Re: Federal Reserve Risks Collapse Re: Risk of Internet collapse grows

[Sean Donelan <sean () donelan com>]

On Fri, 29 Nov 2002 sgorman1 () gmu edu wrote:
> What you decided to attack on the post was the defense of another
> researchers options of data and how current that data was.  He used
> what was available to him at the time, end of statement.

As long-time readers (or anyone with access to Google) know, Boardwatch's
ISP Directory as a data source has a long history of problems going back
to the mid 1990's.  It has been extensively discussed on this and many,
many other ISP mailing lists in the past.

When you have limited or poor quality data, you need to be even more
careful about what conclusions you make.

> If you could you use your expertise and creativity to help the
> research community produce better research instead of shooting
> everything down after the fact, something postitive might actually
> come from the effort.

I have.

If researchers are going to use Boardwatch's ISP Directory as a data
source, treat it like any other advertising directory (e.g. the Yellow
Pages).  It is a poor source for engineering technical data.  Its
a great source for comparing advertising budgets, marketing campaigns,
finding sales departments.