Back in the earliest days of the internet, the World Wide Web was a place for individuals of all ages and interests to meet one another and share their love of technology. Nothing was off limits, and there were no commercial interests to get between the people and the myriad subjects they found so interesting. This infant internet was often referred to as a free for all, and this description was apt in many regards. No matter how obscure the subject or how small the niche, chances are there was a website devoted to it. From little known TV shows and cult movies to serious science, there was something for everyone to enjoy and plenty for everyone to learn.

Anyone who grew up with this version of the internet knows just how much things have changed. As those commercial interests began to creep in, a great deal of creativity and unique content got pushed out. Many of those niche sites were simply abandoned in the frenzy of web commercialization, and a great deal of creativity was lost as well. While some of those early web pioneers went on to enjoy great success in this newly commercialized enterprise, many more simply fell by the wayside in the rush to monetize content and create a homogenized one size fits all approach to the web.

That all began to change with the advent of social networking and user created content. When those first social networking sites first came online, there was a real excitement about the unique possibilities they would create. In fact the level of excitement about social networking and its possibilities often rivaled that of the early internet. Young people and their elders were equally enthralled about the new internet, and people of all ages and interests began to flock to those sites.

As the level of interest in social networking sites began to grow history began to repeat itself as well. It did not take long for the big money commercial interests to take note of this new media format, and as they came in a great deal of the original creativity and spark went out. As the search engines and social networking sites began to be taken over by bots and algorithms, the reliability of the information they returned began to suffer.

And just as spam became a plaque for email users, commercial postings and other worthless content began to plaque search engine results and social networking sites. Suddenly that valuable and quirky information became infused with commercial content, often to the detriment of ordinary web searchers.

Fortunately some companies are struggling to turn the tide and return the internet to its users. One of the best of these social search engines is a site known as Stumpedia.com. This unique site differs from other such sites in a variety of ways, but perhaps the most important is its reliance on actual human beings.

Unlike many competing sites, Stumpedia relies on real web surfers to index, organize and review websites. Instead of relying on bots, algorithms and the commercial interests of insiders for website rankings, Stumpedia relies on the input of users to determine the relevancy of the search results. By using this method, Stumpedia allows users from around the world to share their in depth knowledge of a variety of subjects with one another and help ordinary web surfers find just what they are looking for, without sifting through page after page of commercial results and irrelevant content.

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