That’s the word from the Wikipedia founder, according to a post on The Chronicle’s Wired Campus blog.  According to the post, “Wikipedia’s founder, Jimmy Wales, says he wants to get the message out to college students that they shouldn’t use it for class projects or serious research.”

In an interview, Mr. Wales said that Wikipedia is ideal for many uses. If you are reading a novel that mentions the Battle of the Bulge, for instance, you could use Wikipedia to get a quick basic overview of the historical event to understand the context. But students writing a paper about the battle should hit the history books.

Needless to say, such statements tend to get folks like academics, librarians, and students a little fired up.  The comments of the post are an interesting read as well.