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I noted this week with some pleasure that some professors have gone on record saying that Wikipedia is not acceptable source material for class assignments. Taking advice is a big enough minefield without relying on something that anyone can edit at a whim.
The other place I visit on-line every day is starting to drive me crazy. People who play music come from all walks of life, and come in all levels of wisdom, experience and intelligence. Humanity's faults come out fairly glaringly in the discussions over there. Newcomers over there are bombarded by advice, both good and awful. It's fairly clear from the way beginners progress in the discussions that it's not that easy to tell the garbage from the pearls.
Bad-advice that really gripes me
1) Spend as much as you can, you'll be happier in the end. While it is true that getting the best you can afford is good advice, the keys are:
a) Can you actually afford it? Or is it the case that you can afford it only "if the good Lord's willing and the creeks don't rise?"
b) Is the most expensive necessarily the best? Donald Trump became a billionaire selling to people who don't know the difference between the best and the most expensive.
c) Is this whole interest you have now perhaps just a passing whim you'll regret spending any money on later?
2) Buy a Whiz Bang brand. They're the best and always have been!
In this age of corporate mergers and takeovers, brand loyalty is for suckers!
3)Buy Whiz Bang. They're the best investment.
If you are buying for investment, buy for investment. If you are buying for utility then buy for utility. As a factor in the buying equation, future value is a valid consideration. But if you insist on buying something mostly because you think it will hold its value in case you want to bail out, you are almost always going to be unsatisfied with the purchase and lose money in the end.
4)There's no reason to shop around. I bought one of these. Thus it must be *the* best. There's nothing wrong at all with telling others you are happy with your purchase. Discouraging others from shopping around on that basis is egotistical at the very least.
5) If you put on more sparklies, it will be just as good as if you bought a better one. Not everything works like computers. There are some things you can upgrade that just get flashier, not better. Usually saving your money and buying a better one down the road is the better plan.
6) I got one just like famous Ol' Fred, so I know I got the best. That is of course assuming a lot. Ol' Fred may have got his for reasons that have nothing to do with what you want yours for. Ol' Fred may have bought his decades ago and what's sold as the same thing now with the same brand and model, may be far different. (True story - In the case of what's discussed on the other web site, Ol' Fred got so disgusted with the Whiz Bang company, he took a pocket knife and hacked the logo off his!!)
7) Ignore the experts. I know everybody advises against doing it this way, but I do it this way and it works fine. Even if you are as bull-headed as I am, it's occasionally good to listen to what others have to say, and try it their way. Never discourage someone else from trying out methods that have worked well for hundreds of years.
8) I disagree with everyone here. The laws of physics don't apply at all in this case. Hey, if you were a C student in science don't give out advice based on your scientific knowledge. Always look it up first, before you confuse the next D student that comes along.
9) Don't buy that, it's foreign! Hey, the internet is international, moron! Let's all sing: "If you're a bigot and you know, it shut your mouth." At least in mixed company.
The other place I visit on-line every day is starting to drive me crazy. People who play music come from all walks of life, and come in all levels of wisdom, experience and intelligence. Humanity's faults come out fairly glaringly in the discussions over there. Newcomers over there are bombarded by advice, both good and awful. It's fairly clear from the way beginners progress in the discussions that it's not that easy to tell the garbage from the pearls.
Bad-advice that really gripes me
1) Spend as much as you can, you'll be happier in the end. While it is true that getting the best you can afford is good advice, the keys are:
a) Can you actually afford it? Or is it the case that you can afford it only "if the good Lord's willing and the creeks don't rise?"
b) Is the most expensive necessarily the best? Donald Trump became a billionaire selling to people who don't know the difference between the best and the most expensive.
c) Is this whole interest you have now perhaps just a passing whim you'll regret spending any money on later?
2) Buy a Whiz Bang brand. They're the best and always have been!
In this age of corporate mergers and takeovers, brand loyalty is for suckers!
3)Buy Whiz Bang. They're the best investment.
If you are buying for investment, buy for investment. If you are buying for utility then buy for utility. As a factor in the buying equation, future value is a valid consideration. But if you insist on buying something mostly because you think it will hold its value in case you want to bail out, you are almost always going to be unsatisfied with the purchase and lose money in the end.
4)There's no reason to shop around. I bought one of these. Thus it must be *the* best. There's nothing wrong at all with telling others you are happy with your purchase. Discouraging others from shopping around on that basis is egotistical at the very least.
5) If you put on more sparklies, it will be just as good as if you bought a better one. Not everything works like computers. There are some things you can upgrade that just get flashier, not better. Usually saving your money and buying a better one down the road is the better plan.
6) I got one just like famous Ol' Fred, so I know I got the best. That is of course assuming a lot. Ol' Fred may have got his for reasons that have nothing to do with what you want yours for. Ol' Fred may have bought his decades ago and what's sold as the same thing now with the same brand and model, may be far different. (True story - In the case of what's discussed on the other web site, Ol' Fred got so disgusted with the Whiz Bang company, he took a pocket knife and hacked the logo off his!!)
7) Ignore the experts. I know everybody advises against doing it this way, but I do it this way and it works fine. Even if you are as bull-headed as I am, it's occasionally good to listen to what others have to say, and try it their way. Never discourage someone else from trying out methods that have worked well for hundreds of years.
8) I disagree with everyone here. The laws of physics don't apply at all in this case. Hey, if you were a C student in science don't give out advice based on your scientific knowledge. Always look it up first, before you confuse the next D student that comes along.
9) Don't buy that, it's foreign! Hey, the internet is international, moron! Let's all sing: "If you're a bigot and you know, it shut your mouth." At least in mixed company.
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From:
no subject
I teach an online course, and since I know I'm going to deal with that kind of problem, I give them an early assignment that requires them to evaluate the validity of their sources. It's the hardest assignment in the course--and it's fine to use a non-reliable source for it, but they have to say that it is. They can even say they don't know if a site is reliable. But getting them to even see the reality of the assignment is like pulling teeth.
From:
Well yes
From:
no subject
- who would maintain technical pages, except people who understand the concepts? This is sort of true, but being interested in something enough to Wiki it doesn't mean you actually understand it (another current peeve: 101science.com, an incredibly broad site apparently put up by a hobbyist with almost no grasp of biological concepts - who links to a page of mine that he obviously never read).
- since these are pages that few people look at, misinformation could be up for some time before someone who realized it was bad (and could change it) saw it. And how long before the bad stuff gets restored by someone who is sure it's right?
From:
no subject
As I was mentioning above there are folks who think they are experts (on mandolins) who will argue with the real experts on issues that can effect the structural integrity of the instrument among other things. If one of the non-experts got to be a maintainer of an entry on the instrument (because there was no one else was interested in doing it), then it would be worse than useless.