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Judging Web Sites

ANYBODY can publish on the World Wide Web. Even me. Even you. That means you have to be very suspicious and critical of the information you find.

What you're looking for is some reason to believe what you see. Here's some good reasons:

You can tell who the author is.
You can find out what the author does, and where the author works (at a university or school, or in a museum or national organization)
If the author is a kid, the web site has been supervised by adults.
The author gives an e-mail address.
The main purpose of the web site isn't to sell something.
The web site isn't a deliberate joke. (For instance, there are many sites warning of the terrible dangers of "dihydrogen monoxide," which is water.)
The information on the site doesn't turn out to be wrong when you look at other sources.
The web site has a date and it's fairly recent.

Here's some reasons not to believe what you see:

There are a lot of spelling errors, grammar mistakes, and typos. That says the author doesn't proofread and doesn't ask anybody else to look at it.
The last time it was updated was a long time ago. That says the author created it and walked away and hasn't bothered to look at it.
The web site is selling something, whether it's a product or a point of view. People will say all kinds of things in order to get you to believe what they want, if they're selling something.
You can't tell who made the site, or why. That means the author isn't willing to answer questions.
You know at least one of the facts is wrong from your other reading. If one fact is wrong, others might be too.
It isn't well organized or clearly written.
The web site is really weird or strange and mixed up. Sometimes that's just because it's written by someone who doesn't speak English, but other times it's because anybody can publish a Web site. Even me. Even you.

This page last updated August 15, 2002