What are your favorite online activities?

[Guest mormonmusic]

Just curious what everyone likes to do online -- there's so much out there....

I actually spend most of my online time in a forum, on Amazon writing reviews of books, and music, watching videos of groups I never got to see live, on You Tube. I check in on Twitter occasionally, and on my facebook page about twice a week.

[Guest Godless]

My internet time is mostly spent between forums, Texas Hold' Em on Facebook, and researching/reviewing/discussing beer on BeerAdvocate.

[Guest xforeverxmetalx]

activitities

okay, sorry... I'm on another forum most of the time, as well as Facebook [Mafia Wars...] as well as instant messaging. and otherwise when I'm bored I go searching for jokes and funny pictures, sometimes playing games like Tetris or so.

[Mahone]

First and foremost: Annoying and bugging Pam.

Wikipedia - it's amazing how addictive this website is. You can get engrossed in it for hours with the many links it has in its articles - sometimes to the point of forgetting what you originally went to the site for. If I don't understand something but want to understand it, this is one of my first resources.

Howstuffworks.com - No end of stuff to learn on this website, full of useful and useless information

I spend a lot of free time researching random things online for no apparent reason. No doubt I'd have forgotten everything I learnt within a week or two but I find it interesting at the time.

Youtube - Great for the occasional spare few minutes. It's like most of the internet, full of junk with the occasional gem. I mainly use it for humour and music.

BBC News - Who needs to buy newspapers? You can get better value news online for free.

Forums - However sad a lot of people tend to think forums are, there is a lot to be learnt through conversing with people you have never met publicly. I only go to two at the moment, this one and a slightly more geeky one. Both have their entertainment value as well as educational value. It's interesting to talk to people who have something in common with you.

Theregister.co.uk / Slashdot - Geeky but also comical news websites. They have their fair share of funny and also serious informative articles, it makes a nice contrast.

Facebook / gmail / MSN - Facebook and MSN I only use because everyone else does, gmail because they revolutionized free webmail.

BBC iPlayer - We have numerous devices which are compatible with this website now aside from normal computers (e.g. the wii, PS3, iphone etc). I don't watch live TV much at all, but I'm starting to use this quite a lot now - it's great because I can watch TV programs whenever I get chance, as opposed to having to set aside a time to watch them

Spotify - legal free music streaming. It's not downloadable but who cares - I never want to download them, just to listen to them lol.

Edited November 30, 2009 by Mahone

[Kawazu]

Howdy,

I like to listen to podcasts, (think of them as Internet versions of radio programs), including but not limited to:

PRI: Selected Shorts - Well-written short stories performed by excellent narrators on a live stage. For additional episodes and MP3 downloads, visit here.

Science Friday - Entertaining bits about science. Updated weekly.

The Tech Guy - Nationally syndicated on broadcast radio. Your tech questions, answered, each week. Saturday and Sunday.

Sword and Laser - Monthly show about science fiction and fantasy books.

This American Life - Stories from a variety of contributors, on a different theme each week. All episodes are available for listening at the show's website. Current week's episode available for download.

Grammar Girl - Quick-and-dirty tips for improved writing and speaking. Other podcasts from the quick-and-dirty network can be found on the left-hand side of the page. Categories include: manners, money, public speaking, medical advice, legal advice etc.

Freedom Watch - Political. Former New Jersey Supreme Court judge Andrew Napolitano discusses Property Rights, Natural Rights, and Civil Liberties. Updated daily.

The Instance - A podcast for the popular online game World of Warcraft. I am a dork.

All podcasts can be acquired, freely, in MP3 format. For more great shows visit: PodCastAwards.com

Cheers,

Kawazu

Edited November 30, 2009 by Kawazu

[kiwibabee]

I am always on facebook. ( yes I do farmville, but now i also do Treasure madness, so addicting)

and I blog

[Moksha]

I had fun early this evening watching some news clips at The Onion.

[RanMan]

Facebook - Cafe World

Forums - This one now. And a writers forum.

Games - Several.

Work - Accounting for my business.

Research - Whatever I currently need researched.

School - a few online classes for the local community college.

:)

[Guest]

Wikipedia - it's amazing how addictive this website is. You can get engrossed in it for hours with the many links it has in its articles - sometimes to the point of forgetting what you originally went to the site for. If I don't understand something but want to understand it, this is one of my first resources.

I heard Sean Hannity (on his radio talk show) say that his Wikipedia entry is full of lies.

There was that one time (fuzzy on the details now, sorry) that some guy posted a fake quote on wikipedia about this one celebrity who just died and how news outlets propagated the lie without further research. Wikipedia eventually corrected the entry.

Wikipedia is a good resource, but like everything else online, needs fact-checking.

I work on a computer all day long, so my online entertainment activities is very limited. I do farmville and lds.net and that's pretty much it.

[Mahone]

I heard Sean Hannity (on his radio talk show) say that his Wikipedia entry is full of lies.

There was that one time (fuzzy on the details now, sorry) that some guy posted a fake quote on wikipedia about this one celebrity who just died and how news outlets propagated the lie without further research. Wikipedia eventually corrected the entry.

Wikipedia is a good resource, but like everything else online, needs fact-checking.

This is true. If the information I'm researching is of importance, or I'm going to reproduce the information in some form, I always check out the sources. Wikipedia has these for that very reason. I also read the story you mentioned, but unfortunately the blame here lies with the news outlets which propagated the misinformation. You can't use wikipedia directly as a source. But you can use the sources that wikipedia lists in each article as sources (most of the time). If the source listed isn't valid, or missing and one can't be found, the information is useless. Wikipedia is useful as long as all users keep the above in mind.

I tend to link to wikipedia on this forum sometimes because I don't always have direct access to the sources which are mentioned as they are not always online. It's not ideal, but save scanning in the appropriate hard copy pages of books, I don't have any other choice and I'm not willing to go that far to prove my points .

To be fair, the vast majority of wikipedia is correct. It's the little snippets that are incorrect and don't get removed straight away that are always in the news to attempt to put down the reputation that wikipedia has.

Edited November 30, 2009 by Mahone

[pam]

Now I read on another forum Mahone that one of your favorite online activities was to bug me. Yet I don't see that on your list now. Could it be you have had a change of heart? haha

[RipplecutBuddha]

Okay....um....

Forums--here and Myspace (this one has far far better discussions...you know, where people actually think before they reply...)

Youtube--interesting vids here and there, many funny ones, and even some gems here and there...and watching all things Dream Theater. Did I mention they're the best prog rock band ever?

games--Steam Network, and Day of Defeat specifically...it's the perfect game to let loose after a bad day at work

Edited November 30, 2009 by RipplecutBuddha
Forgot something important... :)

[Misshalfway]

My favorite thing to do online?

Argue with Vort. It gives my life meaning.

[Wingnut]

Email, Facebook, Google Reader (I subscribe to a lot of blogs), this forum, Sudoku (here and here), and Griddlers.

[Kawazu]

Howdy,

About Wikipedia, I would say that the website is best for technology, science, some history, and entertainment.

Religious and political entries become a bit more sketchy. For instance, take a look at the Talk Page on Joseph Smith, (the Talk Page archives the conversation between editors as they continue to shape the entry.) On the one hand, there is a fellow who--to his credit--hasopenly admits his opinion is that Mormonism is a cult. Opposite, there is a non-Mormon guy who argues that the first fellow's biasis is clearly slanting the article. Third, another editor comes into play who, I think, tries to smooth out the edges left by the other two, and so on. It's a weird mess. (I don't know in what condition the article is, now.)

Anyway, on all subject matter, whether it is being discussed in print-media or online--read judicially.

Regards,

Kawazu

[ADoyle90815]

I mostly use Facebook, especially Farmville, and various forums. There are also several blogs I read all the time.

[Grouttyestire]

Hello. And Bye. Google

[person122]

This site. Unfortunately, I really don't have time for it.. but I'm still here. It has become distraction from depression I have been going through. Now if only magical cleaning fairies could pop out the screen and do childcare, cleaning, cooking, and homework while I was on here. I'd be set.

[M_T_E]

Usually in this Forum and TheSpeedFreaks (Jeep forum), social media and skip tracing hard to find serves for my clients.

[mirkwood]

Looking for zombie pictures.

[pam]

Looking for zombie pictures.

That he can post on my facebook page.

[dahlia]

YouTube - so many music videos, so many movies & TV shows, old and new, so many news clips, so much stuff from around the world that I'd never see otherwise. One can truly get sucked into it; one minute you're watching a vegan Indian chef and the next you are watching people eat bhut jolokia or take the cinnamon test.

After that, I guess it's Facebook, conservative political sites, televisionwithoutpity, and various news sites around the world.

And of course, there's stuff related to information behavior, organizational behavior, and anything related to work.

I teach about information. Wikipedia is a good start. I use it for definitions I provide for students and for quick and dirty descriptions. I tend to go to Wikipedia myself for movie info (IMDB is good, but I don't have to go through so many screens on wiki), and health info - again, to start out and get an overview, then I'm headed to MayoClinic or webmd, etc. Most profs won't let you site to Wikipedia, but it's not a bad place to start. I don't find it "full of lies."

[Mahone]

I teach about information. Wikipedia is a good start. I use it for definitions I provide for students and for quick and dirty descriptions. I tend to go to Wikipedia myself for movie info (IMDB is good, but I don't have to go through so many screens on wiki), and health info - again, to start out and get an overview, then I'm headed to MayoClinic or webmd, etc. Most profs won't let you site to Wikipedia, but it's not a bad place to start. I don't find it "full of lies."

I'm half way through my degree and during my first module my tutor was talking about referencing and obviously Wikipedia came up. Thankfully he said that Wikipedia is a positive resource, but only to find alternative references, which should always be specified in a good article - exactly the opinion that I've always held.

[Vort]

I enjoy playing on the Khan Academy.

[bytor2112]

Somehow online and activity seems to be an oxymoron...