In my original go around here at the Dope (2002-04) wiki didn’t exist yet (at least I’m pretty sure it didn’t). I’ve been back about a year, and obviously, wiki is here. So how did the Dope change in between?
I can’t think of any major changes.
I mean, it provides an easily accessed answer for a lot of questions, which can be useful for familiarizations or overviews. Of course wiki isn’t a primary source and isn’t the definitive word on anything, but it is very useful for a lot of topics.
It has increased the number of blow off responses like “You should have checked wikipedia first”.
I see what you did there.
Probably hasn’t had a huge impact on the SDMBs, but has made for some difficulties in Cecil’s columns. Some of the questions that come in the mail are answered by Wikipedia (sometimes imperfectly, and rarely with humor, but still…) so Cecil’s process for selecting what to answer has become stickier.