The Start of Misinformation, Misunderstandings, and Acknowledging Lack of Knowledge

[Paul B]

Which is still young when compared to other hobbies existing around animals.

It is young compared to a lot of things, but when it comes to this hobby which has been here for 50+ years, it is much older than the majority of people on these forums. Very very few of us have been here when the salt water hobby started.

Everybody who was in this hobby in 1971 raise your hand........Higher. OK, me, Martin Moe and a very few others.

 

[ReefGeezer]

It is young compared to a lot of things, but when it comes to this hobby which has been here for 50+ years, it is much older than the majority of people on these forums. Very very few of us have been here when the salt water hobby started.

Everybody who was in this hobby in 1971 raise your hand........Higher. OK, me, Martin Moe and a very few others.

Ya got me by just a few years Paul, although I have to say that my few first years consisted of just taking care of a 20 Gallon with a couple of Clownfish in it... and chasing future super models!

 

[kevgib67]

No, now stay out this debate that somehow turned political/generational on a fish forum.

I was trying to lighten the mood, last I checked It’s up to me if I want to be in the debate, which I will because it is both informative and interesting. Thank you very much.

 

[Thales]

I think people get mucked up by the idea of proof. We don't want proof, we want evidence. Evidence and be anything, proof is pretty much impossible (this distinction, while important, is generally a lost battle as the colioqual use of the word proof is widespread). Scientific evidence, peer reviewd papers and such, are helpful, but shouldn't be the the kind of evidence we demand because it is most often tangential to the keeping animals in glass boxes.
What we really want is compelling evidence. "I read this on a forum" isn't that compelling, but is evidence. "I did x and nothing else and kept notes, and observed this result - here are the notes" might be very compelling. "I did 10 different things, the last one fix my issue so do that" isn't that compelling. "I have been reefing for 20 years and this is what I think and what my tanks look like" might be compelling depending on your feelings about what the tanks look like.
I wrote a bunch of articles about this stuff, see the first link in my sig to an older website. They aricles are aslo available on another site.

 

[CrunchyBananas]

I was trying to lighten the mood, last I checked It’s up to me if I want to be in the debate, which I will because it is both informative and interesting. Thank you very much.

Mine was a joke too, suppose this shows how east text on page can be misinterpreted

 

[kevgib67]

Mine was a joke too, suppose this shows how east text on page can be misinterpreted

My bad , sorry. You know how us genXers can be!

 

[CrunchyBananas]

My bad , sorry. You know how us genXers can be!

I get that as a lazy millennial!

 

[kevgib67]

I get that as a lazy millennial!

At least you can make fun of boomers and genZers! We have been placed in a drawer and forgotten ( take it easy on the genZers though, all three of my kids)

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

Can i make my subtext under may title here be “In My Opinion” haha thatd clear up any issue

 

[ying yang]

I don't think you understand the value of "misinformation". Sometimes people are just plain wrong and that is fine. Others will chime in. Sometimes though people find that nugget through the anecdotal or creative logic puzzle and actually find something that research was either ignorant of or ignored blatantly due to money, political pressure, not eating to offend etc. That "misinformation" causes discussion, debate, and sometimes arguments that end up making everyone involved more knowledgeable in the end.

Unless someone read something that someone said they tried or thinking off trying and then person posts well "Joe bloggs did this and worked" then as it keeps getting written/talked about ,it changes to " yeah if got this problem ,you do this and it solves problem and is great" but really it isn't great and will cause lots problems,and then someone who did no research and jumped in far to quick and starts a thread " emergency I think everything going to die in my tank " and someone posts " yeah well what us experienced people do is " xyz" and will save everything ,so the new reefer goes off and does that straight away as believe what they got told to do in 1st reply, and get a whole load off trouble and all livestock dies in tank,and they come back to the thread and then read all the discussion/debate and others saying to the guy who made 1st reply, " why you tell the new reefer to do that " as that wouldn't work in a month in Sundays and guy/gal says well I read others say that they did it and worked ( but them saying before them ,didn't actually do it,they just read someone say it because others said it and goes all way back to first person reading/ understanding it wrong but everyone just kept saying " yeah it works " then guy/gal who made first post/ suggestion to the new reefer, " says aw my bad,I read others repeat it so just thought it must be true" then new reefer who lost all his livestock sat there with head in his hands thinking why didn't I wait that little longer to get few more replys ,and then thinking ,all the people saying I should off done more research before adding livestock to my 1 day old tank that not cycled ( or whatever they did that wasn't wise.

Yeah extreme example with everything dying but could happen ,from someone with no experience and asking for help and someone then saying something as if they did it themselves or the majority off people do something a certain way so go do it to save your livestock ^_^

Anyway we not all perfect,but if we try our best and admit when wrong and try be open as possible if giving advice saying " I've read" or " I've been told " or " I think it should work imo" then other person if is very trusting or naive can have better understanding whether to read up on it more or go with it .

 

[jabberwock]

I only read the OP. Why would you expect this forum to be different from the rest of the world?

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Unless someone read something that someone said they tried or thinking off trying and then person posts well "Joe bloggs did this and worked" then as it keeps getting written/talked about ,it changes to " yeah if got this problem ,you do this and it solves problem and is great" but really it isn't great and will cause lots problems,and then someone who did no research and jumped in far to quick and starts a thread " emergency I think everything going to die in my tank " and someone posts " yeah well what us experienced people do is " xyz" and will save everything ,so the new reefer goes off and does that straight away as believe what they got told to do in 1st reply, and get a whole load off trouble and all livestock dies in tank,and they come back to the thread and then read all the discussion/debate and others saying to the guy who made 1st reply, " why you tell the new reefer to do that " as that wouldn't work in a month in Sundays and guy/gal says well I read others say that they did it and worked ( but them saying before them ,didn't actually do it,they just read someone say it because others said it and goes all way back to first person reading/ understanding it wrong but everyone just kept saying " yeah it works " then guy/gal who made first post/ suggestion to the new reefer, " says aw my bad,I read others repeat it so just thought it must be true" then new reefer who lost all his livestock sat there with head in his hands thinking why didn't I wait that little longer to get few more replys ,and then thinking ,all the people saying I should off done more research before adding livestock to my 1 day old tank that not cycled ( or whatever they did that wasn't wise.

Yeah extreme example with everything dying but could happen ,from someone with no experience and asking for help and someone then saying something as if they did it themselves or the majority off people do something a certain way so go do it to save your livestock ^_^

Anyway we not all perfect,but if we try our best and admit when wrong and try be open as possible if giving advice saying " I've read" or " I've been told " or " I think it should work imo" then other person if is very trusting or naive can have better understanding whether to read up on it more or go with it .

And who should decide? How do you know you were right and Joe Blow was wrong? The answer is you don't. If Joe blow is wrong, others will bring up the holes what Joe blow recommends and a new reefer would see a lack of consensus. If a new reefer follows exactly what Joe blow said without taking into account what others say nor doing any other research and something dies it is the new reefers own fault.

 

[Double monti 61]

I am not a robot or a sheep!

 

[Doctorgori]

it’s like high school; you aren’t of the “cool kids” unless they acknowledge you as one of them… and of course they self endorse each other….same goes for “elitism” in hobby’s…all one guru has to make a claim and the peanut gallery flames the misinformation…
personally I listen/follow the folks that admit to mistake, and then explain how it happened and how they fixed it….
edit add; UFOs are real

 

[ying yang]

And who should decide? How do you know you were right and Joe Blow was wrong? The answer is you don't. If Joe blow is wrong, others will bring up the holes what Joe blow recommends and a new reefer would see a lack of consensus. If a new reefer follows exactly what Joe blow said without taking into account what others say nor doing any other research and something dies it is the new reefers own fault.

Yeah anything that goes wrong in our tanks ,is our responsibility, in extreme example I posted above,the new reefer didn't wait for others to reply as was in such a hurry,and worried about his livestock and as first reply was someone saying either " they've done it before " or " everyone does it" the new reefer didnt see all the other replys saying first reply was all rubbish until everything died then came back to the thread to read such.
My point was like op that some just repeat what others have said or " think " they said and some may think what they read sounds true so say it as they've done it successfully when they've never done it at all and didn't even read it peoperley or added a bit on or missed something out and just keeps getting repeated and repeated even though not true or won't work.

And yeah I believe when any animals involved or anything in life that could affect someone else then we should research and see if true ourselves first,I know I did and do but I can be very sceptical off things I read and need to know and just very curious guy so I don't take one person's word for it

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

With much of this hobby, we're operating on information as we understand it today. It's entirely plausible that some of it is wrong and in time will be revealed as such. We may learn that success can be found in spite of a given method or process, not because of.

Does that make it misinformation, conjecture, or indicate a lack of knowledge among its advocates?

I'm not ordained to determine if that makes it mininformation, conjecture, or indicate a lack of knowledge but you saying where your info originated from if you're giving direct information/advice to someone can't hurt but might be helpful...I do have an opinion on what you said but really don't want to go down the rabbit hole it would require because the answer to that would lead away from the main points in my post.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I only read the OP. Why would you expect this forum to be different from the rest of the world?

I would not. Simply trying to improve an already good resource by making a suggestion.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Overall I think 95% of people here understand the post and agree at least mostly with it. Others almost certainly didn't even read it but made up their mind they want to argue about it regardless. Pretty much what I expected and everyone is entitled to their opinion (even those who simply want to argue and seem like they're trying trip people up with their questions instead of authentically asking them). I think most of them actually understand it if they did read it as well tbh.

 

[Kraig]

Overall I think 95% of people here understand the post and agree at least mostly with it. Others almost certainly didn't even read it but made up their mind they want to argue about it regardless. Pretty much what I expected and everyone is entitled to their opinion (even those who simply want to argue and seem like they're trying trip people up with their questions instead of authentically asking them). I think most of them actually understand it if they did read it as well tbh.

Well crap, I was trying to like your post and hit reply and post on my phone in one smooth action (I can only be smooth on accident) so I guess I will edit my blank post.
Keep on keeping on

 

[jabberwock]

Overall I think 95% of people here understand the post and agree at least mostly with it. Others almost certainly didn't even read it but made up their mind they want to argue about it regardless. Pretty much what I expected and everyone is entitled to their opinion (even those who simply want to argue and seem like they're trying trip people up with their questions instead of authentically asking them). I think most of them actually understand it if they did read it as well tbh.

I agreed with it. As a scientist, "I don't know" is one of my favorite things to say. It is very defendable.