Are virtual communities good for our health?

The last decade of the 20th century will be remembered as the period when, perhaps for the first time in history, humans became overloaded by the hyperproduction and hyperdispersion of health information. From that point on, practically anyone with an internet account and access to a personal computer could adopt the role that a few years before had been reserved to professional editors, publishers, journalists, librarians, and academics.1 Ways of coping with this flood of information clearly need to change, and a paper in this week's BMJ suggests that they are changing (p 939)2—and in ways that challenge the established order within health systems.3

Health professionals are just as incapable of handling the increased flow of information as the public, despite their access to tools and techniques for evidence based decision making.4 Tools to assess the “quality” of information have been tried many times, unsuccessfully5; uncoordinated efforts to create “one stop shops,” seals …