Does this mean that you can not trust or use pages by ordinary people in your research?
You can sometimes use personal pages if your research covers: psychosocial effects of disease and disability, self-help and support, popular culture, cyberculture, or the general public's attitudes on a variety of subjects. Members of the general public are also an excellent source for product reviews and classified advertising.
There are also well known writers who publish their own and others' works on personal sites. Such sites include: http://www.lewrockwell.com and http://www.gladwell.com.
Generally personal web sites are more reliable and trustworthy if the person creating them signs his or her first and last name.
Finally, http://dmoz.org and http://www.about.com have members of the general public who serve as editors. These editors sign their first and last names.
Here are some sample personal pages and their authors...
Click on this thumbnail to see a personal site where the author does NOT sign her full name. |
Click on this thumbnail to see a personal web site with last name and contact information. |