re.

 Guidelines and information pages are available to help users and researchers do this effectively,
as is an article that summarizes third-party studies and assessments of the reliability of Wikipedia.

Wikipedia versus paper encyclopedias

Like a paper encyclopedia, Wikipedia attempts to compile world knowledge but is not bound by the restrictions
of a paper encyclopedia. Illustration from Nuremberg Chronicle1493

Main page: Wikipedia is not paper (on Wikimedia Meta-Wiki).

Wikipedia has advantages over traditional paper encyclopedias. First, it is not limited in space: it
can keep growing as fast as people add.
Second, there are no qualifications required to be able to author its articles. It draws from a vast
pool of contributors: the whole world. This, and the first advantage mentioned above, have
enabled Wikipedia to become the most comprehensive encyclopedia on Earth.
Third, a paper encyclopedia remains static (stays the same) and falls out of date until its next
edition. Wikipedia is more dynamic: You don't have to wait for the next edition to come out (there
are no editions), as Wikipedia is published online as it is written online. Articles are made
available as is, regardless of what stage of development they are in. You can update Wikipedia
at any moment. People do so continually around the clock, thereby helping each other keep
abreast of the most recent events everywhere and the latest facts in every subject.
Fourth, Wikipedia has a meager "publishing" cost for adding or expanding entries, as it is online,
with no need to buy paper or ink for distribution. This has allowed it to be made available for
free, making it more accessible to everyone. This has also enabled Wikipedia to be
independently developed and published in many different languages simultaneously by people
literate in each. Of the 290+ different language Wikipedias, 137 of them have 10,000 or more
articles.