You don’t need to verify the veracity of the source, you just have
to verify the information. That’s why it compares well with open source
and markets. Nobody really sets the price for oil — as we all learned
at Five Minute University, it’s supply and demand — the price emerges
from the interactions. Do you know who contributed code to Firefox 1.5?
I don’t and I don’t care, any more than I care who worked the assembly
line in Marysville, Ohio, when my Civic was built.
Do you shop
around, ask questions and check Consumer Reports when you make a major
purchase or do you rely on the salesman at one store? Wikipedia is a
source. If it were the only one, I would sympathize more with your
complaints. Fortunately, we don’t have to rely on Granma, Reuters, and KCNA for all our news, and we don’t have to rely on Wikipedia for all our definitions.
