Wikipedia has been the most important thing to happen to the internet since Google. None of us would have believed it was possible. Regardless, they've shown that an unmanaged pool of self-governed hobbyists can produce broad and deep reliable information. Wikipedia is so much more comprehensive and current than any print encyclopedia. Although there is potential for sabotage or simply incompetence, both of which occasionally do happen, the majority of content is most likely more accurate and truthful than nearly any other source of information because of the large number of people that contribute to each paragraph.
The concept of a wiki for collaboration was not invented by Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki). I suspect and hope that there are many other uses for the technology, perhaps with some adjustments. Political discussions; comments on blogs. I think argument and discussion could take on a much more productive role if they were refined by the masses. Comments on forums don't seem to help much in sorting out useful information.
