Comments on: The problems with experts http://blog.agrawals.org/2007/05/02/the-problems-with-experts/ Rocky Agrawal's blog on search, wireless, maps and Web 2.0 Fri, 30 Jul 2010 05:57:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Badger Gravling http://blog.agrawals.org/2007/05/02/the-problems-with-experts/#comment-11373 Badger Gravling Tue, 08 May 2007 20:00:36 +0000 http://redesign.wordpress.com/2007/05/02/the-problems-with-experts/#comment-11373 As much as I enjoy and appreciate specialist forums, and I realise that an 'Expert', on stage, under quick response may be capable of mistakes, I still think the value of professional experts is being undervalued in the rush to praise users. While the end product of a forum debate might yield the right answer, it'll take a while for that answer to form. Indeed, it might never be satisfactorily be resolved. And in the meantime, how do you know who to trust without investing a lot of time and effort into researching the subject? Meanwhile any expert worth their salt will not only have an idea of an answer, but will also research it to make sure they're right. And still end up with a correct answer before the forum has finished. Personally I think the optimum method is to combine the two and get the best of both worlds, rather than promoting one over the other. As much as I enjoy and appreciate specialist forums, and I realise that an ‘Expert’, on stage, under quick response may be capable of mistakes, I still think the value of professional experts is being undervalued in the rush to praise users.

While the end product of a forum debate might yield the right answer, it’ll take a while for that answer to form. Indeed, it might never be satisfactorily be resolved. And in the meantime, how do you know who to trust without investing a lot of time and effort into researching the subject?

Meanwhile any expert worth their salt will not only have an idea of an answer, but will also research it to make sure they’re right. And still end up with a correct answer before the forum has finished.

Personally I think the optimum method is to combine the two and get the best of both worlds, rather than promoting one over the other.

]]> By: Alan Tai http://blog.agrawals.org/2007/05/02/the-problems-with-experts/#comment-11217 Alan Tai Thu, 03 May 2007 01:10:58 +0000 http://redesign.wordpress.com/2007/05/02/the-problems-with-experts/#comment-11217 Agreed on all points. This is probably the reason that "answer sites" such as Yahoo! Answers and Ask Metafilter are more entertainment than actual reliable resources. You could probably argue that the answer sites are nothing more than forums, except the ratio of experts to spammers, wise-cracking kids, and just plain misinformed (but kindhearted) joes is disappointingly small. The real domain experts hang out at THE places to talk about their passion; e.g. AVS forum for audio/video (as you mentioned) and DPReview for photography. Unfortunately, most folks, however, don't know about these sites initially. Blogs are also good resources. Now, if there were a good vertical search engine to dig through these top forums... (Google groups doesn't count) As for the the wiki version of blogs, it sounds like a good idea at first. Unfortunately, I think it would quickly devolve into a fantastical ficlets story, with disparate opinions and tangets galore. Part of the reason wikipedia works is that there is (for the most part) some agreement on the facts. Also, you lose out on the tree structure and quoting inherent in blog comments and forums. I like it how it is... Agreed on all points. This is probably the reason that “answer sites” such as Yahoo! Answers and Ask Metafilter are more entertainment than actual reliable resources. You could probably argue that the answer sites are nothing more than forums, except the ratio of experts to spammers, wise-cracking kids, and just plain misinformed (but kindhearted) joes is disappointingly small. The real domain experts hang out at THE places to talk about their passion; e.g. AVS forum for audio/video (as you mentioned) and DPReview for photography. Unfortunately, most folks, however, don’t know about these sites initially. Blogs are also good resources. Now, if there were a good vertical search engine to dig through these top forums… (Google groups doesn’t count)

As for the the wiki version of blogs, it sounds like a good idea at first. Unfortunately, I think it would quickly devolve into a fantastical ficlets story, with disparate opinions and tangets galore. Part of the reason wikipedia works is that there is (for the most part) some agreement on the facts. Also, you lose out on the tree structure and quoting inherent in blog comments and forums. I like it how it is…

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