Wikipedia:Why Wikipedia is reliable

It's really quite simple. Wikipedia is a biased implementation of the infinite monkey theorem. Given enough time, we will write everything that can (or has) been written. The bias is that each monkey is given a cattle prod and encouraged to use it on their fellows. Over time, several behaviors are noticed:


 * Overly sensitive monkeys depart, although not always before a mild psychotic break.
 * Erratic monkeys swiftly wise up, often after a period of intense zapping.
 * Monkeys who remain and age here gather around a set of behaviors that include mutual grooming, (extremely careful) dominance/hierarchy posturing, mutual grooming, and mutual grooming.
 * Thus, only the most fastidious monkeys are found in quantity, obsessively checking, rechecking, fact checking, proofreading, and copyediting the work as a whole. Vandals and grasshoppers are repeatedly zapped until even the hardiest depart, and All Is Well.

That is why you can trust Wikipedia content. Absolutely. Most of the time.


 * From the archives of the Help Desk: Xiong (talk) 04:52, 2005 Mar 15 (UTC)