J259707

Article Critique

I visited the Hiking page in Wikipedia, and found 3 aspects of it that are worth commenting on: the fact that some of the sources that were used are now “dead” sites, the newest citation used is from 2013, and that there is no mention of any of the top hiking trails used today.

Citations

The first red flag I noticed while reading the hiking page on Wikipedia is some of the sites used as references when this page was initially written are now dead. Sites used such as number 18 "Kinder Trespass. A history of rambling", as well as, number 22  Appalachian Trail Conservancy, no longer are working sites. I would argue that the sites need to be deleted from the references section of the Wikipedia page and that new citations need to be found for the facts that were being upheld on these sites.

Sources

Another problem I found on this page was that the newest sources used on the page were from 2013; 4 years ago. Hiking is constantly changing and should be shown that way. Although the page was last updated on April, 4^th 2017 none of the references used are in refection of new discoveries or ideas. In order for this page to be relevant references need to reflect the present as well as the past.

Additional information

I believe for this page to be a good source of information it should include a section of top hiking spots in the world. Although there is a reference to the Top 10 Hiking Trails in the US the reference isn’t used to portray those spots. Being able to see different places people like to hike would be a great addition to this page.

Summary

Overall, I would rate this page as “good.” Although the page has a few faults here and there the page provides a great deal of information about hiking in an unbiased way. The only faults I was able to find had to do with references; each that weren’t up to date, or checked to make sure they were still up and running, which in my opinion are minor flaws. Beside the fact that they could add information regarding the top hiking spots in the world this page does a very good job describing hiking and its history. 

Side note: I have added a question on the talk section of the hiking page.