Very good points, Aria and Cornellia. Wikipedia is great for common use images, and often useful for quickly gathering bits of information. But, when creating a hood, property, or even thread post, why just cut and paste selected entries from Wikipedia or any other online source? It certainly doesn’t give AW an authentic “feel” to do so. Hoods or properties that are basically encylopedia articles aren’t “places” in any sense that matches the context.

Certainly, creativity isn’t easy when the number of historical images in the public domain are limited. (My special annoyance is the number of paintings of Edwardian-era pseudo-Romans used to decorate at AW). Researching a particular place or city does take some work, and it can be frustrating when so little information is easily available about a subject in which you may be interested.

The question of Wikipedia’s accuracy is well-taken, but as Aria notes, we should be careful about any source. I have found, at least for classical Greek or Roman entries, that Wikipedia entries are often mainly based on the 1911 Encyclopedia (no longer covered by copyright restrictions). That, in turn, often draws on information published in William Smith’s A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities or Samuel Ball Platner’s A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, both available online. Why not at least consult the latter two, since they provide the ancient sources as well?

And then, who says that original sources are always correct? Since ancient sources often contradict each other, or provide different versions of the same event, we know they are as prone to error or subjective judgement as, say, The New York Times. Unfortunately, sometimes only one account survives from antiquity, so it has the appearance of authority, but we cannot always know it if it correct. For example, the descriptions of the meaning of Roman ceremonies or religious practices given by late imperial writers need to be evaluated carefully. Did Greek commentators born in the provinces really understand the origin of the ancient Roman cults or ceremonies of state that dated from literally hundreds of years earlier? Perhaps not.

Something of which you can be certain, is that a falsely conceived explanation from one of these sources will be endlessly repeated in online, unsourced “information” websites, but a better scholarly explanation may be hidden in only a few places, either online or in books. Beware, oh Wikipedia reader!