If You're Unsure, Don't Answer

by waken
17 replies
That's it! If you don't know the answer, don't simply bluff your theoretical points that you "think" or you "feel" in such a manner that you're giving advice from an authoritative position.

It's deluding people especially newbie that should have taken the correct path and avoid many wasting time before they finally discovered that your advise is wrong.

This has been going on and on with gurus telling people to use forum to leech traffic by "being" or "pretending to be" an expert on the subject, build trust etc. It's better for you to keep quiet and let those who knows to answer the question rather than posting confusing replies that some people might thought as real. You'll learn more yourself too.

I don't see what's the problem with these people. What are you going to learn if you don't be honest? Admit it when you don't know or just keep quiet..what's so embarrassing about it?

I've even seen Warriors registering for more than one username..one posing the position of an expert and another to ask questions that they feel the first identity should not be asking. Hey, what's the matter here?

Be yourself! Be honest! Be real!

Sorry if that offend you. But I'm sick looking at a few threads with totally illogical replies... while you may have the right of speech and newbie should make due diligence when getting advices, but I strongly believe that it would be better if we can think before we post any advices that are confusing..not to mention false.
#answer #unsure
  • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
    Originally Posted by waken View Post

    That's it! If you don't know the answer, don't simply bluff your theoretical points that you "think" or you "feel" in such a manner that you're giving advice from an authoritative position.

    It's deluding people especially newbie that should have taken the correct path and avoid many wasting time before they finally discovered that your advise is wrong.

    This has been going on and on with gurus telling people to use forum to leech traffic by "being" or "pretending to be" an expert on the subject, build trust etc. It's better for you to keep quiet and let those who knows to answer the question rather than posting confusing replies that some people might thought as real. You'll learn more yourself too.

    I don't see what's the problem with these people. What are you going to learn if you don't be honest? Admit it when you don't know or just keep quiet..what's so embarrassing about it?

    I've even seen Warriors registering for more than one username..one posing the position of an expert and another to ask questions that they feel the first identity should not be asking. Hey, what's the matter here?

    Be yourself! Be honest! Be real!

    Sorry if that offend you. But I'm sick looking at a few threads with totally illogical replies... while you may have the right of speech and newbie should make due diligence when getting advices, but I strongly believe that it would be better if we can think before we post any advices that are confusing..not to mention false.

    Problem is, some people really do believe they have the answers, for a
    variety of reasons that I won't get into here.

    And with subjective topics...forget it.

    How do you really get an accurate answer?

    I know where you're coming from, but it just isn't that cut and dried.
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    • Profile picture of the author Julian Lockhart
      I was doing some reserach and found a particular forum that must be on a backlink service list.

      It's funny because there is new user after new user asking the same simple questions. It's a small company supported forum and there is this one user answering question after question. The poor guy is being run ragged.

      What's disappointing about it is most users names are lowcostinsurance, menrings, eastcoastpoolbuilder, seodallas, howtobuildachickencoop. ***

      In every community there will be givers and takers.

      That being said I don't mind backlink building services or most of what you described (well I don' think i like the (allegedly) faked conversations you talked about ) just as long as it from a spirit of contribution.

      As Steve said some people believe (I know I do sometimes) that they have all the answers.

      *** user names have been changed to protect the guilty.
      Signature
      Biz Launch Box - Marketing Consultant
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve Diamond
      Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

      ...it just isn't that cut and dried.
      You know where it is relatively cut and dried? In the Warrior Support Forums, especially Programming Talk. And yet this phenomenon happens even there. Newbies jump in with answers that are wrong, irrelevant, nonsensical, or just plain bad advice. Sometimes it's obvious that it's done in good faith, but often not. I think some folks go to those less-trafficked areas of the WF to try to fly under the radar while they build their post counts.

      The thing about wrong answers or non-answers to programming questions is that they just plain don't work. You can have an opinion about the best way to solve a programming problem, but you can't have an opinion about whether a proposed solution works. It does or it doesn't.

      And by the way, it would be nice to see more traffic in those obscure parts of the forum. I think many Warriors don't even realize they exist. For example, questions often get posted here in the main forum that really belong in Website Design. Come on down!

      Steve
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      Reduce stress | Stay focused | Keep positive and balanced
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    • Profile picture of the author waken
      Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

      Problem is, some people really do believe they have the answers, for a
      variety of reasons that I won't get into here.

      And with subjective topics...forget it.

      How do you really get an accurate answer?
      Well Steve, I think you've figured out what I mean ..

      Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

      Some questions only have one answer.

      For example:

      "Can you sell list building products through Clickbank?"

      The answer is no. It's in their TOS. There are also tons of other products
      that they won't allow you to sell.
      But Alexa puts it best ... and in fact answered many of doubts others posted..

      Originally Posted by alexa_s View Post

      Some things are cut and dried, others are not.

      Some things are factual, others are opinion.

      Some things have only qualitative/subjective answers, others have only quantitative/objective ones; more still have a combination of the two.

      What's tiresome is when people (sometimes not appreciating the difference) present opinion as fact: when someone asks about whether to post articles on their site first and then on EZA rather than the other way round, and there are one-line responses saying "EZA won't publish anything that isn't as-yet-unpublished original content", that's just silly. It would actually do question-askers a great favour if people purporting to provide factual information verify it first, or at least say "As I remember" or "I haven't checked but I think", or whatever.
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  • Profile picture of the author JasonGiorgini
    When I clicked on this thread, I thought it was going to be a question to a hard marketing problem

    I agree with you Waken.

    John
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  • Profile picture of the author CliveG
    "A little knowledge is dangerous". Whoever originally said that knew what they were talking about. However, people with a little knowledge often give answers in good faith. I've almost certainly done it myself many times over the years.
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    • Profile picture of the author WritingMadwoman
      The problem is that there are usually many right answers to the same question. We've all gotten different results from different methods, so we answer based on our own experiences, which are usually different from everyone else's!

      Then you add in the supposed "authorities" who say you should never do this and always do that - but plenty of people do the opposite and get good results from it.

      I can see why so many newbies get so confused about the conflicting advice! :confused:

      Wendy
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      • Profile picture of the author Kay King
        True - the answers may be from different viewpoints or the question may be one of opinion rather than fact. People who read the replies are responsible for deciding who and what they will believe rather than accepting everything as fact or truth.

        Most often, the clueless answers are coming from newbies themselves who want to participate to get their name or signature seen - and have no idea what they are talking about.

        If every answer were accurate and to the point with no odd or partial replies or questionable advice.....this wouldn't be a "forum".
        Signature
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        2024 Patriot's Award for Service to Veterans
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      • Profile picture of the author JAIDEEP2959
        Originally Posted by waken View Post

        This has been going on and on with gurus telling people to use forum to leech traffic by "being" or "pretending to be" an expert on the subject, build trust etc. It's better for you to keep quiet and let those who knows to answer the question rather than posting confusing replies that some people might thought as real. You'll learn more yourself too.

        I don't see what's the problem with these people. What are you going to learn if you don't be honest? Admit it when you don't know or just keep quiet..what's so embarrassing about it?

        I've even seen Warriors registering for more than one username..one posing the position of an expert and another to ask questions that they feel the first identity should not be asking. Hey, what's the matter here?

        This is a very good point.

        Newbies should not completely trust what member post if he/she has made less posts or has less thanked posts.

        Any post hyping the things should be avoided.
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        • Profile picture of the author shirland
          I have been posting to forums for a short time now. I am starting to recognize the BS artist. When question about SEO and other technical things are asked about I sometimes have to shake my head at people commenting that has no clue. I am no expert but I can follow logic very well. There are a lot of truths in this thread that i agree with.
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          • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
            [DELETED]
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            • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
              And then of course, you have to look at the question being asked.

              Some questions only have one answer.

              For example:

              "Can you sell list building products through Clickbank?"

              The answer is no. It's in their TOS. There are also tons of other products
              that they won't allow you to sell.

              Now, having said that, somebody is going to come along and tell you that
              there are ways to get around that. Submit a different product and sales
              page and then after it's approved, make the switch. Totally unethical, and
              if you're caught they'll ban you for life, but there are those who will
              argue with the definitive "no" answer to this question.

              See the problem?

              Now, compound this problem with a question that doesn't have a clear
              definitive answer.

              For example:

              "What is the best way to drive traffic to your site?"

              Good luck with that one. I'm not even going to attempt to answer it.

              Once upon a time, I would have. But I've come to realize that, in this
              business, there are NO absolutes. And anybody who is looking for them is
              looking for trouble.

              I can drive tons of traffic to my sites from article writing.

              If you can't write to save your life, good luck getting anybody to your
              site.

              I've learned some hard lessons from this forum about absolutes and
              "answers" to questions. These days, I preface everything I say with a
              disclaimer because my results and your results may be two completely
              different things because of our skills, budget, time constraints and a ton
              of other variables that I won't get into.

              The best advice I can give anybody here who is thinking about doing
              anything at all is this.

              Don't accept it and don't dismiss it. Test it for yourself and see how it
              works for you.

              Ultimately, that will be what determines whether you continue to use it or
              not.
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  • Profile picture of the author MustafaKamal
    Then again, how can you exactly tell whether the so called 'expert' is in fact, wearing a newbie shirt inside when they have the ability to 'reframe' their words so well?

    Just a thought...
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  • Profile picture of the author jhongren
    Isn't this a forum afterall?

    as everyone contributes, it is a collection
    of different ideas and opinions and anyone
    who reads them and interprets them, is
    responsible to decide if it is the best
    answer for them =)

    John
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  • Profile picture of the author Floyd Fisher
    Yeah, but if we don't answer, people will get all upset and think we don't care.

    See how that can backfire on you?
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  • Profile picture of the author Saul'
    Well, come on now, what happened to the free speech?

    Those who post fluff only to get their sigs out there should be dealt with by the mods. That's a different issue.

    On the other hand, those who make genuine posts, should have the right to voice their opinion, no matter how they formulate it. What will this place become if people won't be able to post whatever they want as long as they abide by the rules? Everything but a forum.

    I understand the frustration, but it's something to put up with.
    Signature

    Saul

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