Thoughts on How to Eliminate the "Newbies Throwing out Bad Advice" problem...

Wuddup guys,

So i was just reading through a couple threads, and i came across this one, where two or three people were telling this one guy that his plant was gonna die, and there was nothing he could do about it. The kid had like two or three burnt leaves on his plant. It just kind of made me shake my head. But it also got me thinking...

What if we implemented something like a Quiz upon gaining membership to RIU? Nothing too in depth, but enough grower common knowledge, to determine wether or not that particular newbie has any business giving out advice of any nature. If the newbie fails the quiz, then forbid him from giving advice until he is allowed to take the quiz again, in whatever alotted time you feel is appropriate, like maybe 2-3wks -- enough time for them to read the FAQs and maybe some independent research on how to grow. I'm not saying put a ban on their posting privleges or anything, but rather have 1 mod specifically for going through the forums, to check for newbies who are shitting out horrible advice for unsuspecting growers who just flat out dont know any better, and end up killing their plants, cuz some newbie told them to take a shit in the soil.

The mod could either ban the member for an alotted time depending on the severity of their stupidity, or just have their posting privleges taken away altogether until they can pass the Quiz. I mean, even if these guys go and search up the answers while taking it for the first time, at least they'll have learned the answers to the questions were asking, and are less likely to give out horrible advice, yaknow what i mean? I just think that even though the amount of bad advice is deminishing, its never going to go away altogether, unless something is done about it. IMHO, this would accomplish alot and give the site a nice polish to it, because only viable advice would be given from here on out.

Its just a thought. Interpret it how you want to. I know it would be a mundane ass job for somebody to have to go through the whole forums on a daily basis looking for newbies doing this, but im sure you guys can find somebody who is willing to get the job done. It's just getting to the point where people who have only germinated a seed in a dixie cup are giving advice to people who have full blown grows going on, and if it hasn't happened already, then sooner or later somebody is gonna lose plants and alot of valuable time spent growing them, due to somebody's desperation to look like they know what theyre talking about.

Sorry for the blather, but the idea just kinda popped into my head .

thanks for reading guys

-K1.

lol hope i pass the test.
i think it should be a requirement to read the growfaqs at least before being able to post.

smoke and coke said:

lol hope i pass the test.
i think it should be a requirement to read the growfaqs at least before being able to post.

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I try to throw that link around as much as possible

well im new here but must agree with you on this last thing i need is dipshit advise skrewing up my grow

I think this is a bad idea. It's fascism disguised as progress.

First, RIU has a reputation system already built in, and while it's not foolproof, it does give a very quick glance at what others have said about said advice giver. Banning people for giving bad advice will not encourage them to learn, it'll only keep them away from a rich source of knowledge.

Second, who's to say the FAQ are absolute gospel anyway? The purpose of a community message board should be for open discussion, not cultism and/or elitism!

Third, anyone who takes advice from an unknown entity has a few lessons they need to learn anyway. If you take advice from a newb who doesn't know shit and it messes you up, then next time, don't take the first advice given to you! Do a bit of research, learn to identify qualified experts! That's life on or off the internet, man.

vh13 said:

I think this is a bad idea. It's fascism disguised as progress.

First, RIU has a reputation system already built in, and while it's not foolproof, it does give a very quick glance at what others have said about said advice giver. Banning people for giving bad advice will not encourage them to learn, it'll only keep them away from a rich source of knowledge.

Second, who's to say the FAQ are absolute gospel anyway? The purpose of a community message board should be for open discussion, not cultism and/or elitism!

Third, anyone who takes advice from an unknown entity has a few lessons they need to learn anyway. If you take advice from a newb who doesn't know shit and it messes you up, then next time, don't take the first advice given to you! Do a bit of research, learn to identify qualified experts! That's life on or off the internet, man.

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Well said and I agree with you 100%

I think the FAQ is a perfect place to start, it covers all the basic questions you need answered before you should start growing and asking asinine questions. I agree about not taking every piece of advise you hear, you have to be smart enough recognize not only smart growers but smart people all together. I have never acted on any advise without first researching it first, i guess i like to know everything about something before i do it. You also shouldn't stick to just 1 website either. I love rollitup but there are some other great sites out there.

I agree with all that's been said, it was just a thought I figured I'd throw out there. But also, to at least require that people read the FAQ before coming in and posting gives them a base knowledge of the raw basics of growing. No it's not gospel, but it most certainly IS all accurate common knowledge. It's something that even if you don't read it in the FAQ, you end up learning anyway over time with experience.

By requiring people to glance over all of that info, not only would you eliminate alot of bad advice, you'd also eliminate alot of the same questions being asked over and over again, n while I personally don't mind answering those questions and helping people out whenever I can, it does cause alot of ignorant comments and in-fighting to happen amongst the members. This could easily be resolved by having these guys mull over the wealth of basic knowledge we have here. It's not fascism, it's encouraging people to learn rather than letting them go the lazy route and just putting up a thread. They're going to end up doing a hell of alot more work in the long run making all of those common newbie mistakes, as opposed to doing maybe an hour or two worth of reading, and gaining the knowledge to maybe prevent those mistakes from happening, instead of screwing up and asking questions or doing research afterward.

Personally I've learned alot from mistakes that i've made in the garden, and while I'm not de-valueing that in any way, i AM saying that the amount of mistakes could have easily been minimized. Regardless, I'll never have a problem with fielding questions from newer growers. I love being able to help out n give back what has so generously been given to me, but all the bad advice can be nipped in the bud. How are the newbies supposed to know who not to take advice from? If they don't take a tour of the site first, not only will they miss the FAQ, they'll also be
Oblivious to the reputation system. I just don't think there's an excuse for giving ignorant advice, when the answers are literally a click away..

Not everything in the FAQ covers everything you might need to know.

Wuddup GT, n thanks for postin dude. Well, i guess all these points are valid. No big whoop, was just sharing a thought is all. I'm sure somebody will eventually think of a more constructive way to get through to people. Back to business as usual

-K1.

As an experienced grower, why not jump in and correct them or offer different advice that will work. It's like with anything, if you don't know you are wrong, you will continue to do things wrong until someone tells you or shows you a different way. Or just do things the way you were taught. We are all after the same thing here, lets help everyone get to it.

Explain your own POV(offer links if deemed appropriate). Openly disagree without resulting to personal attacks and you'll be thanked profusely.

I've also seem numerous types of "your plant is a goner" posts, when usually the plant will recover in no time.

I absolutely agree. I'm usually somebody who has no problem what soever with sitting down and helping out anybody with any advice that i think im qualified to give, it was just that day when i was going through some posts and i saw that, i just didn't get what the hell was going through their heads, lol. I've honestly never seen anybody give any advice like that to somebody in a similar situation before, so it just kinda dumbfounded me. Sorry if i came off as sounding like im fed up with all of the nonsense, cuz while in truth, people should do research at length before delving into growing seriously, the reality is that hardly anybody really does when theyre just starting out. Hell, even im guilty of the same thing for my first month of growing, lol.

So yeah, i hope you guys dont think im some mindless dickhead who's flown off the reservation or anything, i'm doin my best to try and prove quite the opposite, lol

-K1.

Every forum I know of has the same problem. You can't give a test, it's too easy to cheat. The best solution is a guide for new users that warns them that anybody can be an expert on the internet and to weigh the information you get carefully. Just like in life, don't believe everything you hear.

Have a highly moderated forum, similar to the GROW FAQs, where all posts and threads are subject to 'expert grower' moderation(a, "prove it, or lose it" stance, where posts which can not be confirmed are removed). Where you'd have to be an a list to post there at all(perhaps a weighting of reputation and post count).

Where the forum would be more about discussion, furthering cannabis horticulture as a field, and less about 'newbie Q&A'. A master reference for anything cannabis, of sorts.

Instead of a static, monolithic source such as the current Grow FAQs, it'd be dynamic and evolving. Allowing multiple, more diverse sources of information to reach unity.

i've been given plenty of bad advice, did it ever get me?
a few times, but now when i take advice on my grow, i
make sure it is proven.
no more boric acid to get rid of bugs for me...........killed
my whole crop

so i guess what i am saying is if folks would take the
time to verify growing advice. we wouldn't need bad
advice police.

What if we implemented something like a Quiz upon gaining membership to RIU?

Yeah there should be some type of quiz you can take every so often and have your score shown in your profile if you want o keep it private!

There are very experienced, quality growers who disagree on many subjects.

Who is to say if it works for them, but not you that it is wrong?

There are lots of ways to grow, just research before you commit your grow to someone else's opinion.

why do people always tryn make "systems" to go thru...ssystems were made to rule all us xperianced growers will "rule" over the ones here for imans help...