You're Wrong,...

o0norton0o

o0norton0o

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I do a lot of searches for information for my projects as well as ask a thousand questions. In my research so far I've found a few responses that have mistakes, or are just wrong but were not challenged by anyone. I don't want to be a douchebag by quoting mistaken posts and correcting them when I find them if it's offensive to others. I did it once when I was searching for information for a project and that mistaken post was not altered to correct the simple mistake. I felt like my comment about the mistake was taken as a personal attack rather than an attempt to correct the information.

Now, I've come across another mistake in a recent thread researching my thread dial gear project. There was a very good answer to the question in that thread which was correct and then another answer that was wrong.... which went unchallenged. I felt very much like quoting it and correcting it... but I didn't because I had already learned enough from my research to not be fooled by believing wrong information. My only possible action was to correct it and risk being a dick......, let it go completely, or post this thread asking, What is the protocol here...?
 
Just my opinion, but I say bring it. I’d recommend doing so with links, evidence and/or reference sources that cannot be interpreted as opinion. Nobody’s perfect and everyone benefits from learning. The trick is sharing what you’ve learned that they haven’t.
 
"It's not what you said, but how you said it."

There are plenty of ways to offer corrections without coming across as being a jerk. But, you're not going to satisfy everyone all of the time.

Try this: next time you want to post a correction to someone else, before you click "Post reply" let your wife (spouse, significant other, trusted friend that's not afraid to call you an a$$hole) read it first.
 
TAI , Keep it suitable for our site . :)
 
I believe that in a forum such as this, if you are participating in a discussion, you are obligated to correct any factual errors. Nobody knows everything, and I think the majority of us come here to share and learn. Of course, you yourself may be mistaken about some finer point of the subject and then corrected. All the better, I say. Let's bring out all the facts from respected sources so we can all improve. One certainly doesn’t want to come across as speaking from the ivory tower but it’s not your fault pi = 3.95141 and if you let someone continue along with the wrong assumption your not being fair to them. Opinions, on the other hand, are like... everyone has one and is entitled to it. Those discussions can be fun! But you can't please everyone, unless maybe you're giving away free ice cream.
 
Lots of times there are several ways to do something. Sometimes there is more than one right answer. Like to avoid personalizing topics the way some sites do. The moderators seem to do a good job.
 
@o0norton0o This is how to deal with concerns about 'right' and 'wrong' answers... I guess that also goes for all members...

First consider the some possibilities -

1) They made a blatantly erroneous answer that most any person versed in the subject can recognize. Hit the 'report' button (and please explain what seems to be wrong) and the moderators can review the problem and correct the obvious error. This happens from time to time, for instance the spelling of an obscure brand name. It is really hard to google search with the incorrect spelling (but google is getting quite good at correcting these days)

2) They made an answer that is 'right' in their context, but not in yours. This comes up a lot, and has sparked some spectacular fights (which, for pity's sake, please avoid!) It happens by not having all the information, or an assumption, or an incorrect reading of a post. Such statements are correct on their own, but not necessarily helpful to you. This is best handled by sending a PM to the poster for a clarification - of the kind "I thought I was asking this question for this particular case, but the answer seemed to imply that this other thing was true. Is that what you meant?..." Most of the people are just trying to help, and many of them - most of them - are very experienced machinists or tool and die makers, and can draw on a wealth of info.

3) There is also the possibility that the answer is more right than the original poster understands. Some technical questions here have very complex answers and depend on ALL the circumstances to get to the right answer.

The safest approach is to PM a moderator or use the 'Report' button. Sometimes a moderator can hook you up with a mentor, or answer the question directly. Sometimes a few things can be edited, but we try to edit a thread very sparingly. Some people are very sensitive about edits. Many times alternate ways of doing things enhances the value of the thread.

@o0norton0o Please feel free to PM me. I am curious about the errors that you have flagged.

-------

For everybody:

Everyone here is acting in good faith and everyone needs to be treated with respect.
 
@Dabbler as a mod, has provided the clearest (and probably sanest) answer.

A fair chunk of the "correctness" of stuff is contextual and there's often more than one way to efficiently defur a feline.

Factually incorrect answers are probably less common than one might assume. ;)

However, if you don't mind a bit of extra work, I'd say that the best way of correcting a piece of advice that might be less than optimal, is to for us to reply in a manner that suggests we are willing to entertain doubt about our "corrections"; (sometimes using a question can be helpful).

So something like:

"Ah, so you reckon [whatchamacallit] would be best used with [so-and-so]? I've always thought [whatchamacallit] had limited use in this situation and [so-and-so] shouldn't be used like this. Can you expand on that?"

I mean, you could be unwittingly wrong and the person you're correcting could be right.

Also, if you always start off with the assumption that the other person is posting in good faith and is not just posting to make themselves feel good, then that will reduce the chances of you posting the equivalent of "your opinions are bad and you should feel bad" :grin:

The other good thing about engaging the "correctee" in a polite and interested dialogue about their advice/answer, is that it kinda "shows the work" on both sides, and people can learn as much, or even more, from that than just a plain correction.

Of course, if it becomes clear that other person is being stubborn, or just wants to win an argument on rhe internet, then @Dabbler has the perfect advice in his post above. :)

It takes some effort of course, but eh, anything worthwhile always does (which is a constant regret for someone as lazy as me!:big grin:).
 
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