I won't let my daughter use it for school work. I'm afraid she'll write on an essy that America was discovered by scientologists in the year 3514.

that would be me.

It is so Fashionable to bash Wikipedia. The whole "unreliable" argument is based off the fact that articles can be edited and contributed by just anyone. Well, guess what, Everything in the world was written by just anyone. "But they use reliable sources and referencing, along with Peer review and empirical, first hand, reproducable experiment/research!" I hear you cry. How do you know this? Unless you were present during the research, have read all the references, and then the references references, then you must trust someone somewhere, that they know what they are talking about, and that they aren't having us on. As for Wikipedia, when someone random goes in and edits an article, the original writer (most often someone reliable in the topic; if they are motivated to write the article) is notified of the changes, and can review them. Everyone can review the changes, and when you make a change, your IP is logged, along with your user name. If you are found to have written an incorrect article, it is identified and fixed pretty quicksmart, and if you are found to have done it on purpose, your IP is banned, and you arent allowed on wikipedia. There is also a Discussion Tab, which can be clicked to show various peoples opinions and previous issues in the construction of the article and information. Wikipedia is a wonderful source of information, and shouldnt just be written off because it is fashionable to do so. Like ANY(!!!)information source, you must judge its content, neutrality, spin, and knowledgability YOURSELF, as well as its usefullness. Wikipedia articles Do include a reference list too, as well as citations. Look at the references, and compare the information in Wikipedia with other information sources. It should be easy to tell if an article is reliable and valuable or not.