State of the Web: Dot-Com Depression

As site after site folds, and we come to grips with the Dot-com Depression, we continue to ask ourselves, "The Web, ooh, what is it good for, absolutely nothing?"

Ok, that's a little extreme. But if you ask me, what will be next to take a big fall is the notion of the Web community. I think a lot of people went on the Web, frankly, because they were enticed to do so by the brokerages to get into the stock market gold rush. While people were busy coining money burying Digital Island (ISLD Quote - Cramer on ISLD - Stock Picks) and Vignette(VIGN Quote - Cramer on VIGN - Stock Picks) or taking down the next hot offering, they also found themselves surfing and talking on the Web. To each other. To the vibrant communities. They even enjoyed asking each other's opinion about things. Even strangers' opinions became of value. We actually even thought we could go into a circle or a chat group and talk to people and mutually agree on everything from the best stock to the best restaurant south of 14th Street. We seemed to think that somehow, our collective wisdom mattered.

Of course, whether it be in circles or chat groups, the masses turned out to be driven by the biggest yahoos, not the best stock pickers or restaurateurs. The motives of posters and communicants grew increasingly questionable, if not desperate. Do I really want to be in a room filled with people who hate Herb Greenberg because he pointed out that Cyber something or other was just some scheme? Can I learn from those jokers? Do I want to share wisdom with fools?

Sure, as long as it doesn't matter and everything goes up. Sure, as long as it's just a meal or a bottle of wine. But in the end, the Web doesn't create a new breed of trust. Wisdom creates trust. There's a reason why Byron Wien, the great strategist at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, is paid more than the folks who created the Rule Breaker portfolio or those who populate the Raging Bull chat boards. There's a reason why we like The New York Times Book Review more than the random reviews on Amazon(AMZN Quote - Cramer on AMZN - Stock Picks). Because the notion of the professional is not an outdated notion, somehow circumvented by the "mass wisdom" of the Web. There is no mass wisdom. There is no ability to judge the input of Abuzz, the Times' creative community, or the input of About.com(BOUT Quote - Cramer on BOUT - Stock Picks). Because there is no real accountability or "professionalism" involved, professionalism meaning that there is a reputation that can be lost or gained by being right more than being wrong.

Last year, when the bull market raged, we all thought, "Hmmm, you get a lot of smart folks focused on anything through the funnel of the Web, it will mean better decisions than any one professional could render, whether it's Nina Zagat at restaurants, or John Madden on football, or Peter Lynch on stocks.

We now know the truth. That was wrong. Creating still more doubt about what the Web is good for, besides stocks and books and orders for pens and pencils. We know the Web is worth more than war, but it was episodes like community mass wisdom that make us feel like it was worth absolutely nothing.