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Old 15-01-2005, 10:12 PM
Richard
 
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Here's an excerp from Mike, past editor of TFH(used with his
premission) about "free" advice on the net.

by Mike Reed
Past Editor of TFH Magazine

It's amazing how treacherous the Internet can be if you are looking for
advice about keeping tropical fishes. Every now and then, I used to
visit the forums and discussion groups on "the net" and even
participated in them briefly. What I saw was that in with the simple,
sometimes good advice was an amazing amount of outdated advice and some
downright bad advice being given to all who would read and trust it.
Every now and then, somebody gave information that was startingly good
and new and useful. But these gems came from intelligent and creative
people and such people have limited time. The hacks that spend endless
time on "the net" do not like anything new or that they disagree with -
with or without evidence that it is right or wrong. So they demand
"proof" of what anybody else says that they disagree with. And the more
they get answers, the more they continue to harangue the contributor of
the information. If you have ever wondered why you do not see
well-known aquarists on the forums and discussion groups, this is the
main reason. Why spend limited time trying to help when you are simply
badgered for it. Better to just save the time and not participate. You
can do much more, much more easily by writing an article for an
aquarium magazine."

Assumptive hacks do not bug me, but the words from Mike are very
precise and to the point.


When was he editor? I've never heard of him and have been wrting for TFH for years.

That he spent a small time on the net and found it uselss is no great shock,
and it's rather a slap in the face to people that do know their stuff and have
been here since posting #1 back in the 80s.

The current editor of TFH does not share his opinion. And it's not like
you can't find bad information inj any magazine. His point is valid
to the extent that "some guy on the next said xxx works" is not valid
without checking to see if that's really true. This is the nature of
research and critical thought.

I like TFH. But the net, not TFH made the fish hobby what it is today. Hell, you
can't even buy TFH in Canada. There's a lot to be said for instand uniquitous
communication. Or would you rather snail mail your question to TFH and read the answer
4 months later?



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