Web Know-It-Alls

By Anita Hamilton

The meaning of life, I learned last week, is either gene replication, 25 years or less in jail before parole or the name of a Monty Python film. Or maybe it's simply to do God's will, as a 15-year-old girl wrote in response to the question I posted on Expertcentral.com Along with Abuzz.com Askanexpert.com Knowpost.com and Xpertsite.com Expertcentral is a kind of collective brain made up of thousands of self-appointed experts who will answer virtually any question, no matter how mundane or inane, for free. Other websites, such as Keen.com and Exp.com do the same thing for a price.

My 15-year-old expert never claimed to be an authority on philosophy or religion, but when I read in her online profile that she consulted her father, her grandfather and her preacher before answering each question, I figured her answers were as well researched as any of the others I got. And since you're posting questions to people who just like being helpful--instead of professionals billing by the hour--the exchange can feel as friendly and personal as leaning over a picket fence and asking a neighbor how he keeps his lawn so green. It also means you might get some pretty weird answers--or none at all.

When I asked a baking pro on Xpertsite (which is changing its name to Askme.com in March) for a creative alternative to chocolate-chip cookies, she suggested putting chow-mein noodles in the mix. Ick! My most pressing question, about how to revive a wilting African violet before it went to plant heaven, got no responses, even though I posted it on Abuzz, Xpertsite and Expertcentral. Queries to Knowpost on the number of states that do not have a death penalty (12 plus the District of Columbia) and the best sleeping position to avoid back pain (on your back with knees bent) got helpful replies within hours.

The tough part is rating the experts' answers, as all but Abuzz and Askanexpert encourage. After all, how could I know if the guy who recommended a couple of camping spots in upstate New York was out to lunch until I did a little more research on my own? Knowpost raises the stakes even higher by making you answer a question before you can ask one. When I gave a lazy but technically correct answer to a guy who wanted to know what applications were available for a two-way pager, he slapped me with one star out of five, the lowest possible. So I decided to boost my ratings by answering the easy questions, like which brand of moisturizer I use and why my biggest pet peeve is people who floss their teeth in public.

Knowpost quickly became my favorite site because I felt as if I was talking to real people with a sense of humor instead of a bunch of brainiac know-it-alls. For no-nonsense answers to serious questions, however, Xpertsite proved most reliable. And for a site that actually puts you in touch with credentialed experts, Askanexpert is the place to go. It has fewer people answering questions than the other sites, but I got a Dr. Odenwald, who has a Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard, to ease my fears about asteroids just hours after I had started fretting about them. Then again, he also told me that a rogue comet could cause "global catastrophe." Like I needed to know that.

Don't ask Anita for answers; ask the experts online. Just kidding! You can reach her at hamilton@time.com