Wikipedia, a factchecker's worst nightmare

If you've never had the pleasure of factchecking at a magazine, congratulate yourself. And stay far, far away. Writers (and editors) have a tendency to pull facts out of thin air. That means the poor factcheck department is often sent scavenging for ridiculous facts like the number of fish in the ocean. Worse, it has to verify information gathered from the Web's most trusted source, Wikipedia. In the above clip from comedian Will Ferrell's Funnyordie.com, Peter Karinen and Brian Sacca of the "Fact Check Unit" must verify that Bill Murray's sleeping aid is a warm glass of milk. The source is Wikipedia."That's a user-generated site," exclaims the duo, "that could have been written by a 7-year-old." Hilarity ensues. The moral: Don't use Wikipedia as a source. (And don't become a factchecker).