Right off the gate, while we do have libraries where i live, they are mostly outdated or don’t have books on controversial topics, So how does anyone find reliable information when so much of the internet is slop 🤢 and search engines only give the same top 5 "How to stuff 🤑 " websites.

I have been listening to a couple of podcasts 📻 about debunking popular pop culture misinformed science 🧑‍🔬 claims(Your wrong about, Maintenance phase, If books could kill) and that got me interested in trying to research my own topics. But where does one start. I understand that there is no universal solution 🧪 , really what it takes, is alot of googling and going beyond the results first page but maybe there are some good sources?

Sharing some of what i found useful here:

  • While libraries in my area are not really an option, looking up books online is a good start. I use goodreads to look up different topics and see what the reviews are saying about the quality and reliability of the book. Its also worth fact the citations of books.

  • Turns out google is very good with finding pdfs 📄 , so add type:pdf to whatever your searching. you can also add site:.gov 🏢 to search only gov websites ,or site:.ca 🇨🇦 to search websites that label themself Canada in the URL, for example.

  • Use before:, A lot people suggest that you use before:2023 to filter out most AI Slop, date before chatgpt came out, but also i have found interesting stuff when going back further like before:2015.

  • I have tried alot of different search engines and they all just serve google results. the one good one is Marginalia . Its not really reliable like say, google in certain cases is, but alot of the time will serve me new sources, its focus is on non-commercial websites

  • The last one is kinda of mixed bag(and Meta). When you ask people online for suggestions for something, like say some podcasts recommendations, they tend to give you the same five podcasts. Sometimes its something totally different but its a hit or miss most of the time.

P.S: I discovered emoji markdown just now but its kinda of lacking a bit. Still cool though,

  • ladybugs@lemmy.world
    3·
    18 hours ago

    This is not quite an answer to your question, but: Wherever you’re starting, it’s really important to check whether the person behind the information source is qualified to speak authoritatively on the topic and whether they have financial incentives to promote something they’re saying.

    Ask questions like: Is there a specific human or HIGHLY respected organization (not a random business) putting their name behind the information? Is that human actually qualified in the field/subject they’re talking about? (“They wrote a book on it” or “They have a PhD in an unspecified field” isn’t good enough on its own.) Are they recommending a product or service that they sell? Those filters aren’t enough on their own, but they will help you avoid a lot of nonsense.

    You probably already knew this stuff, but I need to continually remind myself to check these things, and maybe this reminder will help you too.