Separating the chaff from the wheat. Does the Answerer really know what their talking about? You decide!?

Question

There's a lot of opinions out there, but who really knows what they're talking about? That's the problem. You don't know! Information is only as good as the credibility of the source. So you have to weigh the value of all your information sources together, including Yahoo Answers to judge what is the most likely useful information to you in my opinion. Or are you a person who always knows when the story you hear is the truth?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

I always provide a link to where I found the information so that people can check my answer and learn more about it. I agree that this could be a potential problem though, I have seen some answers that I know for a fact are wrong.

Answer 2

I agree, you can only use the answer as a guide in the right direction - research afterwards is the true key - this isn't just a site for lazy people (although some might think otherwise)

Answer 3

In answering questions, I generally try to provide several sources supporting my argument so that people can verify the information that i provide. In assessing answers to my question, I use the smell test of how does this information match up with what I do know and other research.

Answer 4

Welp, if all you perfessers are goin' ta attach links to support yer answers, why not just reply with the links and give up tryin' ta look like yer answerin' sumbuddys question?

Answer 5

Everyone has an opinion: left, right or in the middle...depending on their values, and your choice is also dependent on your values. Personally I prefer to only INVEST my time answering questions that seem to have value and hope to add value to the inquirer by having researched and/or experienced in the past; many people however seem to be very tunnel-visioned and don't bother to verify the source of the information, therefore repeating everything they hear and our media is oftentimes very, very biased offering their opinion, when I am NOT interested in hearing their opinion but rather would prefer to hear the facts and form MY own opinion once I gather all the info...so my motto is ALWAYS look at the big picture rather than making a decision based on what is apparent on the surface and don't be afraid to verify the source of your information and the character of the informer.