Website accuracy & reliability: How does one decide on the accuracy and trustworthiness of information found at this website?

This document discusses the issue of assuring the credibility and accuracy of online website publications, the importance of avoiding conflicts of interest, and the use of citation of authoritative sources and technical article peer review within each profession.

Our page top photograph shows a dangerously collapsing brick structure in Saugerties, NY. Where major expense and life safety risks are involved is no place for conflicts of interest in giving advice to building owners, buyers, or contractors.

Accuracy, Bias & Conflict of Interest Policies: the ABCs of accuracy & reliability of information published online & at InspectApedia.com

• ACCURACY ASSURED PLEDGE - (Separate document) Information Accuracy & Unbiased Reporting are Assured for our online articles
• CONSULTANT & PRODUCT LISTING POLICY
• WHO IS THE AUTHOR?
• IS THE INFORMATION AT THIS WEBSITE CREDIBLE?
• WHY IS THIS WEBSITE PRODUCED?
• INTENDED AUDIENCE FOR THIS WEBSITE?
• COMPENSATION TO THE AUTHOR(S)?
• BALANCE BETWEEN GIVING INFORMATION AWAY AND CHARGING FOR IT
• PROBLEMS WITH GIVING INFORMATION AWAY ON INTERNET?

What should a reader with a real need do if the free information is not sufficient?

At InspectAPedia, we provide three information types and sources:

1. Free Information at the website:
   
   find researched, unbiased and in-depth building and environmental diagnosis & repair advice at InspectAPedia.com by using the search box that appears at the top right in the colored area on our pages. The same search feature is provided near page bottom at the end of each article.
2. Pro-bono professional assistance:
   
   very limited pro-bono consulting may be provided to elderly, disabled, limited-income individuals, veterans, DISASTER VICTIMS or for religious institutions.
   
   Just CONTACT US by email and explain your pro-bono request. We also provide very limited pro-bono forensic laboratory services such as mold testing and dust particle analysis for the same cases.
3. Make printed copies of articles at InspectAPedia:
   
    it's OK to reproduce web articles in non-commercial-use printed form only, do not make electronic copies.
   
   MAKING ELECTRONIC COPIES OF our WEBSITE CONTENTS (such as copying our pages, content from our pages, or our graphics to another website or into email) IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED - this website is © protected material, all rights reserved.
   
   Please see our CONTENT USE POLICY

Who is the Website Author/Publisher?

In electronic publishing such as online on the Internet, as well as all other media publishing, concern about the quality, accuracy, and possible conflicts of interest regarding the material you're reading as well as the credentials of the authors are important questions.

InspectApedia's Daniel Friedman is the principal researcher, editor and writer for articles found here.

At ABOUT InspectApedia.com, you can find the names of our principal technical review team.

But there are a great many other individual contributors, researchers, and critics who participate in the effort. Credits to other participants are cited at individual articles and in the references and technical reviewers section at the end of every article at this website.

Critique, contributions are invited:

CONTACT US to suggest corrections or additions to articles at this website, and if you wish, to receive online listing and credit as a contributor. Particular thanks are due to the many experts and also consumers who read and critique technical articles at InspectAPedia.com.

Website Credibility

InspectAPedia.com offers Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, Repair, & Problem Prevention Advice.

Typical website content is a mix of original research and technical articles, articles and research contributed to the website by others, and links to other pertinent research or website published elsewhere on Internet.

Beyond author competence, the reader needs to test any author's attitude towards information. This test is essential, particularly in the construction field where opinions are loud and rampant and rarely distinguished from arm-waving "opinion".

InspectAPedia is supported by ads placed on our pages by Google. InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

Remember that

• Even the most honest contractor is always inclined to solve your problem with the methods and materials familiar to that contractor.
• There may be other better methods or materials available.
• It is always safer, as well as more profitable, for a contractor or consultant to spend more of your money. This means giving the "safe" answer to replace, make new, dig deeper, cut more, or do the ultimate repair, immediately, where other less costly methods may be quite suitable.

We are scrupulous at our websites about the following:

• Researched information is distinguished from un-researched "opinion" - the latter being labeled as such.
• Where possible we include citations of authoritative research/information or sources.
• Feedback from readers, expert and novice, is carefully considered, and corrections or additions to website content are made as appropriate.
• In accordance with the ethical standards of the building inspection professions, a consultant diagnosing and advising regarding a construction problem will not perform the actual work, nor have any financial relationship with the contractors who do so. This avoids the consultant having his/her judgment "swayed" by the prospect of "making a buck" from the repair.

Regardless, readers considering potentially dangerous or costly procedures must consult a qualified expert before proceeding.

Readers wishing more detail should see ACCURACY & BIAS IN REPORTING

Also see CONTRIBUTORS & LEAD TECHNICAL REVIEWERS for InspectAPedia.com

InspectAPedia.com ARTICLE PEER REVIEW & PUBLIC COMMENT POLICY

Why was InspectAPedia.com created?

Finding that we have been asked certain building science or environmental safety questions repeatedly and in depth by readers and clients, it made sense to research and write accurately in some depth, to publish this information so it could be provided easily.

Exposing diagnostic, repair, and good practices advice to very broad public comment by providing it on internet invites critique, content suggestion, content corrections, and material expansion as readers ask questions or provide feedback. So the website and its web-published articles are provided in the online forum of the internet for several purposes:

• To provide high-quality, well-organized, researched, authoritative information to paying clients, and to the public.
• To avoid having to repeat the same information over and over, and to provide it in a well researched, well organized format to our own clients.
• To solicit feedback that improves the quality of the information presented, i.e. to subject it to the broadest possible forum of public review and criticism.
• To develop prototype information to be used either at other websites or for possible future hard copy publications.
• To conduct research on building failures and environmental concerns, problems, and solutions by inviting questions, comments, feedback.

The value of an expert in construction problem recognition, diagnosis, repair depends on being professional, competent, ethical, and professionally neutral but as informed as possible on a myriad of construction and environmental topics which concern our clients.

To be well-informed requires being a continual student. We have found that researching, writing, and conducting as well as attending education classes on pertinent construction and environmental topics has been a great way to keep myself as informed as possible.

For Whom is InspectAPedia Intended? Who is the Intended Audience

The audience of this website includes people facing questions about the inspection, diagnosis, repair, or proper construction of residential and light construction buildings and their mechanical systems, and people facing concerns about the indoor environment, indoor air quality, energy conservation, and building-related illness. Please see the list of major topic areas across the top of each of our web pages.

Examples of the reader audience include the curious public, home owners, home buyers, home renters, tenants, landlords, building contractors, disaster relief agencies, engineers, architects, technical researchers, repair personnel, clients, building inspectors, building code developers, building failure researchers, health professionals, professional associations.

Some of the early information articles at this website were developed as a prototype website for the American Society of Home Inspectors. That portion which was ASHI-specific has been transferred over to American Society of Home Inspectors website where others maintain it.

Other and subsequent specific and in-depth technical, research, and writing projects surrounding building and indoor environmental inspection, diagnosis, repair, and best practices were personal interests of the website publisher and remain at this website - InspectAPedia.com^®, and also at the original prototype at inspect-ny.com as well as at the original prototype ASHI Website.

What's the payback for "free" web-published technical articles?

It's rarely money. Rather it's in establishing valuable contacts with other experts in our fields of interest, and in getting critique and corrections to our data from experts whom I'd otherwise find difficult to contact. Electronic media makes contact and comment easy. This feedback and these contacts have been the chief payback for providing the data.

Is there any income from the websites or from web published articles?

Some home buyers read the depth of material we have developed and correctly surmise that the material provided at InspectAPedia.com is by authors who are serious about their profession and who share a compelling interest in competence, ethics, and accuracy. In some cases the quality of material presented encourages people to contact article authors directly for professional services.

About advertisements at InspectAPedia.com

While our writing and publishing career began in the 1950's, technical writing and publishing in the building science and environmental field dates from the 1970's. At the end of 2005, we began experimenting with paid advertising through Google to help defray the operating costs of a public information website that was originally found at www.inspect-ny.com, later located at InspectAPedia.com.

We have no relationship with nor direct control over any of the advertisers, nor do we endorse specific advertisers. InspectAPedia.com has thrived based on offering impartial, unbiased advice and that will not change. We do not select or approve the advertisers on the site - ads are generated by Google based on our page content.

The income received from this experiment pays web hosting fees and costs of technical research and content editing. We remain committed to assuring that the presence of web-advertising does not mislead or inconvenience our readers. we have found that often Google-generated-ads actually add useful information, such as providing additional sources for repair products or investigation services.

We will prohibit insertion of Google-generated advertisements from specific advertisers if we discover or if readers inform us of advertisements associated with bad business practices, false-advertising, or junk science.

Our contact information is at Contact Us. We invite reader comment on this approach to offsetting our website cost as well as reader comment on or suggestions for the technical content of our articles.

Please see details of our advertising policy found at ADVERTISING POLICY

Purchases: We do not sell anything. Please do not call or write asking to buy something.

InspectAPedia.com provides building and environmental diagnostic and repair information. In order to absolutely assure our readers that we write and report without bias we do not sell any products nor do we have any business or financial relationships that could create such conflicts of interest.

What is the Proper Balance Between Making Money and Spending Time on These Other Activities?

Given all this researched, published, free-online information, what is the "Proper" balance between making money and making the effort to increase one's professional competence. It's a personal decision for each professional.

Our professional practice divides our time between field work (which produces income and supports our family and business), forensic laboratory analysis of building and environmental samples, and building science research, writing, and teaching - which are how we develop our own expertise.

Different professionals stop at different points along the range of continuing education and public service.

Some never take another course after passing their state boards or obtaining whatever certifications are necessary to begin practice. Such practitioners may be adequate in their specialty, or maybe not, depending on the specialty and what's developing in it. It's the same with professional home inspectors. A portion of our ongoing personal education gets reflected in my website development projects.

Teaching or research and writing have always been a great way to learn.

Are there problems with giving away information?

Yes. One is the risk of inaccuracy in the data. It is impossible to completely eliminate this risk and all readers and users of information provided via the Internet need to be wary, and to consult a qualified professional who can examine actual on-site conditions before taking any dangerous or costly actions.

The very public exposure of data at this website has as a primary objective the discovery and correction of any inaccuracies.

A second concern for web publishers is sometimes the abuse of a writer's time by his or her readers.

Free and well-researched information, often at greater depth than some consultants include in their fee-paid work, invites some internet readers assume that it's fine to telephone, or fax questions to the author instead of actually reading the material, literally demanding additional free consulting.

Each such free "client" thinks of him or her self as "just one little question," and may fail to consider that there may be hundreds or thousands of such requests a week at an active website.

While we very much welcome questions about the clarity, content, or data missing from our web-published articles, a telephone call from someone who is simply in a hurry and who doesn't mind using the time of an author can be a difficult demand to meet.

On balance, feedback and even questions from readers is invaluable as a source of improvement of site content and for learning.

To provide your link exchange information and our link exchange policy see InspectAPedia.com - Directory Listing & Link Exchange Instructions There are no listing fees & no conflicts of interest. We reserve the right to list or not list individuals or companies and to provide notice of consumer compliments or complaints.

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Continue reading  at ABOUT InspectApedia.com or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see these

Recommended Articles

• ACCURACY & BIAS IN REPORTING
• ARTICLE PROPOSAL GUIDELINES
• CONTRIBUTORS, CONSULTANTS, & AFFILIATES
• CONTRIBUTORS, CONSULTANTS, & AFFILIATES
• DIRECTORY LISTING & LINK EXCHANGE INSTRUCTIONS
• HISTORY OF INSPECTAPEDIA
• OPINIONS at InspectApedia
• InspectAPedia WEBSITE POLICIES
• LINK EXCHANGE: Link exchange or listing submissions are welcome from websites whose content, services, or products are appropriate for our readers.

Suggested citation for this web page

WEBSITE & AUTHOR CREDIBILITY at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.

Or see this

InspectApedia.com General Information

There are more than 20,000 topics found in this building & indoor environment encyclopedia. For more detailed help, use the SEARCH BOX found on any InspectApedia page to ask a question or search this website.

• InspectAPedia.com © - Website Home Page
• ABOUT InspectApedia.com ©
• ACCURACY & PRIVACY POLICIES
• ARTICLE CONTRIBUTORS & REVIEWERS - author & reviewer credentials
• ARTICLE PROPOSAL GUIDELINES
• CITATION FORMAT GUIDE
• CONTACT InspectApedia.com
• CONTENT USE POLICY
• DIRECTORY LISTING & LINK EXCHANGE INSTRUCTIONS
• EDITORIAL & PRIVACY POLICIES
• HISTORY OF INSPECTAPEDIA
• WEBSITE ACCURACY & RELIABILITY - un-biased, accurate, human-expert researched information provided with no conflicts of interest
• WEBSITE & AUTHOR CREDIBILITY
• WEBSITE COPYRIGHT VIOLATION POLICY - This website's content is © protected
• WEBSITE DESCRIPTION
• WEBSITE POLICIES - InspectApedia

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Citations & References

In addition to any citations in the article above, a full list is available on request.

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