Dear Henry, Thanks for this concise summary of Wikipedia. For the reasons you state, and several others, we are building the Thomas Jefferson Wiki, using the same software upon which Wikipedia is built. TJ-Wiki will be totally open to the Internet public with opportunity to ask questions and make comments, BUT with editorial policies and a controlled list of individuals given rights to create and edit contents. Stay tuned for announcement of the public launch of TJ-Wiki. Cheers, -- jack * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Jack Robertson || Foundation Librarian Jefferson Library || Thomas Jefferson Foundation PO Box 316 Charlottesville, VA 22902 434-984-7545 || http://www.monticello.org/library/index.html -----Original Message----- From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Henry Wiencek Sent: Friday, April 13, 2007 8:24 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: "Americans" and Wikipedia I hate to sound dogmatic, but I never use Wikipedia for anything but rock-star bios. It's a giant trash heap. I have looked at entries relating to TJ, GW, the Rev War, Civil War -- things I know something about -- and errors are everywhere. Putting on my editor's hat, I once tried to correct a simple, totally non-controversial factual mistake in the TJ entry--I had at hand the latest, gold-standard research from the top expert at Monticello--and some idiot kept restoring the wrong info. I gave up. It's all amateurs over there, playing around. Henry Wiencek Charlottesville