No it's not just you, I thought I was the only one thinking along these lines on here. I have been a member here now for almost 4 years. My screenname changed last Sept when RIU had a computer problem and lost my profile and all my saved threads, friends and notepad info.
Such is life though, the worst part was losing my reps and RIU seems to have changed the way points are given and your little stoner or Mr Ganga are given to people.
I have seen far too many people that have been here a short time with names and little green boxes given that give people looking at their advice would assume they know what the hell they are talking about. Example was earlier in the week a person with high marks, lots of responses given started a thread asking if their grow was ready to harvest. I looked up his profile and read some of his posts/advice it was terrible. The person didn't know squat but was Johnny on the Spot telling folks what to do and when it came to his or hers own grow was looking for advice on when to harvest.
I have to wonder what harm he has done to people silly enough to listen and follow their advice. There are several of these examples I have come across since I have returned to RIU the past few months.
I don't know what the answer is to this problem and how a true rating system can be achieved but it is will worth looking into. I know another problem we are facing today and this site as good as it is and all the good that comes from it. Younger people today in general(not saying all) are basically either very ignorant, lazy or plain stupid, possibly a combination of all of the above. People seem willing to start a new thread asking a question expecting to be given new answers when the thread exists already or maybe even have a sticky they can look it up. We are given a search area to bring us all information available on site to us in seconds, today we have computers and google not to belittle other search engines. This is not the go to the library, buy countless books and other means of research my generation had to go through to find answers to their questions. Maybe people today are just spoiled that everything is available with a few well chosen keystrokes.
I try not to offer advice unless I am pretty sure of the answer, have had the same problem and offer how I dealt with it or through an opinion I have based on knowledge gathered over 40 plus years of growing MJ and close to 50 years of going plants in general. I only wish that some others would follow the same advice.
I will close by saying I truly enjoy this site, I have made many friends which share similiar beliefs in the way to grow organically, have learned many technical things which I never would have and in general love to share my thoughts on growing organically in the soil. I hope that given some time and maybe some willingness on the newer younger members we can stop some of the bitching when opinions differ, learn and teach others to research a subject and how to enjoy a way of life today that people of my generation worked so hard to bring to the mainstream of culture.
Never assume the person giving advice is correct unless you can find other means to verify, study the subject you are having the problem with, read everything you can on the subject in question. Always be willing to try something new, the other person may be correct and keep tempers and egos in check when posting.
Just my thoughts about a great site and a forum to allow me to rant. Happy Growing to all
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