Why do people quote Wikipedia?

I dont think that most people understand what a wiki is. I never quote wiki.

Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia with so many contributors (because anybody can edit)(and it is an encyclopedia because anybody editing the articles must provide verifiable citations for their work and vandalism is quickly deleted by administrators and other faithful users of the site) and nobody likes to look at a plain book-type encyclopedia, because it takes time finding the entry and they are shorter than the ones at wikipedia. Also they are published yearly, meaning that book encyclopedias get outdated quickly. Wikipedia is on the Internet, so it can be updated right after an event. One of the only bad things about it is that there might be vandalism or fake/unsure facts, but this is pretty rare. At least it is better than Uncyclopedia.org. or the useless and outdated 1990s sites you can find on Google.

People, such as myself who quote Wikipedia, quote it because it contains factoids rather than facts. Facts are boring. Factoids are fascinating and help you to remember information. I have a link to a Wikipedia article on bellybutton lint on my facebook page. I’m a teacher, and my older students enjoy learning factoids.

Probably because it’s very popular and well-known, even if not all the information is correct. Or people just find the factoids interesting.

Wikipedia is about as good a source of accurate information as Britannica, the venerable standard-bearer of facts about the world around us, according to a study published journal Nature.

It’s a wonderful tool and a good source of information