Is it true? There's no more important question to ask when online. Truth telling has never been a requirement to provide information online. Standards for accuracy, to a large extent, don't exist. As a general rule, the "real time" communication that takes place in instant messaging sessions and chat rooms is the most unreliable. One level up in terms of reliability are Usenet newsgroups, Web forums and other discussion groups in which people have more time to ponder their posts. Web sites, in turn, are generally more reliable than discussion groups because they have more permanence, so more care goes into creating the information on them. One reality of the online world is that anybody can play expert, and many do.