Paul CantrellOct 30

omg, THIS

I was bordering on apoplectic when I first heard about K-12 teachers forbidding students from using Wikipedia but then teaching them to use LLMs.

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https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/hi-its-me-wikipedia-and-i-am-ready-for-your-apology

Hi, It’s Me, Wikipedia, and I Am Ready for Your Apology

Our 9th most-read article of 2025. - - -“Wikipedia, the constantly changing knowledge base created by a global free-for-all of anonymous users, no...

McSweeney's Internet Tendency
Show threadSolitha

@inthehands I think they need to be clear that *using* Wikipedia is fine, but it should never be a *citation*.

Wikipedia is a collation of sources, all of which are fair game.

Oct 30 at 4:26pmWeb
Show threadPaul CantrellOct 30

@solitha
Even more fundamentally — because genuine care about citations is perfunctory or nonexistent in practice until college, or •maybe• a very fastidious high school class — Wikipedia can be a darned good as a starting point, or for a quick “usually not too wrong” answer.

Student do need to learn that you can’t take Wikipedia or any other source (primary or secondary) as complete truth. They also need to learn how to work with provisional knowledge: “Look, not 100% confident, but this Wikipedia article that challenges what I thought means it’s •probably• me that’s wrong.”