Seperating the good from the bad

[Zahnburg]

Here is a question for all of you folks asking questions. When people reply to your question how do you know if the advice you are receiving is accurate? How do you know if the person replying knows what he/she is talking about? I often observe these conversations where a very good and solid answer is given to the question. Then there are 30 more posts that are terrible.
How do you, as the "question asker", seperate the good from the bad?

[Rerun]

Not really sure I understand this question. This isn't a site with people claiming to be professionals and you pay us for our opinion. This site is like any dog park, petstore, or other group gathering of dog owners talking about and giving advice for what has worked for them.

There isn't a little symbol next to the names of those who really know what they're talking about. You take everyone's advice with a grain of salt, same as you would anyone else.

[selzer]

I think the internet is a terrible place to go for reliable information as a whole.

When I found out I have hashimoto's disease, I started reading people's stories and after about an hour and a half, I wanted to commit suicide. (That was years ago and I did not try it or anything.) It really isn't that big of a deal, but it sounds pretty intimidating.

My point is the internet has tons of information, and some of it is good and some of it is bad, some is correct, some is incorrect. Some is downright dangerous.

Think of the board as a bunch of friends. Only special friends. Some you get to know a bit better, some you don't know at all. Kind of like a German Shepherds Anonymous Meeting. Hello, My name is Selzer, I am a Shepaholic.

I can tell my buddies on my site just about anything (except political things). Some are trustworthy and some might actually know some other members and talk about me. I can ask them anything too. Many will have answers for me. But I do not know if those answers are good or bad.

I can take the popular approach. If 200 people tell me not to get two puppies at the same time, and two people tell me go for it, maybe I should listen to the 200.

I can consider the source. If I know the source's profession, or experience with the breed, or experience in nutrition, or experience with breeding, or experience with behavior/training, then I can weigh their responses a bit heavier and cancel out many of the others. People may masquerade as something they are not for a little while, but if they really aren't a lawyer or doctor or vet, than that will be apparent at some point. And I would never just read one or two posts and believe the claim at face value. I would not trust a new vet who has an office and a shingle and a diploma on the wall right off, why would I trust an internet persona.

I could go with the personal experience theory. Has anyone ever dealt with aspergillios -- see I haven't, can't even spell it. But I doubt many people would say, Me Me I have! if they never heard of it. For behavior and issues, lots of people do have personal experiences, and what worked for them might work for me. I would avoid the ones that say something like, "my girlfriend's father in law..." It might be perfectly good information, but I have played telephone one too many times.

At some point you have to take the IDEAS from here, and any links, and employ your common sense, and decide whether this is worth trying for you and your dog.

In deciding, you might ask yourself some questions:
can doing this hurt my dog?
is what I am doing working?
is it likely to improve if I do this?
is it likely to improve if I do nothing?
could I try if for a set period and then assess progress?

I think there is a ton of good information on this site, and a lot of excellent people who love their dogs, and a lot of personal experience with dogs. Sometimes you do have to sift through stuff. I think that is true wherever you look for information.

[PaddyD]

Originally Posted by Rerun

There isn't a little symbol next to the names of those who really know what they're talking about. You take everyone's advice with a grain of salt, same as you would anyone else.

There isn't a symbol but there is a word: Moderator

[Zahnburg]

Originally Posted by PaddyD

There isn't a symbol but there is a word: Moderator

Do you really think this word means that they know anything?

[JKlatsky]

This probably isn't going to sound particularly wise...but I pick the responses that I like, that are in line with what I was already thinking. If I ask a specific question and am given several options for how to handle or approach the problem I go through and ask myself a couple questions...

-Have I already done that? (In which case, thanks for the suggestion...it didn't work for me)
-Am I willing to do that? (Half-heartedly trying something out pretty much dooms it to failure...so if it's not a method I'm comfortable with then I'm not going to do it.)
-Can I do it? (Does it pass the feasability test? Maybe I would love to do it...but for whatever reason- physicality, time, cost prohibitive, etc.- it's not something I can achieve)

And then if their answer passes those questions I usually try it and see if it works. And from there I am more likely to build faith in people whose responses are consistently reasonable and well written and have worked for me in the past.

[Zahnburg]

Originally Posted by Rerun

There isn't a little symbol next to the names of those who really know what they're talking about. You take everyone's advice with a grain of salt, same as you would anyone else.

So you do not give preference to certain posts/or posters?

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by PaddyD

There isn't a symbol but there is a word: Moderator

That makes absolutely no sense.

Just because someone is a moderator doesn't make them an expert on every single topic regarding german shepherds.

[onyx'girl]

just like doing a search on google, you take the links posted and throw out the ones that aren't from sources that can be documented.

This site is excellent in the fact that it has high traffic, but asking for advice on any website is just what it is...free~ you get what you pay for.

After awhile you know who the knowledgeable ones are, and who the ones who post just to agree, or just to post.
IMO, this board is a treasure of GSD enthusiasts and every one has their experiences that make their posts interesting and informative

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by Zahnburg

So you do not give preference to certain posts/or posters?

Certainly. But I base it on the exact same things I base opinions on "in real life." What's their experience, how long have I "known" them, do they regularly give sound advice that falls in line with my own personal feelings and beliefs regarding raising, training, etc GSD's.