In the first part we went into some general principles newcomers can use to judge the value of a post.
In this part, we'll talk about how to judge the credibility of the poster.
Look for key words:
when someone says: I understand that .... , you should read "I don't have a clue what I'm talking about but I want to participate.
when someone says It's common knowledge that ... (or anything involving statistics), you should read "I don't have a clue but I read about it.
when someone says In my experience .... , you should read "I saw something like that once.
when someone says I see things like .... often (or all the time), you should read "I know of two cases when .... "
when someone says the best way is .... , you should read that they tried two things and liked one of them better than the other.
when someone says the ONLY way is .... , you should read that they haven't tried anything and are blindly implementing what they read on the internet.
when someone says it's a fact that ... , you should read that they tried it once and it worked.
In fact, it's good policy to be sceptical of anyone trying to "convince" you that "their" way is good for you. So who can you trust? Nobody. You have to make up your own mind about just about everything. Take every bit of information as a new idea and weigh it in your own context to judge it's merit. In that sense, the only people worth listening to are the ones who don't come with judgements and sales pitches but who come with questions and a course of reasoning.
That bit of advice is for free.
R..
In this part, we'll talk about how to judge the credibility of the poster.
Look for key words:
when someone says: I understand that .... , you should read "I don't have a clue what I'm talking about but I want to participate.
when someone says It's common knowledge that ... (or anything involving statistics), you should read "I don't have a clue but I read about it.
when someone says In my experience .... , you should read "I saw something like that once.
when someone says I see things like .... often (or all the time), you should read "I know of two cases when .... "
when someone says the best way is .... , you should read that they tried two things and liked one of them better than the other.
when someone says the ONLY way is .... , you should read that they haven't tried anything and are blindly implementing what they read on the internet.
when someone says it's a fact that ... , you should read that they tried it once and it worked.
In fact, it's good policy to be sceptical of anyone trying to "convince" you that "their" way is good for you. So who can you trust? Nobody. You have to make up your own mind about just about everything. Take every bit of information as a new idea and weigh it in your own context to judge it's merit. In that sense, the only people worth listening to are the ones who don't come with judgements and sales pitches but who come with questions and a course of reasoning.
That bit of advice is for free.
R..
I love that phrase
