazy to look further than the first result in their Google search.

Feel free to tell me what you think.

UPDATE: So I was relating my frustrations to a professor who said that another problem with Wikipedia in academia is that since it is user-generated content there are times when it can reinforce general misconceptions about a topic. For example, children are taught the story of George Washington cutting down a cherry tree in elementary school so that they can learn about telling the truth even though the consequences for it may be less that desirable. Well, I feel like most of us know that this story is not true and was only made up to teach young children a lesson. But if someone posts on Wikipedia over and over again that it's true and more and more people reinforce this, then the public may eventually take it as historical fact. This is another problem that I have with the History Channel but that's another story. 

How I lost $30 by trying to take a cab.

I have been living in Pittsburgh for the past two months and while I brought my car with me, I have found that getting around can be quite a hassle. A problem I often run into is catching the bus on time. No matter what I do, I always seem to miss the bus that I want to take. I have tried leaving my apartment earlier and earlier but EVERY SINGLE TIME I walk outside, the bus blows by and I have missed it again. It's enough to make anyone want to punch a panda because then you have to wait 15 minutes to an hour for another bus to come. Sometimes I just start walking in the direction that I want to go and eventually end up catching a different bus but it's usually packed tit to ass and everyone on it has decided to skip deodorant that day. Seriously, it makes me want to punch a panda.

(I like pandas but Y U NO SCREW TO SAVE YOUR SPECIES?! Pisses me off...)

Well, this past weekend gave us the celebration of the most famous Italian known to man: Christopher Columbus. His birthday usually results in a day off from school for me. I love it. And I had not been home in two months so I decided about a month before hand to purchase a bus ticket. The ticket was about $30 and is cheaper than me driving the whole way home on the PA Turnpike. The only problem was getting from where I live in Shadyside to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center at the crack of dawn when the city buses are not running. Yes, I could drive but there's no where to park down there that is (1) safe and (2) a place where my car won't be towed after twelve hours. So the night before I was set to leave I called Yellow Cab and arranged for a cab to pick me up at 5:15am, which would give me plenty of time to get there and catch the bus.

Well at 5:14am as I am walking out the door the cabbie calls me.

Cabbie: Hey I'm here, where are you?
Me: Walking out the door. I'll be right there.
Cabbie: Okay.

So I go outside and go to the curb. No cabbie. I try to call him back three times to no answer. I wait about five minutes before I call the cab company to ask where my cab is. They tell me that they have no clue and that they'll send another.

Around 5:45am I am getting really upset. No cab has come to get me. I call the cab company while staving off an asthma attack and ask them where my cab is. They tell me that they cannot get anyone to take the job and even though I tell them through sobs and chokes of an asthma attack that my bus leaves at 6:20am. They tell me there's nothing they can do. It takes thirty minutes to get downtown and there is no way that I'll make it in time. I do the only thing I know how to do when I am in a crisis: I call my parents.

Me (choking and sobbing): Mom! The cab-- *sob* *gasp*-- never came!
Mom: What do you mean 'it never came'? I thought you made the reservations last night?
Me: *gasp* It never- *choke* showed up.
Mom: Did you call them and ask to send another one?
Me: Yes! *sob* And I'm gonna miss *gasp* my bus! I'll never *sob* make *sob* it!
Mom: Do you have enough gas to make it home?
Me *sucking on inhaler*: You want me to drive now?
Mom: Get in the car and drive home.
Me: Okay.

By this time I was really pissed. And what pissed me off even more was that as soon as I started my car I get a text from Yellow Cab telling me a cab had been dispatched and would arrive soon. It was 6:00am. I said "Fuck that" and started driving home. When I hit the Turnpike, there was nothing that could stop my lead foot adrenaline rush. I was pissed off and I was going home.

My bus ticket was non-refundable even though I did fight with the cab company and the bus company about it. And that's how I lost $30 by trying to take a cab.

That's your idea of a motivational speech?!: Why professors should ALSO think before opening their mouths.

So after a weekend in my home town, I traveled the four hours back to Pittsburgh on Monday to sit down and finish the rest of my homework. Naturally, as a grad student I am constantly feeling overwhelmed. I swear that I have aged about five years during the few months I have been here. (Forwards or backwards I don't know. My acne seems to be coming back though.) I am feeling more and more like a cynical asshole. I was one before but it's gotten even worse. It doesn't help that I am not sleeping well due to the noise from the street in front of my apartment at all hours of the day. After living almost my entire life in a suburban/rural community, being in a very noisy city is not sitting well with me. Add to this my money problems and my constant fear of the people around me and I am on the verge of a psychotic episode.

Because of the holiday weekend I only had one class yesterday. We're getting to the middle of the semester and a lot of us are really showing our stress. Well, my professor decided that this would be a good time for a "pep talk." Except his idea of a pep talk is telling you to suck it up and that it doesn't get any easier, it only gets harder so you better get used to it.

I don't expect life to be easy, I just expect it to get a little easier as I get used to my new role in it. I frowned while he told us this and I gather that I looked like I was going to cry (I was and I did) because my professor picked me out and told me not to give him such a sad look. I wanted to tell him that his little "pep talk" was not a pep talk at all and that he was pushing me one step closer to the mad house. Unfortunately, he interrupted me before I could give any retort whatsoever, which caused me just sit there and cry quietly in disbelief.

Honestly, just because you're a professor doesn't mean that you have the right to be a complete dick and then tell people that it's a pep talk. Just because you tell someone you're feeding them apple sauce when you're really feeding them cow manure doesn't make it apple sauce. Why don't you think a little before opening your stupid mouth?! Maybe then you won't be so confused when people start to cry in your class.