Archive:Stories: Difference between revisions

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+{{cquote|As a career print journalist, I remember the day Wikipedia came into my knowledge. I was deeply skeptical of its contents, of its ability to self-police the facts found on its pages, but would pop in now and then just to see whether Wiki's information coincided with facts I knew to be true. As the months and years went by, I began to use it more and more, particularly making use of the citations at the bottom of an entry to further my own research.
+After leaving the profession during the downsizing of newsrooms a couple of years ago, I, with my partner, began my own writers website, dedicated to the support and help, without ads, of those journalists who have become freelancers in the wake of the corporate decimation of the newsrooms and the print media.
+I became a true believer in Wikipedia over the years, and now am an advocate of the value of knowledge freed from advertising. There is almost no other source of information that is not dependent on biased sources of cash. In this day and age of division and partisanship, Wikipedia has moved into the realm of NPR and PBS in my book: A place to look for balance and truth, if it can be found. A place to find the widest array of facts and arcana available, at the stroke of a key. A place that provides the dedicated researcher with the freedom to pursue intuitive learning as  never before. Free-floating ideas can take concrete form because Wikipedia gives the researcher enough fodder to connect and knit disparate thoughts. Few dead-ends block the curious mind, allowing for far more organic and creative thinking. Oh, imagine what would have happened had Einstein had the gift of Wikipedia. We'd have been living in other star systems by now. In another hundred years we will be, and Wikipedia will be partially responsible. It was my privilege to donate a small amount to support your ongoing work.}}
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 {{cquote|I don't have a single story about Wikipedia or anything that stands out but Wikipedia has become a intregal part of my daily habits and search for information.  Wikipedia has been the answer to most of my questions over the last few years.  Whether it is a term or concept at work I need more information on or a spur of the moment question in a social setting such as who played guitar on a particular album or curiousity on the "real facts" after watching a movie or sorting the titles in a book series I have downloaded -- Wikipedia has replaced almost every other site I used to go to in order to answer questions.  At work we are trying to create a wiki to organize the knowledge and best known methods of my company.  I also use the Wiki for World of Warcraft regularly as well as the Wheel of Time Wiki in order to keep track of the many characters in Robert Jordan's books.  Over the years I have seen most information that I used to get on other sites migrate to Wikipedia or a specialized wiki.  Wikipedia is the first and increasingly the best place to find information for me and most of the people I know.  I trust most of the information I find and if I am unsure, I look up the history and discussions on the people who are contributing to a topic. I see Wikipedia as one of the top 10 reasons for having the internet.  It has revolutionized how we get, categorize, manage, and contribute to the information stores of the world.  I cannot imagine going back to the days before Wikipedia.}}