Next to Google, I would say that Wikipedia.org is the next best thing to come to the internet. I love, love, LOVE Wikipedia.
Anything I need to know, I can find it on Wikipedia. Want to know the structure of military ranks in France? No problem. Need a definition of the difference between a descriptivist linguist and a prescriptivist linguist? Wikipedia's got you covered. Wish to read up on the social issues covered by Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Wikipedia not only gets you started, it tells you where you can turn to for more.
Only problem with Wikipedia is the tremendous time suck it presents for me. For example, just now I spent a good fifteen minutes cruising the Buffy linkages after simply going there to retrieve the link for the above paragraph. I had to force myself to stop.
Yesterday, I spent I don't know how long bumping back and forth around Wikipedia's list of plot devices. Absolutely fascinating. I plan to at some point discuss each and every item on this list because I honestly don't know how the world of fiction would exist without them in some form or another. Thing is, starting at the list of plot devices lead me to other areas like stock characters. Which led me onward and onward. I had a good laugh over the definition of the stormtrooper effect, happy to finally have something to define that crazy movie situation where one man is able to defeat entire legions of bad guys armed only with a sword.
Suffice it to say, if I let myself run wild, I could get lost in the labrynth of Wikipedia. I need to learn to get in, get what I need, and get out. No checking out the see also or the external links sections located at the bottom of the entries.
But thank you, to all of the creators of and contributors to Wikipedia. I love you, too!
4 comments:
I do the same thing. I love Wikipedia--it's so fun to cruise around, and you learn so much interesting stuff!
I am happy to see another would-be writer who, apparently, spends her writing time noodling about on the Internet doing "research."
I swear, starting a blog was probably the worst thing I could have done in terms of my writing discipline!
Oh, Wikipedia and the whole internet is horrible for me. I have a bookmarks folder the size of my procrastination abilities (which is big).
Wikipedia is usually fantastic but aren't a lot of pages written by fans? I kind of have trouble with its reliability because of this. Although mostly it's been great.
Julie :)
Just to prove my point... and yours... I posted the last comment 3 hours ago. Then went to Wikipedoia to look at that plot devices page. I'm still on wikipedia... Looking at totally different and unrelated things god only knows how I got to. That is the beauty of Wikipedia internal links. But I need to get up in 3 hours...
Julie ;)
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