More information help us make good long-term decisions or not

[OakLeaf]

? But the Internet also makes it much, much, much easier to check sources. Pre-Internet, searching for credentials and affiliations and prior writings by a particular author, meant that same long trip to an academic library, and a tedious slog through their catalog, which often was WAY more than the situation called for. The ability to quickly check a source's reliability, IMO, is one of the greatest benefits of the internet.


As far as newspaper paywalls - different papers have different arrangements, but most of the ones I read most often simply limit you (via cookie) to a certain number of articles per month, per device. (And I confess to deleting the cookies if I really want to read something when I'm past my limit ... with at least two papers, we do have a paid subscription in the household, but I log in anonymously and delete the cookie at the end of the session anyway - they can have my subscription fee OR my personal data, but not both tyvm.) Many times, those same publications allow unlimited access when you're clicking through on a link from somewhere else. It's more in the world of commerce news where certain articles are free and others are paid access only, as in the WSJ or FT. But again, same thing as with the academic and professional journals - you can get the headlines right away, just as you can the research abstracts, and then if you want to know more without paying for it, you make the trip to the library, but you know ahead of time what you're going there for.