Urban Dictionary.. True or False?

            From the moment someone saw my high school displayed on urbandictionary.com, frenzy was unleashed.  Hundreds of students ran to their computers in an attempt to inquire about what our school “truly” is defined as, and based this definition on a single entry on a website.  Each day web surfers can visit this dictionary of said truth to search a particular place, idea, or word that they would like to understand.  

            Since 1999, when Aaron Peckham founded Urban Dictionary, both anonymous and known users have constructed definitions of slang, graphic, and crude terms that are heard around town.  These are not filtered definitions and contain some cold words and opinions at times.  However, users still rely on this sit for information.

            Despite the fact that numerous web surfers agree with and use the definitions they discover on their new dictionary, Urban Dictionary, there are sometimes several conflicting viewpoints on a word.  For instance, when Cincinnati is entered, definitions range from Cincinnati being described as being the best city that ever existed in the face of this Earth, to being a disgustingly bland and poor city.  So, the controversy can begin as to which representation of Cincinnati is the truth and which is the exception.  Due to this misrepresentation, Urban Dictionary many teams leaves the inquirer to have to visit the city and draw their own conclusions, some of which may end up on Urban Dictionary in the end.

            When looking at the thousands of posts on Urban Dictionary, surfers can discover that the conclusions made get ranked on a scale of agree or disagree.  Due to this, the incentive to write an obnoxious yet catchy definition increases dramatically.  Truth becomes inferior to the number of viewers that are in agreement with the statement.  So, Urban Dictionary decreases in reliability, but increases in hilarity.

            With intriguing remarks pulling readers into the Urban Dictionary trance, the website is becoming further advertised on sites such as Facebook and has a special site for iphone.  By putting Urban Dictionary out in the limelight, more surfers will come to rely on it for answers to the definitions of words.  This could affect society and the views of places, words, and slang.  Meanings of words could be altered as individuals change their ways of thinking because of what Urban Dictionary has told them.

            How can Urban Dictionary possibly consider itself a source of information when it is constantly revising definitions from one extreme to another?  Stick to Webster’s Dictionary for those words that you need to find, or visit a city and make your own opinions. Urban Dictionary is an excellent source for a laugh, but should not be read for anything more. 

---