Even the smartest Internet users may occasionally forget the fact that not all info on blogs and Wikipedia is 100% accurate. Just because something is posted on Digg, on a blog like Engadget, or even on Wikipedia doesn’t make it true. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not some old fart who runs around yelling “everyone online lies” - I do think the vast majority of the info online is true, however, I also think there is a lot false (or at least somewhat inaccurate/misleading) info.
Wikipedia really deserves a post of it’s own, but I’ll briefly discuss it here anyway. One of the common defenses of Wikipedia is that many people work on articles, so they are more accurate. I am one of the few people who honestly believes it isn’t more accurate than encyclopedias. Nearly every time I fix some vandalism on there it was posted a good chunk of time (days, maybe even weeks) prior to my fixing it (who knows how many people looked at it inbetween the occurrence of vandalism and the fixing of it). My experience with removing vandalism and blatantly false info has made me wonder how much of the information on there is false, and no one has picked up on it yet. Either I am very unlucky and I pick bad articles to look at, or I have a good argument.
Personally I think Wikipedia, just like blogs, is good for a basic reference, but it is not good as a source. If you want factual information look at the sources that are cited if they are somewhat reputable (NY times, CNN, Fox, etc). While the traditional media is generally better at getting their facts straight, they sometimes make mistakes as well - so even then a certain level of skepticism is advised. I think the best way to get the most accurate information is to go straight to the true source.
For example, if some news article talks about global warming why not go look at the CO2 and average temp charts from reputable scientific resources and decide for yourself and use those charts as your sources? It seems like every article on global warming uses a completely different chart - so quite obviously some of them are full of crap or have at least twisted their facts a bit.
Another good example of getting good facts is with financial updates. Lets say a press release says Apple’s OS customer base has gone up 20% year over year. That might seem amazing at first, and most Apple blogs will quote that instead of quoting the really important figure - the number of customers. If you have 10 users and it goes up 20% that means you now have 12… not so amazing. If you have 100 users and it goes up 2% then you have 2 new users - which is a much smaller % but is the same exact growth as far as raw numbers are concerned. While some might argue “well relative to Apple, 2 new users aint bad” I look at it in a slightly more pessimistic view: relative to the rest of the world it isn’t too amazing, and it doesn’t mean they will be ruling the world next year (which many Apple “fanatics” seem to think). The same goes for Linux as well. Oh, and just so no one thinks I am a Microsoft fanboy - I own an iBook G4 with OS X and use it as my main computer, and I also use a Compaq with Windows and Linux for OS development, and gaming. Basically post info as it is - don’t try to hype it up by posting figures and facts that may support your claim while leaving out other facts that may tear apart your opinion.
My first point with this article is this - instead of citing a blog that got its info from another blog, that got their info from another blog, etc, quote the real source (and maybe put a little “found via” link for news articles). This is good for a few reasons - it will make your argument stronger, it will make you look more credible, and your readers will greatly appreciate it. The actual source will almost always be more accurate than blogs, a site like Wikipedia, and in some cases traditional media sites. Don’t be afraid to do a bit of searching for it either.
My second point is to be completely truthful and honest and to avoid the trap of using misleading facts to support your own personal agenda.
Oh yes, and also remember there is a difference between opinion and fact. While someone may formulate an opinion about a fact - it is impossible for an opinion to become a fact without doing a whole lot of research and experimentation.
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