Last but not least: You can believe anything on Wikipedia, almost anything
You can almost always rely on Wikipedia. But there’s a reason why the free encyclopedia still isn’t allowed to be cited as a reputable source in academic literature...
Many Wikipedia articles are just as accurate as their counterparts in the Brockhaus or the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The community of authors often update current events within a very short space of time and usually iron out errors quickly. Nevertheless, the encyclopaedia has not been spared embarrassing mishaps since it was launched a good ten years ago: for example, a Scottish call center employee created an article about himself and quickly posed as a highly decorated war hero. Students declared their quick-footed professor dead. There was also an island off the Syrian coast called Porchesia for just over ten months. And the fact that not only students but also journalists are happy about the platform is confirmed by a hoax from 2009: after Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg was appointed German Economics Minister in February 2009, an anonymous user added his first name. The false Wilhelm was adopted by numerous media outlets.
