[sc20090430]

 Conversation B

Beth: What about people who wrITe offensive content or insert false information?

Adam: Actually a study conducted by MIT found that obscenities in articles are usually removed within 1.7 minutes. False information is usually quickly deleted too.

Beth: Well , that does strengthen your argument. But what about times when people don’t agree on the information?

Adam: That’s called an “edit war.” It happens the most when there are several different points of view on the topic. Most of the time, the people who disagree eventually reach a consensus.

Beth: But how long does that take? If you can’t trust the accuracy of the information, what can you use it for?

Adam : There are plenty of uses! A travel wiki can be an ingenious way to read about or discuss places of interest. Some offices even have wikis for company information or policies.

Beth: Why should we trust the information on even those wikis? The authors may still lack expertise.

Adam: Not necessarily. Since anyone can help write a wiki, experts can share information too. Besides, a big group of people will always have more knowledge than just one expert.

Beth: Perhaps that is true, but I’m not convinced yet.