Posted by IsoM on December 27, 2002, at 23:58:11
In reply to Re: Poster ratings » Dinah, posted by BrittPark on December 27, 2002, at 23:14:14
BrittPark, ratings can be so abused. I've seen sites that used ratings & when someone felt vindictive toward another, they would give this person the lowest rating possible. They could also get friends to rate this person so any top ratings from others would be effectively cancelled. Other times, when an answer had no ratings, some readers thought it was worse than the lowest rating. Not all people reading the forums understood what the ratings meant. Time & again, ratings have caused more problems than solved.
As for informed answers, & who believes what -that's what most of life is like. Those who truly desire to find accurate info will double check to be certain. Those who are gullible will often believe what they want to hear, sadly. Sometimes when a person is presented with two conflicting sets of information, what's accepted & believed is what that person *wants* to believe whether it's true or not.
I've seen when someone's answer was grossly inaccurate, other posters soon corrected it. On the whole, the people that use these forums are pretty well informed. There's a number of biologists, a toxicologist, a few doctors, & quite a few other well educated, knowledgable people here. And they're generally quick to correct mistakes.
poster:IsoM
thread:8603
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20021128/msgs/8614.html