I don't usually create topics so this feels weird for me.
Anyway.
Do you read up on fallouts lore on the wikia? (Wikia: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Lyons_pride)
If you know that the wikia exist and decide you don't wanna read up on it, please explain why.
If you start to discuss a topic with another person about something you might not fully know about, do you read up on it or do you continue to make wild assumptions instead of doing some research?

The purpose: I want to see how many actually cares to learn more about the lore rather than just playing the game.
I'm also pretty sure a poll like this have not been created before so I hope I'm being original.

I think that the fallout universe is so intriguing, detailed and unique that I just want to know more and more about it.
Read up on stuff every day at the wikia.

I read up on it when I'm bored. I read the Fallout Bible and its updates when it "came out"

Some stuff in the wiki does not give you a wider understanding of context or characters, for that I play the game to hear and see all sides of the argument.
However the wiki is good at catching up on general ideas and history of canon, but again is mostly a few users interpretation of general ideas and it can be quite dogmatic.
So in my opinion yes its helpful, but you really need to play the games to form your own ideas as well, but as I said this is just me saying this.

But for your reason for this post I feel a sense of canon adds to the game, as its the past meets present that appeals to me in fallout. But new ideas should be welcomed as well, as long as it fits in the general spirit of the series.

I just play the game. Sometimes something intriques me enough for me to look up in the wiki why it is the way it is, but mostly i just read discussions here in the forums and learn that way. Same with TES.

Yeah, I used it extensively till I knew most of the details of the game. I'm a really deep fan, but I dont really pick sides of what game is better. I love em all for their story.

Yes. These are addicting games, and I can easily lose myself in their backstory. But I don't limit myself to the wiki. I just go where the whim takes me. But the only things I consider truly "canon" are the games themselves. The rest is just speculation and interpretation, but still fun to read.

I don't really talk about lore much. "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open my mouth and remove all doubt." -Mark Twain (paraphrased, I'm sure).

I tend to read up on it. It can be difficult to follow sometimes. It's not like a book or a movie, so I tend to get side-tracked with playing it versus following and understanding the story and dialogue. So I miss some of the small stuff.

But I do try and learn as much as I can from the games themselves. But the wiki really fills in a lot of holes or small (but important) stuff I may have missed.

Yeah i read about the first games on the wiki first but i am currently playing Fallout 2 and after that i will play Fallout. I wanted to play F2 first as i figured i could learn a little more lore that i would be seeing in FNV.

I feel pretty silly, but the only fallout game I played was number 3. But I know what Fallout 1 and 2 are about. Never played them because they're so old. I'll play them eventually, but whatever. After I 100% completed Fallout 3, I went to the wikia and read history about Fallout. So yeah.

I play the first two game and already know a handful of Lore thanks to the many journals entries, ZAX Com, and the NPCS that interact with me within the game. I read the Fallout Bible for fill-ins.

I only use the wikia to direct links to other Forumites and in reading that article http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Divergence.

Nope, I have been playing Fallout Since before there was a Wiki. I did not use it to find info on FO3 but I do look on it now to find info on New Vegas.

I play the game first, read on wiki when I'm bored. All though it is a different story for New Vegas bcs the anticipation is killing me

I read the wiki when I'm bored, but you'd be wrong to assume a wiki's summaries are the best place to read up on lore. If you want to get the best sense of things you need to examine the actual sources (games and bible). Wiki's are subject to the interpretation of their editors, fan-fiction, and fanon. Nothing beats primary sources (games, word of god, official materials) when dealing with video game lore.

I'm constantly switching between the wikia and the actual game while I play. I like to know as much about the lore as I can, especially character's backgrounds.

YES! I love the Fallout wiki. Having not played FO1 or 2 since 1999, it helped refresh my memory big time. Made me realize FO1 and 2 had better mythos and character development than FO3 could've hope for. Nice to read about Van Buren, Tactics, BOS, and New Vegas as well.

Well it's not like I don't play the games, but I don't think the wikia is built up on people's "opinions" and "fan interpretation".
At least none of what I've read seems to be like that.

None the less, you should attempt to use the primary sources when possible rather than wiki's. *Looks at UESP.net*

( the UESP is a big victim of this kind of thing, gotta be mindful of Wiki's)

I'll use it for fact checking and for watching the news (particularly on those fallout subjects that shall not be named), As its Ausir (Noted Fallout scribe and Polish Translator for several of the games) that guards the Wikia, and everything that Ausir says (when it comes to fallout) can be assumed to be true, I hold it in very high regard.

I went there to read up on the lore from the first two games, seeing as I can't bring myself to play them due to the isometric nature of the games. However with 3 I only read up on it after I had already experienced it first-hand. New Vegas will be the same way, I'm not going to spoil that one as I'm going to play through it myself. Not that I could, TBH, as I have it pre-ordered on Steam.

You can only assume it's true if Bethesda Softworks says something about fallout. Ausir may be someone you trust to be reliable, but there is no guarantee that what he says is not word of Dante. Only gamesas's (who's voice is the word of the god) statements should be assumed to be true.

No, If Beth say it then I "Know" it to be true, one step higher than "Assume".

semantics, doesn't change the fact that the only source you should completely trust is the word of god (gamesas) and primary source material (games). Completely trusting other sources risks corruption by word of Dante.

I don't usually read up on the lore of the Fallout universe, but I'm going to start because it sounds interesting.

I think that the best part of a game is to explore it yourself,and reading that wiki just kills the fun of it...What's the point if you already knew everything?

Well, when am bored I read some lores, but otherwised I just play the game.