If this doesn't bring a smile to your face....

[Quero]

It is ok, I can take it.....anyway my idea of being easy to get published is just because I personally know of two divers that have many books published. Now they are published by a small company that was paid for this job, but anyway, their books are in dive shops that I have been to.

So, you can always self publish. I don't know if this is "vanity press" or what.

Yes, that is vanity press. The writer pays for the whole cost of printing and binding, does the distribution him/herself, and hopes that enough books will be sold to recoup the cost. Yes, anyone can see their words in print in this way. And no, there's no quality control whatsoever.

[Quero]

Yeah, Lu-Ann, I had read the NY Times article a couple of weeks ago--the Wikiscanner is brilliant and will make an already good source of general information even better. Any wiki (not just Wikipedia) is vulnerable to self-interest editing. The Times article quotes one expert and notes:

Internet experts, for the most part, have welcomed WikiScanner. “I’m very glad that this has been exposed,” said Susan P. Crawford, a visiting professor at the University of Michigan Law School. “Wikipedia is a reliable first stop for getting information about a huge variety of things, and it shouldn’t be manipulated as a public relations arm of major companies.”

Most of the corporate revisions did not stay posted for long. Many Wikipedia entries are in a constant state of flux as they are edited and re-edited, and the site’s many regular volunteers and administrators tend to keep an eye out for bias.

And as I said earlier, whenever we read anything we need to use our brains and read critically.

But wouldn't you be tempted to "improve" a Wiki article about yourself? I would :-)

[PinayDiver]

Sure, just hide our IP addresses

[Quero]

Sure, just hide our IP addresses

(and a couple more to make up the minimum character count)