Is Wikipedia Total Garbage?

Here is a story about how someone or some people deliberately created a fake historical event on Wikipedia, and how it lasted for five complete years.  Indeed, many people believed the event to be true and cross-referenced it.

Not one teacher and not one professor in the USA allows students to use Wikipedia as a resource in a research paper.  Indeed, it is generally found that the information on Wikipedia can be found in more reliable and reputable sources and that the writing quality and, indeed, overall quality of Wikipedia is substandard.  It seems that serious scholars consider Wikipedia to be a joke.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/war-over-imaginary-bicholim-conflict-page-removed-wikipedia-234717353.html

1)  Given the fact that anyone can add anything, either true or false, to Wikipedia, can you really trust this source of information?  Should a person just dig a bit deeper and find a more reliable web site?

2)  Does it bother you that any time you type anything into a Google search engine, a potentially unreliable Wikipedia link pops up?

3)  Given that not one teacher or university professor in the world will allow a Wikipedia citation, does this affect your impression of this site?

4)  Jimmy Wales, the creator of the site, claims that he has a small paid staff and that most of the work on the site is by volunteers.  Yet, volunteer editors deliberately promoted false information for many years and openly laughed at the internet users who believed the lies.  Would you ever support or donate to this type of organization?

5)  Have to ever added anything to Wikipedia?  What types of people do you think control this site?

6)  From now on I intend to look for other sources of information than Wikipedia.  It is just too unreliable and I have no idea who is adding or changing information.  Many sites concerning celebrities and politicians, for instance, seem openly biased and controlled by fans or employees of the celebrities or politicians.  Do you think my attitude is justified?

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Yes, I'm the guy who caused the "scandal" in Asia two years ago http://www.shoutcastblog.com/2010/05/11/wondergirls-were-mistreated-by-jyp-entertainment/

Yes, I'm also the guy who wrote the very funny ESL book: New York City Sucks, But You'll Wanna Live Here Anyway http://www.amazon.com/Sucks-Youll-Wanna-Anyway-ebook/dp/B004TSPAQS