B3TA is more addictive than crack, and much more fun. The Friday newsletter is a thing of joy to read and the forums are full of unusual links and some of the best Photoshopping and computer animation this side of Hollywood. There's a weekly Photoshop challenge and a Question of the Week contest too, all voted on exclusively by the membership.

It has spawned some of the internet's most enduring memes, including the infamous Badger, Badger, Badger animation which is the most persistent earworm I've ever encountered. Several of my friends want to kill me for passing it on to them.

As a timewaster it is excellent. At CES this year I introduced an American journalist to the site's sick joke wiki and he spent the next two days lambasting me for ruining his productivity and supplying him with enough jokes to get him tarred and feathered in his home state.

The membership could best be described as 'quirky', but the quality of submissions is so high you can spend hours clicking and laughing. My days would be poorer indeed without the stories of SpankyHanky, Legless, Grandmasterfluffles et al, the skilled animation of the other members and the knowledge that crackhouseceilidhband has taken flashmobbing to unusual new areas.

Shaun Nichols: For my fellow Americans who are not quite familiar with the site, B3TA is sort of like 4Chan, minus the shock porn.

Iain turned me on to B3TA shortly after his arrival in the US office, and because of that I have an excuse I can try whenever I spend a bit too much time on the site and nearly miss a deadline. It doesn't work but, hey, it's worth a shot if I'm desperate.

Anyone who thinks that British humour is a completely dry, sophisticated affair need look no further than B3TA. Though the jokes are often very clever, there's also a fair amount of goofy, silly humour. I would recommend to everyone here in the States that we pull an Office and embrace B3TA. Maybe we can send back Simon Cowell as compensation.

We've all been there; you pop on for a quick look-up to verify a date in history or maybe settle a break-room argument. Then a link on that page looks interesting, so you check it out. Then another link catches your eye. Before you know it you've spent 45 minutes reading up on Soviet freight aircraft of the late Cold War-era.

So it's not just questionable sources that one needs to be wary of when searching Wikipedia; there's also the lure of soaking up useless facts while you're supposed to be getting work done.

Iain Thomson: It's the random article button on the Wikipedia page that has been my downfall in the past.

Picture the scene: it's lunchtime, the sandwich is laid out before you and Wikipedia is open. A few trial clicks and before you know it you're hooked. It's a deadly trap that's difficult to wean yourself off.

That's not to say there aren't benefits. I now know more than any man should about rotary vane air compression, the debate over the correct plural for octopus and US Airforce experimental aircraft post World War Two. This may at some point be of use, but I'm betting it won't be at the next industry press conference I attend, unless things get really weird.