Robert Dale McHenry (born April 30, 1945) is the editor of a number of mainly biographical works and was Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopædia Britannica from 1992 to 1997.

Education

McHenry studied at Northwestern University and the University of Michigan.

Works

Writer of

• How to Know

Editor of

• Merriam-Websters American Biographers
• Webster's American Military Biographies

Co-editor of

• A documentary history of conservation in America
• Encyclopædia Britannica
• Liberty's Women
• The Temper of John Dryden
• Webster's American biographies

Criticism of Wikipedia

In a 2004 article published on Tech Central Station, "The Faith-Based Encyclopedia", McHenry made several criticisms of the structure of Wikipedia. The core of his argument can be summarised as follows: Anybody can edit Wikipedia, no matter how ill-qualified. As a result, even a somewhat well-written article will tend to degrade over time as ignorant or incompetent people make subsequent alterations. As a result, he argued that Wikipedia could never become a reliable source of information. McHenry used the Wikipedia article on Alexander Hamilton to illustrate his point.

McHenry concludes:

The user who visits Wikipedia to learn about some subject, to confirm some matter of fact, is rather in the position of a visitor to a public restroom. It may be obviously dirty, so that he knows to exercise great care, or it may seem fairly clean, so that he may be lulled into a false sense of security. What he certainly does not know is who has used the facilities before him.

References

"McHenry, Robert". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 1, 2005, from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. link.

External links

• The Faith-Based Encyclopedia – Robert McHenry's critique of Wikipedia
  • On Getting It – follow-up response by McHenry
  • The FUD-based Encyclopedia – a refutation by Aaron Krowne
    • McHenry responds to Aaron Krowne