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

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by River Cruiser

When a question is asked and receives a answer that is correct there should be no more answers from others giving the same info with a different choice of words.

I disagree with that. If the person used different words, it was a slightly different message. There are few true synonyms.

In addition, there's value in hearing similar advice from more than one person. They still may both be wrong, but again the choice of words can be a clue there.

When I've had a question that five people answered similarly they all got big thank you's. It's helpful to me.

[Khagan1227]

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

1. 'Cuz they are bored
2. They need a bit of inflating of their ego.
3. They actually think they are correct from their own personal experiences.

or 4. They mean well and just want to help a friend out.

[Adelie]

Because they think they have knowledge to share.

Originally Posted by Chief Engineer

I takes me a lot of time to try to counteract this. I don't mind doing it.

Then why do you seem to be complaining about it?

[Sam Plan B]

People post for different reasons. Some honestly want to provide a suggestion for a fix that worked for them. But there are also those who would be, for want of a better term, master of the thread. They seek to dominate a discussion online just as such a person would try to dominate the conversation at the dinner table. You have seen that kind of thread. Ferro boats suck...ferro boats are golden...Atomic-4's suck...diesel is golden...no, diesel sucks...Evinrude is golden...and on and on. It gets to be so tiring. I suppose one has to be responsible for one's own welfare. Accept no advise unverified by at least two other sources. And take anything you read on the internet with a healthy grain of salt.

[sarafina]

Originally Posted by River Cruiser

When a question is asked and receives a answer that is correct there should be no more answers from others giving the same info with a different choice of words.

Of course one wonders... whom exactly would be the arbiter of "correct"?

I actually like having multiple similar answers, there is safety in numbers some of the time...

[gello]

the converse is also true.
why do people ask you for advice, then completely ignore it?

i am a professional.
people ask me a question, i do research, i verify, i experiment, and give
them my best professional answer.
then they ignore it.
waste of my bloody time.

[ozskipper]

Wow this thread has taken on a quite phylosophical tone. hope the mods dont can it for getting OT as cruisers usually are quite phylosophical by nature. (please dont Mod's- pretty please with a cherry on top )

Loving the thread so far. But my two lines of wisdom to add are

You dont know what you dont know. ( eg people who give advice with limited knowledge thinking they know all the answers)

and

We all forget how much we have forgotten. ( in other words, we may know a subject, but because we havent been involved recently, we forget how complex the subject may be- sailing is a great example of that.)

Thats it

[atoll]

disinformation,confuse the opposition,perpetuate myths=helps keep the proffesionals in work.....lol

[LakeSuperior]

I have found the most value in this forum is discovering my "unknown unknowns"

Putting a question out there and getting a spectrum of responses allows me to consider issues and problems that I never would have thought of.

People have fragments and shreds of knowledge at various levels and that by pulling on one of the threads sometimes leads to enlightenment beyond what the poster with little knowledge intended.

[S/V Antares]

I agree with Lake Superior, Some interesting things are proposed of which you weed out the usless (Spark plugs on a diesel) and gleen the useful. On the other side of the coin I believe we have all witnessed some responses that could not help or might cause other issues.

Snr Mech had a good point. As so many others also had good points. Gotta Love this place!

[Wavewacker]

I use to give alot of advice on another site in another arena. I'm retired and I don't need to leave home to say I'm an expert in my field. But, many on the site were still cutting their teeth and trying to make a living, many from giving advice to sucker newbies in to some transaction. It was a very competitive site having to point out that many of the so called experts were not experts at all, dishing out stuff to set the hook. Some sites have several experts that are only there to drum up business and it's obvious to me. The guy that bashes outboards sells diesels, the guy that bashes small sailboats designs trawlers and on and on and on.
Taken with a grain of salt, advice is worth just what you pay for it.

It's also human nature to feed the ego.

I feel like I can pass on what I know on this site based on what I have learned but I try to be careful not to venture out too far as I am no expert on nautical issues. Life, yes, boats, not really so much....

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by LakeSuperior

Putting a question out there and getting a spectrum of responses allows me to consider issues and problems that I never would have thought of.

Gotta love thread drift.

I learn something here every day..............even if it has nothing to do with what I am trying to find out.

[smackdaddy]

Originally Posted by River Cruiser

When a question is asked and receives a answer that is correct there should be no more answers from others giving the same info with a different choice of words.

As Sarafina pointed out, that's assuming there is one "correct". I don't think that's typically the case. Hence forums and their endless, epic banter.

[captain58sailin]

My Father would tell me, "The older you get, the smarter I will become." I don't think he knew he was paraphrasing Samuel Clemens. He also told me, "Don't let the other guy do your thinking for you." He said a lot of stuff, most of it turned out to be true. There are a lot of well meaning people out there that give advice that have no business doing so. Usually if you have been around the block a time or two you learn to detect the unknowing. The more certain the advisors are the more skeptical I become. The ones whom truly know, do not have to shout to make their point, and if the person receiving doesn't listen then it's no sweat, see you later.

[Captain Bill]

I find that the advice given often depends on what question was asked. If we go back to the example in the original post......

What did the advice did the guy ask for? His first thought at water in the gas was probably that he got a load of bad (contaminated) gas somewhere. This happens with relative frequency and is often treated successfully with some sort of chemical additive. Of course the water caused issues with gummed up carb or injection system. The guy probably then went into his local autoparts store and said I got a load of bad gas and it's fouled up my carb what do I do? The auto parts guy probably suggested a different chemical such as gummout. Similar advice could have come from a friend who had successfully dealt with a load of bad gas. None of these things individually may have been wrong or bad advice for the question asked. Combining them together was probably no the wisest thing to do. The problem was probably an erroneous assumption about the source of the contamination and obviously made worse by numerous attempts to treat the wrong problem. Finnally exasperated the guy probably contacted the pro who correctly diagnosed the problem. So Chief, is the first thing you do when someone has contaminated fuel to pull the tank and look for leaks or do you have a set of diagnostic steps you take when dealing with a contaminated fuel system that allowed you to diagnose the problem before pulling the tank. I could easily see where in a case of severe contamination one would have to pull the tank just to clean it out even if there were no holes in it. I guess the question I would have for you is did you know the tank had holes in it before you pulled it, or did you pull it because you knew you would have to clean it out and only then find the holes?

I've often dealt with so called pros that gave me advice that was worth nothing and by the way, given them thousands of dollars to fix things that weren't broken. When I find a pro that gives me good advice and is not just a parts swapper ( there are lots of these out there posing as pros these days) I give him my business and I send others to them. I had some work done on my Yanmar's by a certified shop. When they started putting things back together I found they didn't even have a torque wrench. I made them stop working on them until I went out and got my torque wrench and showed them the torque specs for the bolts they were tightening. By the way they charged me $2800 for the work and I had to supply the proper tools. The repair lasted less than 100 hours. The next time I did it myself and so far it's still working, though admittedly I haven't reached 100 hours on my repair.

I often find the advice I get free from non-pros is as dependable as paying a random pro. On the other hand if I happen to be near a pro I know I can trust I'll go to them first. Unfortunately, I find that list very limited.