Thing 18: Wikis

Roller Derby was the subject I chose to look up in Wikipedia. There was a lot of information, including the rules of the present day game. I also looked up the history because I have rather vague memories of watching Roller Derby on TV waaaaaay back when I was a young woman. I checked Discussion and History on the first search. I was surprised at how short the History was considering how long the Discussion was. There were, and probably still are, some heated debates going on in the Discussion. One contributor went so far as to list his/her interpretation of the Wikipedia rules. Lots of deletions, repostings, and some rather angry messages going around. It's nice to know people are passionate about posting information, and that some are worried about legitimacy. There was discussion about whether or not lists of movies and music should be included, or if the lists should be a seperate entry. I was surprised that the 1970s movie "Kansas City Bomber", with Raquel Welch, was not on the list. But I didn't want to get involved. One of the rather heated discussions had to do with crossing the line into Original Research. I was intrigued by all of this. It actually makes me feel better about using Wikipedia as a source. Of course, I would check it against an acceptable source.
Now to the second part. I had trouble creating my own page on Wetpaint. But third time was a charm. I trust that the false starts I had will be deleted eventually since my emails were forwarded to the appropriate person. A good part of the problem is my ignorance, but I think more detailed instructions might have helped. For instance, I had no idea where to put my information when I first made the page. But I figured it out. And I noticed there were a lot of comments left on this assignment. It made me feel good to know I was not alone. That being said, I'd like to add that I very much appreciated not having to create my own account. It was much easier this way. Thank you.