Why Do Inexperienced People, with No Knowledge, Offer Advice ?

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by psneeld

While this is true...I think the OP has the same problem that I often have. A boater starts asking questions about a problem around friends, dockmates. Let's face it...there are plenty of old salt's tales out there and the boater starts to form a strong opinion...often one that he/she WANTs to hear..often because it leads one down the easier/cheaper path to solution.

I think this is where the Chief has a problem as I...it takes Soooo long to dispell the bad ideas (not all of them are...but on more intricate issues...they may all intertwine) that now the newbie (or worse an old timer takling a new issue to them) is so confused they stop listening to you.

But as I posted before...there's so many in the marine business who are often clueless even with their own suggestions...no one seems towant to fully trust anyone discussing their baby....

A lot of people sincerely think they're right when they're very, very wrong. It's tough when you're a beginner to spot the good from the bad advice. One guy is a complete clown and I bet he's given me 99 pieces of really bad advice -- and one really good one.

[smackdaddy]

I think it always depends on the attitude of the advice-dispenser more than anything. If the dispenser thinks he's all that and gets offended at the slightest disagreement with his supposed pearls of valuable wisdom (especially from a newb)...he might be a jerk and not worth listening to anyway...regardless of how "right" he might be.

Most of the time, it's easier for the dispenser to take it out on the supposed newb who doesn't think all that much of those pearls than for the dispenser to realize he might not be all that.

[DazeAtSea]

Originally Posted by pillum

People (especially on a forum like this) just want to help, so they tell you what they think is the answer tou your query. It's up to you, the person asking the question, to filter the responses you think apply.

If people want definitive answers they should ask a professional, who'll probably charge them. It's a forum for goodness sake...

....and maybe read a book or two, watch a video series, reread the past answers, compare to the info given to them from professional standards, filter out responses (like stated above) and repeat until they are confident in their knowledge they have attained in order to complete their task.

Some times there's just more than one way do something, so conflicting responses and thoughts behind the matter may just occur. Once again up the person asking the question to figure out what will work best for them, and if they still can't decide on what right for them than they need to keep looking.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

A lot of people sincerely think they're right when they're very, very wrong ...

Or, as Mark Twain put it:
"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble.
It's what you know for sure, that just ain't so."

[David_Old_Jersey]

A lot of folk seem to expect way too much from Advice offered.

Hell, a lot of the time (but nowadays less & less!) the advice I give myself is not always great ..............and that's after close (physical) study, and a period of relection (Days / Weeks / Months).........including sometimes mulling things over with others (real life & Internet).

[John A]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

A lot of folk seem to expect way too much from Advice offered.

Hell, a lot of the time (but nowadays less & less!) the advice I give myself is not always great ..............and that's after close (physical) study, and a period of relection (Days / Weeks / Months).........including sometimes mulling things over with others (real life & Internet).

When you ask for an opinion you get what you asked for. What you do with that opinion is a personnel choice.

Congrats. Dave, the spam filters within hotmail have decided that the notification of your post looks very suspicious and should only be viewed after due diligence.

[Blue Stocking]

I have never received bad advice. I have however, often received advice which did not relate to my present problem.

[IdoraKeeper]

I am crushed and dismayed...first Chief puts up a post asking about incompetent advice and I am sure he is referring either to me or possibly Don Lucas and then someone puts up a list of all the crimes on my rap sheet Thankfully Gord came to the defense debunking it all as a myth referring to Congress, whew! Congress has got me off the hook again.

Todd

[John A]

Todd,
You're spending way to much time on the computer! Go sailing!!

[rgscpat]

To put it kindly, many questions are not exactly rigorously defined and often leave out relevant details. So many different answers may be correct ... depending upon which circumstances actually apply. And, to be fair to the questioners, if they knew how to frame the question accurately with all necessary information, they would likely be well on their way to finding the best answer.

The classic "is this a good boat for me" question, for example, very often comes with little or no information about the questioner's cruising dreams or goals, destinations, skill, crew, experience, lifestyle, time frame and constraints, or budget. So, just about every answer will be right... and wrong!

[captain58sailin]

If they are asking "Is this a good boat for me?" Then it is a pretty good bet, they really don't know what parameters to put up. If they have experience then they know what questions to ask and establish quantitatively what they are asking about.

[Kettlewell]

To a lot of questions (maybe most) there is more than one "answer." Look at all the debating about anchors or which boat to choose. Some people insist that their answer is the only correct answer, yet someone else points out that their personal experience has been the opposite. And, in my experience dealing with the pros, they are very often mistaken or at least don't give the best advice, sometimes due to ignorance, but more often colored by the needs of their business. In other words, if a marine store has StaBil on the shelf they will be recommending it, while the next store stocks Startron and they trash the very existence of StaBil. They both might work fine, but just because a pro is recommending it doesn't mean it is the best. Because they are pros they are in it to make money from you, which is the opposite of what you want to give him. So your needs are in conflict. That is where the forums can be invaluable. You can get advice from people who don't have an agenda (at least most of them) that starts with making money from you with this advice. And, you can sometimes find someone using the product or solution in a real-world environment similar to yours.

[IdoraKeeper]

Originally Posted by John A

Todd,
You're spending way to much time on the computer! Go sailing!!

I know, I know! I can't do it though. I found some rotten rot that must be fixed and I can't do that till I get her covered up. To make matters worse I don't have any time off to get at it. The situation will soon be rectified however and I will be down at the dock instead of perusing the forum.

Todd

[Bloodhound]

The person who is fastidiously careful in precisely framing a question often arrives at 90% of the answer by such careful asking. The other 10% then shouldn't be hard to come by. It's the bloke who thoughtlessly blurts out a question who more often than not gets a whole host of other irrelevant (to him) questions answered, but no answer to the one he didn't know he was even asking.

[markpierce]

Well, what do you expect? Hopefully, we can discern between grain and chaff. What!?! You want guarantees!