So, I was wasting some time reading this article about the Fibonacci Sequence. Interesting enough I suppose, I’m not going to argue the validity of article. However, as I was reading the comments I noticed that several people were referencing wikipedia as a source to validate their argument.
Now, I’m not a researcher, but I work with folks that their primary job is to help people with research. And, I’m quite certain that every single one of them would be screaming “wikipedia is NOT a PRIMARY resource!””.
Come on folks, even the idea behind wikipedia should tell you that. ANYONE, and by anyone, I mean anyone with internet access, can access and add to wikipedia. Of course, there are people out there reading through perhaps checking the validity of what’s being posted, but really, there are limits to what can be checked. Would it really be that hard to try to find an article from, oh, I don’t know, maybe an encyclopedia, that stated the origin of the Fibonacci Sequence?
I suppose the joke “of course it’s true, I saw it on TV” will soon be replaced with “of course it’s true, I read it on Wikipedia”. And there starts the downward spiral….