by ShortyGU12

Created on: April 17, 2009

"Learn what you need, share what you know" is Helium's slogan. It's telling the world that wisdom is more priceless than knowledge and in some respect it is. What is the difference? Knowledge in general means information that you take in that is classed as references such as an instructional manual or a documentary on a third world country. Wisdom however is knowledge that someone gains through life experiences. Both are essential in becoming a better person but people seem to hang on more to wisdom than just knowledge because knowledge (as in references) if not applied is useless.

Helium is like the website About.com and a forum put together people like to inform others about a wide range of topics and they also like to share their personal experiences and point of views with one another; making it less of a formal reference site and more sociable.

The question is: Is Helium a blog? The answer is yes and no. Yes because Helium allows people to write about their personal experiences and views and No because there are articles on there strictly for reference.

Helium is also more sociable because it doesn't ask for any references at the end of people's articles therefore making it more difficult to differentiate between reference and personal experience/views.

Would it be better if Helium required references? Absolutely; for two obvious reasons. One: It would show that someone is not plagiarising someone else's work and two: the Helium writer is showing that they got their information from an actual place rather than thin air.

Where to start? A good reference format is the APA format, which is the American Psychology Association; just search for it on a search engine it's quite easy to find. They have formats on quoting, paraphrasing, and site references which is the three that most people use in giving information to the world. There are other formats but personally, I find that this one does the job nicely.

If it's not a requirement on Helium, why bother? Ask yourself this question: Do you consider yourself a writer? If so, then give references if you have researched something for your article. If you aren't a writer and just want to put your view or personal experiences out there, then by all means, just put it out there and don't give references.

Is sharing your personal experience helpful to others? Absolutely. People write about their struggles, their joys, how they feel, what they think, and there are people who might be seeking someone who has gone what they have gone through and so on. Humans don't like the feeling of being alone in anything; we seek for acceptance; I think personal experiences would prove that correct.

Helium is a great place to write at because it does allow both types of writing onto its site. Helium is like a human being; it has all these great qualities and even rewards you for being loyal, however it can be quite unrestrictive; even in the judgement of trying to "punish" someone but all in all, I'd say that no, it's not a blog site but a humane site.

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