This topic has always struck me as interesting and complicated in the world of the web, One of the reasons why I think people are so drawn to the internet, social media in particular, is that you can essentially create a new identity if you wanted to. It is incredibly hard to authenticate someone’s identity on the internet, unless they are of large status and/or a celebrity. This is what makes doing research, or using the internet as a resource sometimes dangerous because it can be difficult to actually find a credible source. In some ways, it is more work to actually use websites as a tool of information because you have to make sure the websites that you are using were created by a legitimate organization or person of merit. If not, then your paper could lose all credibility.

I think this is where the stigma of, Wikipedia is not a reliable source to use when researching topics for school. However, Wikipedia can be reliable at times. Now that people are realizing that you cannot trust everything you read on the internet, links to the source of content posted on a Wikipedia page are listed on the bottom of the page. Sometimes, the links bring you to a reliable source which appears to be legit and sometimes there are links to blog posts that everyday people use to rant about your subject. Generally speaking, .edu and .gov sites have been branded as legitimate and do not require in depth scouting as to whether or not the information on those sites are true. I just think it is funny that this new generation of people who are growing up on laptops and computers are faced with this issue of credibility. When I was growing up, there was never  need to check to see if a publication company was legit, books always and still do have this air of authenticity about them.