Happy 5th B'day Wikipedia!

Wikipedia turned 5 two days ago on January 15th. I don't remember exactly when I started using the online encyclopedia myself, but it's become an invaluable resource to me over the past few years. Given that all the articles are peer-written, I do take them with a grain of salt but Wikipedia is an excellent starting point in looking up information about various topics. Furthermore, well-written articles often provide links to academic sources about the topic at hand.

Defying the expectations of it's naysayers, Wikipedia has become one of the most reliable sources of information on the Internet. In fact, it has been favourably compared to the venerable Encyclopedia Britannica itself by the scientific journal Nature. That's pretty impressive. Perhaps the greatest proof of the site's rising importance is that the Chinese government has blocked access to it since October 2005- much to the chagrin of Chinese scientists and students!