Spmug 644 Want Info?


You can find an answer to any question almost instantly by using a good
Web search engine - as long as you donÕt care whether the answer is
right. IÕm going to assume you do care, so today weÕll talk about
increasing your chances of getting correct information. LetÕs start with
the question of why there is so much disinformation on the Web. First,
any nut can create a Web page - one that looks really nice - and say
whatever they like. Want to know the truth about why the ŌSecret
Fraternity of Freemasons at the highest levels can fly around the planet
for FREE on free-energy?Ķ Just go to www.freedomdomain.com/ufo .htm and
read all about it. There are plenty of sites like that. Worse yet,
disinformation doesnÕt just come from nuts. Honest and smart humans make
mistakes, repeat false assumptions or guess wrong. Google the phrase
Ōunder the weatherĶ and youÕll get several different explanations of the
origins for the phrase, most of them sincere and plausible. But
obviously some are wrong. So what do you do? First, stick to the brand
names. Sites run by large professional organizations are more likely to
have the resources to do good research. Examples would be CNet, CNN,
WebMD, Microsoft and most newspaper sites. Newspapers? DonÕt they run
corrections all the time? ThatÕs precisely what I like. Everyone makes
mistakes, but only professionals bother to correct them. But
professionalism doesnÕt shield even the best sites from mistakes. Some
mistakes are never discovered. ThatÕs why we can take a lesson from
people who sailed the seas back before GPS and radio navigation. Good
navigators of the day used triangulation. Instead of looking at one
star, or two stars, to determine location, theyÕd check at least three.
By drawing lines on a chart showing the position of each star, they
could arrive at a fairly accurate fix. So consult the virtual stars when
you search. Check several reputable sources and see how the data
compare. If three brand-name Web sites give you the same answer, you can
start to feel comfortable. Check a fourth and you are danged near home
free. The answer will be correct in most cases. Still, there are times
when you need absolute certainty. Maybe the future of your business
depends on a correct answer, and you canÕt afford a gotcha. Sometimes
dozens of decent sources agree on the answer and they are all wrong.
ThatÕs because bad information can spread like kudzu. A newspaper or
magazine might print incorrect information, and then someone researching
the topic picks up that bad information and uses it in a story or on a
Web site. The process repeats until bad information blankets the Web. If
this is a concern, try something really radical: Go to a library.
Trained reference librarians have access to expensive commercial
databases you canÕt affordably visit. And they have old-fashioned
reference books. They also are trained to sift correct data from a sea
of conflicting information. So for times when you absolutely,
positively, must be right: ask a librarian.