I remember being taught how to change the brakes on my car. Was explained very simply, it was easy (or so I thought). So I decided to do it to my car next time I needed brake work. And I did, and a year or two later, my brakes failed.
The thing I was taught wasn't wrong, but it left out important details. There are very specific steps involved in cleaning parts, applying the right lubricant, not applying lubricant, aligning parts, not forcing things, doing the same change on both sides, torque specs, bedding steps. If you don't do them, the brakes just fail again. The person who taught me didn't go over those important yet intricate details - probably because they were taught by a non-expert too.
If the choice is "quit my job to start writing lots of expert content", or "accept the status quo", I choose neither. I have my own life to live. But if during the course of living my life, a wave of inaccuracy begins to lap at my door, I will attempt to stem the tide, in my own way. The toxic aspect, I think, is really just the way in which these corrections are given, and definitely I and others could do better with our tone. But to just give up and not give the corrections at all, I think would be disastrous.
(fwiw, I think HN's overzealous "guidelines" force people to either be toxicly positive or insidiously critical. that's not to say I'm not an asshole, but it's hard to just be normal on this forum without this bizarre culture coming down on you)
The thing I was taught wasn't wrong, but it left out important details. There are very specific steps involved in cleaning parts, applying the right lubricant, not applying lubricant, aligning parts, not forcing things, doing the same change on both sides, torque specs, bedding steps. If you don't do them, the brakes just fail again. The person who taught me didn't go over those important yet intricate details - probably because they were taught by a non-expert too.
If the choice is "quit my job to start writing lots of expert content", or "accept the status quo", I choose neither. I have my own life to live. But if during the course of living my life, a wave of inaccuracy begins to lap at my door, I will attempt to stem the tide, in my own way. The toxic aspect, I think, is really just the way in which these corrections are given, and definitely I and others could do better with our tone. But to just give up and not give the corrections at all, I think would be disastrous.
(fwiw, I think HN's overzealous "guidelines" force people to either be toxicly positive or insidiously critical. that's not to say I'm not an asshole, but it's hard to just be normal on this forum without this bizarre culture coming down on you)