MEMO
TO: Mr. Aldo Green, President, Ecoplanit
FROM: Geoffrey Forman, Webmaster, Ecoplanit
DATE: 10/7/2011
RE: Annual Review of External Links on Ecoplanit Website
During my annual review of the external links found on the Ecoplanit website, I came upon a link to the
Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division, http://www.dhmo.org. This memo contains a detailed analysis
of why DHMO.org is a misleading website and should not be linked to by Ecoplanit. DHMO.org argues
that Dihydrogen Monoxide, commonly known as H2O or water, is a harmful substance. By linking to
DHMO.org, Ecoplanit loses credibility. This memo details seven assessment categories: authority,
accuracy, audience, objectivity, currency, coverage, and quality of the page.
Authority
DHMO.org is comprised of artificial organizations and unaccredited information.
According to DHMO.org, the contents of the page are authored by the Dihydrogen Monoxide Research
Division, an affiliate of the United States Environmental Assessment Center. After researching both
organizations, though, neither the Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division nor the United States
Environmental Assessment Center are official or government sponsored organizations. The website does
not contain contact information for additional research on the organizations.
Additionally, articles on the site are unaccredited. The only additional name on the website is a website
copyright attributed to Tom Way. There is no additional information listed about Tom Way.
Accuracy
DMHO.org is built entirely on misleading information.
Foremost, it is important to note that the site creator states “Note: content veracity not implied “ on the
bottom of the home page, removing site credibility and responsibility for portraying false or misleading
content.
Although much of the information on the website is actually true, information is organized and worded
so that it appears as intended by the website administrator. Dihydrogen Monoxide is the chemical name
for H2O, also known as water. The site lists many examples of how water is used, but is listed in a way so
that it appears to be a deadly substance. For example, while water is used in nuclear power plants, it
does not have the negative connotation implied by DHMO.org.
The site does contain links to government agencies and other sources, but these links are not credibly
used. Many of the links lead to offline webpages, or are clearly designed to display false information.
Links to credible sources are placed in locations that do not imply any information had actually been
taken from that source.
Audience
DHMO.org has a wide target audience.
At face value, DHMO.org has been designed to advise the general public of the dangers of Dihydrogen
Monoxide. The audience includes anyone who is interested in reading about such dangers.
The true purpose of DHMO.org, though, is to display how easily misleading information can be accepted
by the public if found on a website.
Objectivity
DHMO.org is a clearly biased source and only supports the view that Dihydrogen Monoxide is a threat.
The only credible section of the website appears to be the store, where t-shirts and educational kits are
sold, leading to the questioning of the purpose of the site – to advise the public, or to make profit?
Currency
According to DHMO.org, the last website update occurred on 10/7/11, but nothing lists what changes or
updates were made.
Links appear to have been kept up to date, but rather than removing expired links from the site, expired
links are labeled as being offline or no longer in business.
Data and surveys listed in the Dihydrogen Monoxide research portion of the website do contain dates
and locations of where the data had been obtained, or survey had been performed.
Coverage
Although still being updated, DHMO.org appears to be a complete site.
Additionally, the Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division has a printed publication. Listed on the store,
the DHMO Factbook is a 24 page booklet containing some of the information found on the website.
Quality of the Page
Although the website appears to be in working order, the site is poorly designed, misleading, and, at
times, confusing to navigate.
Conclusion
Overall, I highly suggest the removal of http://www.dhmo.org from the Ecoplanit website. The website
is a misleading source of information designed to spread artificial concern. By keeping a link to such a
source of information on the Ecoplanit website, Ecoplanit loses credibility as a company.