Opinion? What's that?
Published on September 3, 2008 By kryo In Internet

Ah, Wikipedia. Savior of internet debaters and bane of those who try to set themselves in a positive light against the connected masses. And now, apparently, the Department of Homeland Security is relying on it to reinforce their own legal arguments. Or maybe not.

It seems that the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals had to tell the DHS and the Board of Immigration Appeals that Wikipedia is no excuse for evidence to use in their proceedings. In this particular case, an Ethiopian woman had entered with false papers, seeking asylum. The DHS and Immigration dutifully looked up her real papers from back home on Wikipedia and decided (based on the wiki article about the documents she was using) that they weren't good enough proof of identity.

You'd think that it should be common sense--Wikipedia is great for learning about stuff in general when you're bored, but given that there's no requirement of actual knowledge in order to edit entries there, it's pretty commonly agreed that it shouldn't be used for anything where documentation and proof are important.

But with the government and anything internet-related, it seems more often than not that sense is anything but common...


Comments (Page 3)
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on Sep 07, 2008

Bebi...highlight it and you will be able to read it. The poster did it this way as he (or she) thinks it is off topic.

on Sep 16, 2008

I've noticed an assumption that most esoteric systems seem to take for granted.  It's so fundamental that it's hard to state and even harder to challenge, but one way of putting it might be that if things can be divided into a small number of categories, then those categories must be equal, balanced, and symmetrical. Equality, balance, and symmetry are taken as a description:  people assume that things in the world really are equal, balanced, and symmetrical by nature.
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Tanyaa

on Sep 18, 2008

I agree with paratid you cant't show an wiki article as proof , I certainly accept that wiki is great source of information.

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shinyallard

 

on Sep 18, 2008

rode coloured glasses

Are those the Jack Kerouac glasses?

on Sep 19, 2008

rode coloured glasses

Are those the Jack Kerouac glasses?

Trust you to pick up on my typos... Zubish, it seems, has penetrated deep into the fabric of Stardock society, so with the edit button often MIA or AWOL, even the best of us are gonna get sprung, having performed uneditable Zubisms.

As for the glasses, they were rose coloured Elton john specials... which obviously means I never wear them in public. 

on Sep 19, 2008

I thought I read somewhere (in Wikipedia?) that the Bush administration was paying Mexico under the "Rent a Peasant" program to bring illegals into the US in order to destabilize the economy. Something about making this another third world country or something like that. An unnamed source indicated that the ten million plus immigrants save businesses billions of dollars in underpaid wages, health benefits, vacation and sick leave while continuing to charge the middle class the expenses (taxes) of all the other legal activities against the illegals such as deportation and/or incarceration and placing more Americans on the unemployment line.

another anonymous source stated that this coupled along with the billions being spent on war and the recent upsurge in home ownership by the banking industry will help to eradicate the middle class altogether. Thus bringing about a more acceptable societal model of "haves" and "have nots".

While all of this is tongue in cheek, there may be some truth in this. It does seem that the current administration is hell bent upon bankrupting this country. With all of the recent failures in the banking/investment industry I hope that all of you young bucks and buckettes can see why privitization of the social security benefits would have been a bad thing.

anyone want to discuss Walmart??

on Sep 19, 2008

Exactly, so how do our constitutional rights apply to them, if they aren't even citizens?

 

Where does the US Constitution say that it only applies to citizens?

 

on Sep 20, 2008

Trust you to pick up on my typos

Aye, Capn  Been dry so long, me mind cant help but wit me.

on Sep 20, 2008

little-whip

And I'd like to see that going to honest, American citizens
Who then, through their taxes. bear the cost of incarcerating prisoners.


No prisoner gets paid on a Federal Employee pay scale. That's not only unbelievable, it downright wacky.
Are  you really this stupid?  Show me where I said we should pay prisoners that amount!  Let's try this again. Very....slowly....

Pedro gets arreste border jumping.

Instead of a hot dinner and a free ride home, Pedro is sentenced to 5 years in prison.

During Pedro's time in prison, he pays for his own keep by working on the border fence projects.

The taxpayers save money because Pedro will NOT be paid union wages, but minimum wage.

His wage is applied to his incarceration costs, leaving him pennies a day for busting ass.

The fence will get built.

And Pedro will think long and hard before trying to enter illegally again.


I would rather see them GO HOME (are you in the 'listen' mode yet?).
THEY COME RIGHT BACK.  Are *you* in the listen mode yet?

There is currently NO punishment for being caught in the act.  Just a quick bus ride back across the border.

 

 

 

You and ParaTed2K seem to be in a contest to become the least civil person in the forums. You're entitled to your opinion and to express it politely. 

You are not entitled to abuse others.

on Sep 20, 2008

Reply #45

Dr J0622

You sure you got the right thread?

on Sep 21, 2008

Aye, Capn Been dry so long, me mind cant help but wit me.

Well it seems t' I, then, us'd better git tha Sister afloat n' waylay a rum trader fer 'e.

on Sep 22, 2008

Yes I am. It's my constitutional right. It's called freedom of speech. Asking someone if they're 'really that stupid' (and jumping to the conclusion that incarcerated felons would be paid federal union contract wages WAS pretty stupid) violates no JU ToU, either.

You seem pretty stupid yourself. J06-whatever your name is.

Or would you prefer me to use fancier words? How about 'deliberately obtuse?'

little whip... this comment/attitude is provocative and antagonistic, not to mention arrogant and totally unnecessary.  If your forum participation must revolve around trying to upset people to get a rise, then perhaps you should seek elsewhere to practice the sport.  You may think this does not violate the JU ToU, but it does (constitutional rights do not extend to abusing others on a privately owned site) and is NOT welcome on JU or any of the other Stardock forums.

Yeah, I know, I'll be next on your hit list,, but I recommend against it and propose you consider a more demeanor in your communications with others on these forums.

on Sep 22, 2008

I'll continue to be as provocative, as arrogant, and as antagonistic as my rotten little heart desires

I've always been a sort of out there person so just to let you know, I've passed this up to the mods. I hope others take the hint and do so also.

on Sep 22, 2008

I've passed this up to the mods. I hope others take the hint and do so also.

Done!

on Sep 22, 2008

While heated debates are more than welcome, everyone please refrain from personal attacks as they are against site rules.

You can attack the commets at hand, not those posting them.

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