Online wiki web pages suffer from lack of credibility Online Tips by Donald Burleson

Update: 2/23/2007

Wikipedia has announced a new, more credible site called Citizendium where all authors are non-anonymous:

The central differences between Wikipedia and Citizendium are "more cultural than operational," said Sanger. For example, unlike Wikipedia, which allows any anonymous user to edit an entry, Citizendium will require users to register their names before editing any information.

Wikipedia has been touted as the world's largest reference by some, and the world's largest hunk of poo-poo by others.  Detractor of online collaboration point to the serious lack of skill amongst those "editors" who have time to work for free all day posting crap on Wikipedia and other alleged informational sites.  Real experts don't have the time or desire to publish for free.

The core problem with wiki pages is the anonymity of the publisher.  You don't know if the entry about Napoleon is from a Cornell history professor or a crack smoking dyslexic 3rd grade dropout.  Most of the wiki entries I've seen tend to be written by the latter category, complete garbage disguised as legitimate scholastic publishing.

 This article on wiki credibility has some great observations:

"Entries are routinely vandalized, libel and falsities often find their way into existing articles as a way to settle scores, manipulate public opinion, or express outrage...

The result is that nigh close to 90% of the Wikipedia contain highly dubious material and attract the least qualified "experts" and "editors"... 

But there is a larger issue at stake. Is the Internet a reliable and credible source of information?"

This fantastic articles goes on to note that many people use web searches (Google) to locate information, yet they restrict their searches to sites that they deem credible:

"Research shows that 75% of all respondents resort to the Internet as a primary information provider.

The inundation of irrelevant material caused most surfers to confine their surfing to 10 Web sites (the equivalent of "anchors" in shopping malls) which they deem reliable, timely, accurate, objective, authoritative, and credible. The rest of the Internet gets the leftovers."

In the database world, web credibility is a major factor, and many professionals have provided guidelines for evaluating the credibility of online technical information.  Major signs of a untrustworthy web site is the failure of the author to publish their resume, academic qualifications and educational background.