Tired of Wikipedia? Try Britannica

Since Wikipedia put the "link condom" on all the links pointing outside of its wiki, they've angered a lot of people who use to be their supporters.  Andy Beal has even suggested a "no follow" linking back to Wikipedia.

I just got done reading Lisa Barone's post about her issues with Wikipedia.  Both of these issues bring me back to a suggestion I made a few months ago, that the engines stop using Wikipedia as "the authority", I'd like to add to that suggestion for everyone else out there stop linking to Wikipedia, period.

There is a tried and true authority in this type of verified information, and it's a relied on and trusted (by college professors) source for quick definitions that you can use for free (just like Wikipedia!).  Yes - Encyclopedia Britannica has a FREE section believe it or not.  It's free encyclopedia section gives you enough information to get your point across, and it's verified by experts.

Just head out to Britannica's site, type in the word you'd like to search on, if it has information on it, you'll see it in their "Free - Concise Encyclopedia" section.  You then just click on the links that closely match your criteria and you can garner a decent amount of information, perfect for those of us who just link to explain a term.

Of course if you are in need of more in-depth information, you need to be a member to access it.  But stop and think, this is verified, highly reliable research.  This isn't information that teenagers in their free time between skateboarding and texting their friends are placing into a wiki.  It's probably well worth the investment if you need to be constantly doing that deep kind of research.

Give Britannica a whirl, you might be surprised how useful it really can be!

Comments

[Kunal Sen]

Apart from Britannica Concise, there is another little known feature of the Britannica site. If you link to any EB article, then anyone following that link will get to see the entire article, not just the teaser. This is described at http://www.britannica.com/webmaster. The reader need not be a subscriber, or even need to register to see the full article.

[AZhitman]

Beautifully done!

I just removed over 700 links to Wankerpedia from my site, because of my ongoing tiff with their "Editards" (the ones who see spammers under the bed).

The link (should you care to have a look...)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:External_links#Disagreement_as_to_Wikipedia.27s_treatment_of_External_Links_.28in_this_instance.29