Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Attention Bloggers! Britannica Is Here to Help You Smash Wikipedia

If you read me regularly you know how much I loathe wikipedia (a simple search though the blog will show you a few swipes I've written at it), otherwise known as Ouiquipedia, the monstrous so-called resource written by airhead bipeds, along the principle "Oui qu'il l'a dit Robert, donc c'est vrai" ("If Robert said it it must be true"). I personally prefer Encyclopedie Universalis, being French, but their website/CD system in a major pain in the ass to use, especially their customer service/support system (I'm still waiting for that missing CD-ROM).
Anyway, I've learned today the Encyclopedia Britannica was giving one-year free access to register bloggers, after a 48-hours vetting period. All the information you need is here.
I'm glad there will be now a resource that's accessible through links, and a serious one to boot, written by real scholars and professionals, so no more egregious mistakes, misquotations, wring dates and so forth.
In passing, my blog is still ad-free, so I couldn't possibly buy a monthly subscription, but I think ad-supported sites would do well to pay for access to the EB: it cost money to put together a real, scientifically organized, regularly updated, copy-edited and verified encyclopedia whether it's on paper or online.
But whether you're ad-supported or not, bloggers unite and check if you can get that registration. It's worth it.

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