“Together we can make a better web” is the rallying cry of the website at www.stopwebpollution.org

We damage the environment very seriously. We create huge amounts of pollution in the air, the seas and on land and it is endangering our future safety and prosperity.

However there is a less obvious form of pollution being created in vast amounts – information pollution: spam messages, scams, pointless emails, pointless websites, pointless social media etc.

Some thoughts to consider:-

• Exploiting search engine imperfection is not a business model.
• Web forms were made for humans. Don’t let robots do the talk.
• Don’t steal other people’s identities or act as someone you’re not.
• Don’t let your adverts tell more than your content.
• Don’t pretend to be an expert on a field you have no clue about.
• Don’t hurt the web. Use open standards.
• Add value. Make the web a better place.
• Every piece of content belongs to someone. Respect that.
• Use links for honest personal recommendation only. Don’t trade them.
• Don’t speak if you have nothing to say.
• Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
• Share your knowledge.
• Don’t infiltrate and spam social networking sites.
• Don’t put music on your site unless you’re a musician and it’s your music.

Information pollution is an interesting concept – but how seriously can we take this?

Let me know what you think on this matter