Weathering and Erosion, a Dummy Comparison

weathering and erosion

We know we tend to harp on this a lot, but it certainly bears repeating: some of the most useless "information" on the internet was put there by people who were much more interested in making a few cents than in decreasing the level of ignorance in the world. Take, for instance, Kenneth C. Agudo, who took a single geology class (to quote Ken, "I don't like my coarse [sic]...") and yet managed to pound out several articles on Hubpages.com in which he mangled most of what he was allegedly learning. After botching posts on petrology and tectonics, Ken came back to misinform his readers about "Types of Weathering and Causes of Soil Erosion."

Force Explained by Dummies

Newton's Third Law

It's been a while (more than three months) since the last time we featured the queen of DotDs to see what she's done to advance the overall stupidification of the internet. Fans of the site will probably recognize the name of Joan Whetzel, whose scientific illiteracy apparently knows no bounds. In her thirty-one (31!) previous appearances, she's managed to spread misinformation about chemistry, physics, geography, mathematics, electricity, and earthquakes; not to mention several forays into home maintenance. Well, Joan's back, this time with a HubPages.com post she called "Calculating Force and Its Effect On Objects at Rest."

Crystal Caves for Dummies

Naica crystal cave

If you ask us, it appears that the process followed by a substantial number of self-described "Hubbies" (people who wrote for HubPages.com back in the day, not all of whom are also husbands) was simple: read something somewhere and then spray your own version of the information across the internet. No one ever told them that they needed to be accurate, which is why so much of the content there is... pretty much bogus. In the case of "The Naica Crystal Caves in Mexico," a post by returning DotD Melvin Porter, we think his errors arise from ignorance. 

Speed for the Scientific Dummy

Newton's 3rd Law

A week or so spent delving into sites other than eHow.com (and its associated niches) wouldn't be complete without a visit to the celebrated content farm known as HubPages.com. A visit to HubPages would definitely be incomplete without a look at the output of the queen of DotDs, Joan Whetzel. So let's see what the lady has to say in her post, "Measuring Speed." For whatever reason, the site (or Joan herself) has the content filed under "education." We think not...

Petrology for (and by) Dummies

rock cycle

It's been a while since we made our poor staff geologist read through the sort of rubbish that gets published by money-hungry freelancers writing in a second language. Well, his long rest is over and the nightmare has begun, for we dragged him – kicking and screaming, in case you wondered – out of his little cave, sat him down, and forced him to respond to a HubPages.com post. It's "Types of Rocks: It’s Cycles and Classifications" [sic] by Kenneth C. Agudo...

Heat vs. Temperature for Dummies

heat index and wind chill

If it were not ultimately so disappointing, our staffers would find the degree of scientific illiteracy shown by some of our freelancers absolutely hilarious. The disappointing part, sadly, is just how little some of these people know as they pounded out "educational materials" for sites like HubPages.com and other content farms' most of which have – that heavens – disappeared. Hubbies are still here, however, and the "information" they shared is often questionable; questionable like "What Is Temperature," from the keyboard of the one and only Joan Whetzel.

Geology 101 for Dummies

Rock cycle (emphasis on "cycle")

Oh, woe is us: it's time to nudge the staff geologist awake and show him another freelancer's take on the topic to which he devoted more than forty years of his life. Not that he isn't usually an extraordinarily pleasant guy¹, but he can be a bit of a curmudgeon when people start spouting nonsense. Unfortunately, HubPages.com contributor ("Hubbie") IzzyM managed to spout quite a bit of said nonsense in the process of cobbling together her limited knowledge and a pile of misconceptions to write "Beginners [sic] Guide to Geology" for good ol' HP.

Bicycle Types According to a Dummy

Some bicycle types

You would think that someone who claims his name is David Bicycle would know at least something about the machines from which he cribbed his name, but the HubPages.com contributor "David Bicycle" clearly knows very little about the topic. After all, we've already featured the guy three times in these pages, on everything from building a bicycle to how to shift one. Today's contribution contains perhaps the most damning evidence that Dave is pretty much faking it. Have a look at "The Classification of Bicycles" over at HubPages...

Geology for the Clueless Lifelong Learner

Banded iron formation, Minnesota

Since the staff geologist was already out and about after a consultation a couple of days ago, we figured we'd have the guy take a look at a HubPages.com post one of the staffers stumbled over recently. Now, we'll state up front that we have nothing against people learning anything, no matter at what age they begin the process. Geology-guy is just fine with people learning about rocks. What neither he nor the Antisocial Network in general find particularly pleasing, however, is the Emelie S. Peck post called "How to Learn About Rocks."

Sinkholes for Dummies

Karst landforms, including sinkholes

The content farmers at HubPages.com are quite helpful to our researchers sometimes. Take, for instance, yesterday's daily check to be certain that the source material for older awards is still active: one of the staffers noticed a "related" link off to the side of an article we featured for its misinformation about sinkholes. Guess what: that article was an even better example of freelancers who shouldn't be writing about the topic! So, without further ado, here's Marcy Goodfleisch and her post, "What Are Sinkholes?

Urban Cycling for Dummies

Urban cyclist

A lot of content-farm freelancers seem to have one-track minds; publishing post after post about the same narrow range of topics. Our staffers sometimes wonder what prompts such writers (we often use the word loosely) to suddenly drop in content that's about an entirely different subject. HubPages.com contributor Ronald Bachner is a case in point. For some unknown reason, Ron took time off from his Christian witnessing schedule and Fox News talking point updates to stick in an article he called "Riding a Bicycle in Urban Areas."

Newton's First Law for Dummies

Acceleration effects on driver

Some of our most fascinating freelancer foul-ups arise from wannabes who are (or at least claim to be) studying science at the college level. Apparently, they are convinced that they know it all... the problem being, of course, that they don't. Some of them, we've determined, not only don't know it all, they don't know any of it. Or, at least, they can't put what they know into words that make sense. Take, for example, Hubbie Dani Alicia, and her HubPages.com post, "Newton's Three Laws of Motion and How to Use Them."

The San Andreas Fault for Dummies

San Andreas fault trace

If you were to mention "earthquake faults"¹ to most people in North America, the natural response would be to mention the San Andreas Fault. It is, after all, the most famous of faults in the United States (although probably not in the world: that might be the Zagros Fault Belt). Given that level of fame, it's no wonder that a half-fast freelancer like Hassam, one with a history of writing dumbassery about earthquakes. would decide to tell all his HubPages.com readers about "The San Andreas Fault Line."

Thermos Facts for Dummies

thermos bottle cutaway

If you've been paying attention the past decade or two, you probably know that the American educational community is quite concerned about the level of S.T.E.M. knowledge among graduates of schools at all levels. The science-types on our staff are equally concerned, perhaps even more so, at the level of scientific illiteracy demonstrated by freelancers hungry for pennies. So here, without further ado, is more scientific illiteracy from HubPages.com: "The Science of Thermoses," as envisioned by frequent contributor Joan Whetzel.

Escape Velocity for Dummies

Calculating escape velocity

It's been almost six months since we last featured one of our most prolific DotDs, and a couple of months since we dipped our collective toe in the murky waters of HubPages.com and its special little niches¹. Mostly it's because searching the site tends to be a pain in the rear, not to mention that the place no longer pays jack so hubbies don't update their content and it tends to disappear... but we do make the occasional exception. Here without further ado, we give you 28-time winner Joan Whetzel and her take on "Escape Velocity and the Solar System."

Toilets for Dummy DIY Plumbers

Where's the float, Novel?

We'll let you in on a little secret: one of the reasons we don't often feature HubPages.com content here at the Antisocial Network is that the content is too often so darned long we get tired of reading. Maybe Demand Media was right about their 300-word "sweet spot"! For "hubbies," as they call themselves, that verbosity can  be a problem: when you know little or nothing about a topic, the longer you talk the more likely you'll reveal your ignorance. That's exactly what happened with vanity publisher Novel Treasure and her magnum opus, "How does a Toilet Work – Toilet Basics 101."'

Sedimentology and Young Earth for Creationist Dummies

Grand Canyon sedimentary rocks

Every few months we stumble over one of our oldest files of potential DotD candidates. Most of the posts listed in the file have already been featured here, although not a few have been deleted by the website – or the website itself has gone belly-up. A few, however, persist; and today's nominee is one such post. Our guest is someone who's been hanging in there at HubPages.com for at least three years. Give a warm welcome, readers, to Lawrence Hebb and "Young earth evidence: the sedimentary rocks."

River Levees for the Urban Planning Dummy

Natural levee formation

We just happened to notice that it had been months since the last time we checked up on our most-decorated dumbass, the pride of Katy, Joan Whetzel. It's not that Joan is absent from the web, it's just that the competition for this coveted award is so fierce. Not. Whatever the case, it took exactly one click on her profile at HubPages.com to come up with more misinterpreted factoids and mangled prose in the form of "River Levees and Flood Control."¹

Southern Accents for Dummy Freelancers

Different Southern Dialects

The Antisocial Network's researchers come across some pretty cockamamie statements as they wander the 'net looking for freelance dumbassery. A lot of what they bring up at staff meetings bogus "facts," incorrect "instructions," the occasional idiotic conspiracy theory, and just plain old stupidity. We think today's DotD nominee falls in a couple of categories: it's mostly bogus facts, but it has a pretty strong stench of plain old stupidity. Feast your eyes, y'all, on the Edward Ngureco post at HubPages.com, "Accent and Dialect: Formation of Dialects - and Why Southerners Have Accents."

Geological Forces for Dummies

Reverse fault diagram

It's been a few months since we skewered anyone at HubPages.com, so we sent an intern in to crawl the citations file for a suitable candidate. She came back with a pile, but we didn't have to dig any deeper than the reference slip on the top of that pile. Even though our staff geologist was still recovering from yesterday's post, we figured he wouldn't have any problems dispatching Kenneth C. Agudo and his opus, "Earth Science: Geological Forces that Gives Life to Earth." [NOTE: given that English isn't Agudo's native language, we'll maintain a focus on factual matters instead of grammatical errors.]