So cruise the Net, debate lively, and as P.T. Barnum once said “Caveat Emptor.”!

(oooh…did *I* say that?)

I also have to say that he loses a certain credability with me when he can’t get his quotes right — “let’s be careful out there” is from Hill Street Blues, not NYPD Blue… how much else is he possibly getting incorrect?

I’m getting somewhat annoyed with the attitude of some in the publishing industry of “If you’re not a professional writer working under the aegis of a “real” publication, you’re a complete hack and probably shouldn’t be allowed to write on the Web.”

I sometimes hear this (coughVogueKnittingcough) levied about people who offer free patterns on the Web. Yes, sometimes there are errors in free patterns. But, guess what? I’ve seen plenty of errors (and also uninformed opinions) in “professional” publications.

Maybe I’m just bitter because the writing *I* do (I’m a scientist), I don’t get paid for the publication of, and I don’t retain copyright, and sometimes I (or my university) even have to pay (“page charges”) for publication.

But, you know…dismissing blogs (some of which have terrific writing and some of which really do have the pulse of the “average” knitter) as “straw” (well, at least he didn’t use another word), and calling for a business and a “personal” Internet (and, like the others, I find that an uncomfortable idea) just seems kind of unprofessional.

If the professional publications are putting out good enough content, they shouldn’t have to worry about us Miss Marples out here, spouting our apparently-uninformed and provincial opinions.

(And – I don’t feel so bad at all that “sometimes the Web is not the best source of information.” Back in the dinosaur days when I was a kid, we had these things called libraries, and these people called librarians….)

For interest, here’s a 2005 paper by Raychaudhuri setting out his vision of the future Internet: PDF