The problem isn't Wikipedia though, it's Google's inability to filter all of the modern SEO crap from search results.
If Wade made a website/wiki today, it's not going to be stifled in Google results by Wikipedia. It's going to be stifled by all of the meaningless, useless content-farm or even AI-generated junk, plus ads, that Google puts at the top.
I'm not saying that filtering that stuff is easy or even achievable for Google. But the problem is not the fact that Wikipedia exists, it's the absolutely overwhelming amount of junk that is not really operating in good faith but that is really good at getting ranked in searches.
Totally agree. Google/Bing/etc. are offloading the hard work of sifting through garbage to Wikipedia. That's why the top result is always Wikipedia followed by about 3 pages of listicles and clickbait.
Heck, YouTube is linking to Wikipedia for fact-checking purposes. Is that not absolutely insane to anyone else?
If Wade made a website/wiki today, it's not going to be stifled in Google results by Wikipedia. It's going to be stifled by all of the meaningless, useless content-farm or even AI-generated junk, plus ads, that Google puts at the top.
I'm not saying that filtering that stuff is easy or even achievable for Google. But the problem is not the fact that Wikipedia exists, it's the absolutely overwhelming amount of junk that is not really operating in good faith but that is really good at getting ranked in searches.