This Blog is Stolen Property

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Walking in a Wiki Wonderland

I just got (yet another) student paper which uses Wikipedia as a source.

I think wiki technology is great. I think Wikipedia is great. But it's not an acceptable academic source. How do they not know this?? Encyclopedias in general aren't really legitimate academic sources. How do they not know this???

But the explanation was priceless: "Well, it was the only place that had any information on the subject."

Oh, really?

There are more than 10 million volumes in the library system here. We spend millions of dollars each year to subscribe to just about every database known to man, and Wikipedia is the only place that had any information? It strains the credulity a bit.

He's a senior, and his research abilities is limited to...google?

He's a nice kid and his paper didn't suck. Which makes it all the more aggravating.

Argh.

posted by Feemus at 5:34 AM

12 Comments:

  • To quote the good old Velvet Underground, "It's the beginning of a New Age." (how dismissive can I get?)

    And now, Feemus, did you see the nice post Dwight did the other day? Nudge, nudge.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:18 AM  

  • Oh dear, I had somehow missed it (I really have been a lazy blogger lately).

    I've belatedly added my congrats to Dwight's beautifully written post. I'm just ridiculously happy for you and I know that PVS will soon be on everyone's lips (except for Karl Rove, who will still just have the blood of newborn kittens on his lips).

    Thanks for the nudge--seeing good news about good people is a nice way to start the day!!

    By Blogger Feemus, at 7:13 AM  

  • I read somewhere that Karl switched from kittens to low-tar squabs, but that may have been on Wiki now that I think about it.

    Yes, I remember sending a very polite (no, really!) e-mail to the guy who runs the Internet Etymology site. I explained to him why his etymologies for the word "pud" were popular, but off the mark.

    He fired back on of the rudest e-mails I have ever received, saying that he writes the facts as they are, not as people wish them to be.

    Then he sited Wiki as his source.

    So I just went in and changed Wiki.

    [Insert maniacal laughter here.]

    And then I was right, right?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:42 AM  

  • That, Sir, is a master stroke.

    What IS the etymology of pud?

    Speaking of puds...could I be a bigger goober? I could've sworn I read you over the weekend, but I moust not have, because I totally missed the Claudia post. What a tribute and well deserved!

    The answer is "no," I could not be a bigger goober.

    By Blogger Feemus, at 7:50 AM  

  • Love the kitten lips! I'm going to wiki pud now...

    And isn't Dwight a fabulous writer? And a darling!

    Thanks to both of you sweethearts!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:13 AM  

  • Pudendum:

    Any labial like folding or ridges in the genitalia, but especially those related to the female anatomy. (Usually used in the plural, pudendum.)

    From the Latin Pudendus, or to be ashamed. (As if the femaile genitalia was so ashamed of itself as to fold over on top of itself in hiding.)

    Sorry, but if men are pud wackers, there should be a woman on the receiving end of the wacking.

    Weeners aren't pud!

    Pud is NOT short for "pudding." That makes no sense. How can one pull pudding? Stupid, illogical, lazy ass meme.

    I'm right. The rest of the world is wrong.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:21 AM  

  • I know just how you feel, brother.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:37 AM  

  • Hmmmm...first the "teabagging" discussion, and now this. Maybe I should make this a theme blog...

    Well, you learn something new every day. I'd've been in the "weenie" camp on this one, I guess because I think of the word in connection with "pulling one's pud," which seems unambiguous.

    And doesn't Joyce say something like "the man who lifts his pud to a woman is saving the way for kindness"?

    But I'd never thought about it in relation to pudenda. Takin' me to school, Dwight!

    At any rate, "going to go wiki pud" is maybe the dirtiest sounding sentence ever, Claudia!

    By Blogger Feemus, at 9:05 AM  

  • I just have to tell you that I came here about a 1/2 hour ago and read this, and now, 30 minutes later I am STILL LAUGHING. Damn.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:59 AM  

  • Me too, Claud! I was just lurking until "the man who lifts his pud to a woman".

    By Blogger Sherri, at 1:38 PM  

  • Hattip for the blog post idea, Feemus.

    Thanks.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:49 PM  

  • Just saving the way for kindness, man.

    By Blogger Feemus, at 3:27 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home