About Bad Advice on the Forums

[flomzilla]

Guys, it's come to me and some other wonderful peoples' attention that there are a lot of threads made by people asking for advice on things, mainly in the topic of computer tech support. With these threads, there's been a lot of great knowledge and advice shared as well as some... malevolent advice. Let's talk about that last thing.

In the nature of asking a question on a forum like this, the OP is asking for our help as a community, and we need to exercise proper judgement in giving that help if we're going to maintain the usefulness of this forum as a resource to everybody. What this means is that if you don't understand a topic, you shouldn't be posting trying to give advice to somebody. For example, if you find a thread made by somebody asking what kind of a laptop would be good for a specific application (e.g. gaming or a workstation) And your only experience with laptops is having received one as a gift a couple years back, you should not be replying to that thread.

This extends across all threads asking questions. The last thing we want is to let somebody have a negative experience after following bad advice.

"I don’t give cooking advice because I can make a sandwich" -vitality96

Thanks,
Ian

[4emersons]

Vouch. If anyone wants advice on how to start a hot pad on fire, I'm your man!

[Guest]

Vouch
This is why I don't respond to tech threads unless I have something experience-related to add or ask about...

[Shnoork]

VouchVouchVouch
Yes, I tend to stay away from those posts in general. Im no computer person, save for a few experiences in which I actually know what Im doing. However, I think this is good advice for anyone to keep in mind for a variety of situations. There has been many a person putting their brand on topics which they don't seem to have prior knowledge on. Im sure every last one of us has done it at some point or another, but now that it has been adressed I think we should all keep an eye on this type of behaviour here on in. Just because it has happened before doesnt mean we cant try to prevent it in the future.

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