Is knowledge to be limited by purchasing power?
If there’s one thing I hate, it’s having to pay for a “pro” account so that I can view answers to the questions I have. The questions have been asked and the answers have been divulged so why are they not shared? I think that’s a bunch of bull crap. Knowledge should be free. Does the problem lie in the fact that knowledge is power and so there is a group of elitists that think they shouldn’t have to share it unless one can pay for it? This, in a sense, reminds me of the medieval hierarchy of social classes where I’m the peasant that can’t even begin to ask the lords a question, but if in some case I as the peasant can climb to a level of lordship I can be among them and learn from them and perhaps, even seek council among the nobles. Is my knowledge to be limited by my purchasing power? *sigh* I digress.
This whole thing is brought on by a Google search for an answer to a .NET question that resulted in me being sent to Experts Exchange. I have no clue how Experts Exchange works, but I do know that I end up there far to often for me to have to worry about paying to see answers that I’m not sure will even answer my questions. I’m sorry, $100 a year isn’t worth the one or two searches I do a month for the questions I have that I can generally find an answer to just as easily as I can end up on the EE site.
Today though, something dawned on me, something I was going to try, something that if it didn’t work I could click on the next link and most likely have my answer for. I clicked on the Google Cache link and managed to circumvent the Experts Exchange system. By clicking on the cache link, all the answers to my question showed up where as if I had clicked on the normal link, all the answers were covered up with a message from The Anarchist:
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To anyone that sees this post, know that at the time of this post’s creation, you don’t have to pay to access the information on Experts Exchange, you can view it for free. Remember, when it comes to Experts Exchange, google cached is your best friend.
Courtney, here’s a tip. Most of these websites that make you pay for the answers/join to see the answers allow for Google to crawl the content so it shows up in the search engines.
Just open the Google Cache of the page and 9 times out of 10 it will display the otherwise hidden answers you are seeking.
smart aleck! why didn’t you tell me that long ago and save me the trouble ;)
Don’t forget: http://www.bugmenot.com/. Granted in this case they don’t have a good password for Experts Exchange, but it might in the future…