You're Wrong,...

Also don't forget to proofread your post after posting it. I have had "autocorrect" also known as spell check mangle some posts and make them almost unreadable. There are times when I've had to edit and repost them multiple times before the corrections would be accepted. There are still few posts I submitted that have gibberish in them because I didn't proofread them before they timed out.

Also keep in mind the part about what are being referred to as "contextual" errors. An example I'll never forget was back in the 1970's when I was taking a refresher course for NAISE (now ASE) certification. One of the questions on a sample test was: What is the most common cause for an inoperative turn signal or parking light bulb? Every member of the class responded, "burned out bulb". The instructor marked them all wrong and said the correct answer was "bad ground".

No one could believe it, so during a break we all decided to keep a record of the number of incidents, and their resolution we encountered during the next few weeks. The week the class ended we presented the information from our experiences to the instructor. Over a time period of a month collectively the class (25) members had experienced 18 incidences of inoperative turn signals and parking lights. All of them were cases where the bulbs had burned out.

In our very local and uncontrolled sample the bulbs were not only the most prevalent problem, but the only problem. However, a national survey being used by the instructor found that in a larger sample bad grounds were more prevalent than burned out bulbs.
 
I have a couple thoughts......

I see the moderators here as a precious but limited resource. It is unlikely I would bother one of them with something minor.
If it's too late and the personal attacks are already underway then stop replying and report the posts.
Understand your posts may be edited too if they are seen as provoking or defamatory.

The vast majority of people here are very understanding and polite. However, do be conscious of language differences and differences in interpretations. I am not saying anyone should be afraid to post, but it is difficult to know how a post will be understood on the other end. It is not like in-person conversations where you can detect the misunderstanding and correct it. Basically just be polite!

I always read, and re-read ALL my posts before publishing them. Many times if I am not 100% happy with it I will save the draft and walk away. I might even leave it until the next day. Some I have simply deleted when I come back. If I cannot say what I want or don't have the time to fix it I won't post.

If you're concerned about how some previous poster will respond why even bother quoting them?
That way the risk of it being seen as any kind of personal attack is basically removed.
You could simply post what you see as the correct info with justification to the end of the thread and leave it as an exercise for the reader.
If they need the info they will have to do their complete research and read to the end to get all input.

Also consider what is the outcome of the perceived wrong info?
Is it likely to kill someone, damage a tool or machine, or just not work as intended?
I understand the pursuit of the truth, but be sure to have some perspective in mind.
This is an internet site and as such the onus is on the reader to understand the issues and sort the good from the bad.
Sure we have many beginners here too, but that's why we should post alternate ways.

Any science only progresses by critical review.
However, the review should be professional, polite and totally non-personal.

Of course I could be wrong! ;)
Brian
 
o0norton0o said:
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.
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Also note that on this site after some window the option to edit a post expires.
The OP cannot go back and edit bad info without moderator help.
Therefore I have simply added updates and corrections to the end of the thread.

Brian
 
I thought I was wrong once but I was mistaken. :laughing:

Seriously I make mistakes as well as everybody and I appreciate being corrected.

We have to remember in answering a question or offering a solution for the O.P. that there are more than 30,000 of us out there, many of which have very little background in the particular subject at hand and come to the forum to learn. Misinformation can be dangerous and IMO, it should be corrected. A serious problem with the internet is that it abounds with misinformation and hopefully, we at HM are better than that.

We have to remember that much of the knowledge that we have regarding machining is/was passed down from person to person though the years and the origin may well have been in the nineteenth century. What may have been true then may very well not be true now. Also what holds true for a large machine may not be so for the smaller machines that many of us use. So there will be inconsistencies in what is best practice and the poster may very well be correct within their context

Factual information is one thing and opinions are another. As stated previously, any corrections are best served with hard facts. If stating an opinion, it is best done with the disclaimer "IMO or IMHO". The use of emojis is one way to convey to the poster of differing opinion that it a correction isn't done in a vindictive manner,

Finally, one way that I will state a correction to perceived misinformation is through a private message to the poster. This avoids any personal embarrassment and allows him/her to self correct.

IMHO
 
o0norton0o said:
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.
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Thought experiment:
You were researching information. How did you know one answer was correct, and the other wrong? Why would a moderator's answer necessarily be any more correct than either of the first two, and how would you tell?
 
I participate in a bunch of forums. On a couple I make a post I think is correct and do a 10 minute countdown for someone to tell me I'm wrong. That's why I rarely post. For most machine solutions there are 2 or more ways to handle it. I always pick the simple one. If it is not a solution I have personally tried I rarely post it. Just because you think the post is wrong, does not mean your point of view is correct. We can all be wrong/uninformed. Some people derive their self esteem from correcting others.
 
CJ5Dave said:
Just because you think the post is wrong, does not mean your point of view is correct. We can all be wrong/uninformed.
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I couldn’t agree more. I have only been machining since the late 1980’s. I dont have enough experience to tell someone they are doing something wrong because I seem to learn different ways to do things all of the time. I personally have not found the internet to be near as reliable as real life.
Having said that, if I thought information being posted was unsafe for the poster or his audience I would likely state MY perspective.
 
There are obviously some answers that are fully wrong. 2+2=5 is incorrect. What I run into most often is inaccuracy based on context.

If an answer is so egregiously wrong that it may cost somebody significant money, or is a safety concern, then certainly speak up. Often I see arguments over right and wrong that basically comes down to opinions. The energy wasted on "Somebody said something wrong on the internet" could power a small nation.

If correction is needed, stick to the facts and provide your proof. That is wrong because I said so is not a strong argument. I've come to appreciate the value of "show me".

Last try to follow a simple rule, don't be a jerk.
 
As many have said, there's a lot of possibilities. Everything from a post that is worded poorly so it's misleading, to a difference in opinion. I am a relative beginner when it comes to metal work techniques, choice of methods, and user intuition, so I have very little way of sorting those subjects for accuracy and effectiveness. I have to research and keep researching to get an idea of what things are generally agreed on facts (ideas, etc)

Most recently I enabled my lathe to turn in a reverse direction, while threading and going away from the headstock. I thought that I could thread aluminum safely and higher speeds that way to obtain a much better finished cut. From all my research, my assumption was that the higher speed would improve the cut significantly. After much practicing, it turned out that doing a better job sharpening the cutter made the greatest improvement.... not the faster speed that I assumed would be most significant.... So,... I don't have the experience to challenge a lot of what I read. I just have to keep reading and see if what I assume is widely agreed upon or not.

The stuff that is more in my wheelhouse is geometrical math because I'm a cabinet maker. The tolerances for that trade are much less precise than metal work, but the implications are the same. I like answers with equations because they are either right or wrong, rather than verbal characterizations of a geometrical relationship because they are imprecise.

That was the whole crux of my question here. Whether I should correct a post that's a year old imprecise characterization of a geometrical relationship or let it go.... My reason for being so vigilant on the subject had to do with the learning process I was undergoing in order to learn if I could make some helical gears or have them 3D printed because they are no longer manufactured, and not available anywhere. After RJSakowski's post on my thread dial gears posting, I had to research for a week to understand the implications of his post which referenced a level of understanding which was beyond me at the time. If I was going to make or even model these gears for 3D printing, I needed to do my homework and learn the math. As I poured through the results of the search function here, I effectively was compiling a consensus of the topic. I had to go back and forth comparing comments and opinions until I felt competent to do my project.

Because I had no prior knowledge or experience with helical gear geometry, I was particularly sensitive to conflicting information. I wanted to get my project right, so I had to be vigilant. In conclusion, I don't think it's important to correct poorly worded posts from over a year ago that stand out to me because of the current focus on my project. As a rule for myself, I would disagree going forward with a comment I think is wrong.... but I see it as questionable to revive threads just to disagree with comments that are a year old...

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