The only difference here is Ski IS the expert...and not second hand. I would take what he says to the bank....literally....especially when it comes to Yanmar and Cummins.
That may be for those engines but obviously not for FL120s.
Psneeld: Even the off board experts need to be verified, so I see little difference.
I think there is a huge difference. Contrary to what some others have said, I do not regard
anyone on TF as an expert on boating subjects simply for the fact that I have no way to vette them or judge if they know what they're talking about or are just blowing smoke or armchair-theorizing.
And given the kinds of responses I have seen over the years to boating topics that I
do happen to know about--- admittedly there aren't very many of those, but there are a few--- I am pretty convinced my approach to the forum is the safest one: great entertainment but not anything I would ever actually trust or act on without checking with known (to me) credible sources.
Psneeld is absolutely correct; just because someone is a "professional" (which by definition simply means they charge for their work) does not mean they are any good at what they do. People one meets in person have to be judged very carefully before one accepts them as credible sources. The only way that can be done, however, is to
do it in person.
Psneeld is also correct in that "advice" on this forum should always be checked with other sources, ideally known credible sources, before being acted on. I see that as a waste of time which is why I put no stock in the "advice" I see posted here on various topics. Since I'm going to check it all anyway with the network of credible sources I've created over a lot of years, why not simply go to those sources to start with? Which is what I do.
The number one downside of the internet is that it gives automatic credibility to everything that's on it simply by virtue of it being in print. Because humans have not yet evolved--- and perhaps they never will--- past the "if it's in print it must be right" mentality.
The
initial reaction to something a person sees in print is to believe it. Depending on that person's education, knowledge, experience, logic and common sense that person may immediately dismiss what they read as being BS. Or know to check it out more thoroughly before accepting it as fact. But the
first reaction is to give it credibility simply by virtue of it being in print.
In the old days when print meant books, magazines and newspapers giving credibility to something because it was in print had a lot of validity to it. Books, magazines and newspapers have quite a process that is gone through before they are published. More than one set of eyes are cast over what's been written before it's put out there for everyone to read. This doesn't keep bad information from being published but it's a control step designed to prevent bad information from getting out there unless printing bad information is the objective.
This all disappeared with the internet. Even the much vaunted Wikipedia cannot be assumed to be correct because there is no truly effective check on what's printed there. On the topic of the company I work for and its products alone I have come across all kinds of flat out inaccuracies.
And when you get to things like public forums like this, there is no credibility control whatsoever.
But..... there is still that inherent tendency to believe what's in print simply because it's in print. So you get all sorts of knee-jerk reactions to stuff that isn't even true, decisions being made based on stuff that isn't true, people going off in totally the wrong direction following somebody's "advice," and so on. Sometimes the end result has little more consequence than being funny. Other times, the end result can be very serious or even life-threatening.
If one is smart enough to realize this and treats things like this forum as nothing more than an entertaining past-time, fine. No harm done. But as information becomes more and more feelings driven than fact driven--- which is what is happening today across the board--- the consequences will continue to become more and more serious and detrimental.
Humans will eventually realize this but they'll have to burn themselves pretty seriously before they learn not to touch things that are real hot. We're a long way from reaching that point right now.
Which is why I put no stock whatsoever in the content of this forum but I do find it a very entertaining way to take a short break from reality.
