A little while ago I was prompted by Word to check the spelling of encyclopedia and in the margins of finding that there was nothing wrong with my spelling, I found myself at reference 1. An online resource which did not care to tell me anything about itself: I could find nothing about who owned it, how it was funded or where its information came from. Beyond there being lots of advertisements, once you get past the innocuous looking entry screen. And irritating pop-ups.
The 'about' page was quite unhelpful. Unlike that at reference 2 which told one everything that one was likely to want to know. On the other hand the 'terms and conditions' page smelt of expensive lawyers.
Furthermore, things are so arranged that attempts to ask google who the reference 1 people are simply direct one back to the site itself.
All in all, the sort of thing that gives the internet a bad name. Although it is hard to see what can be done about it, with the a good part of the point being that the internet is a purposefully decentralised entity, not admitting of control from any one point. Or single points of failure.
Reference 1: http://www.encyclopedia.com/.
Reference 2: http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/.
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