Wikipedia Reliability Criticism

Discussions center on the unreliability, biases, and limitations of Wikipedia as a source, emphasizing its editable nature, political slants, and the need to consult original sources or edit histories.

➡️ Stable 0.5x Politics & Society
4,684
Comments
20
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#4319
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2007
1
2008
28
2009
96
2010
80
2011
154
2012
166
2013
161
2014
163
2015
160
2016
171
2017
190
2018
204
2019
215
2020
274
2021
420
2022
681
2023
554
2024
294
2025
578
2026
94

Keywords

NY corrections.html HN AKM nytimes.com WikiPedia i.e ADHD E.g AK wikipedia sources source wikipedia article page reliable biased reputable edited information

Sample Comments

almosthere • Dec 24, 2025 • View on HN

A wikipedia article has to attribute a source, and their sources are biased af.

effingwewt • Oct 2, 2021 • View on HN

More useful is a bullshit metric.You seemed to take all of this as an attack against you personally, I assure you it was not, please calm down.No one said there was a better source, only that Wikipedia is far from perfect.No specifics need be given Wikipedia when its a truism that Wikipedia can be edited by anyone.Nevertheless here[1] is a page from Wikipedia about the reliability of Wikipedia.And since you are asking for specifics as if none exist, here[2] is an HN thread

DanBC • Sep 30, 2015 • View on HN

Even wikipedia tells people not to use wikipedia as a source. It's a reasonable point.

hagbard_c • Apr 26, 2025 • View on HN

No, Wikipedia is no better than any other site which allows user edits and in many ways reliably biased towards certain narratives - which narrative depends on the subject of the Wikipedia article. Wikipedia articles should always be read in conjunction with the Talk and Edit history pages and even then it is necessary to find original sources for any claims made in Wikipedia articles.

themitigating • Jul 28, 2022 • View on HN

Why are the sources that people cite in Wikipedia not vulnerable to the same issues?

moorhosj • Mar 22, 2019 • View on HN

==1) Wikipedia is not a reliable source of information, try again.==I used the person's own source to display the cherry-picked nature of their data, try again.

pms • Aug 2, 2014 • View on HN

Could you provide any arguments, instead of just bashing Wikipedia?

wolverine876 • May 30, 2023 • View on HN

You're citing Wikipedia as a source on this issue?

arjie • Feb 14, 2017 • View on HN

Wikipedia is an aggregator not a source. It's like HN, a useful place to find links to where reputable people have said things.

Intox • May 15, 2023 • View on HN

Wikipedia has an article about the reliability of wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia