All must read: Taking random/uneducated guesses

General Discussion. Make yourself at home...read, ask and answer!

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Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2003 3:02 am
Location: New York
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 6:02 pm
I honestly appreciate every new member at this site...but over the last few weeks I noticed that some people seem to be giving advice based on taking a haphazard random guess at the answer, or having looked something up on the internet.

Please do not take uneducated guesses at answers, or repeat something you looked up online -- we are dealing with people's personal vehicles here and their hard-earned cash -- it is not fair to them to give advice when we do not have a high level of confidence about what we are saying.

There's a HUGE difference between an uneducated guess and an educated guess.

Example of an uneducated guess:

"Go ahead and use that brand X activator with the brand Y clear coat -- you'll probably be fine".

Unless you have done the same exact thing and you know it works -- you are guessing (and likely guessing wrong).

Example of an educated guess:

"Based on having done a ton of these types of repairs in the past, I'd say you are probably seeing the spot-welds starting to rust through at the seam".

OK, wow you've done this before and you have seen the same issue...much higher probability of being correct.

So, please make sure the process/procedure advice being given is based on first-hand personal experience, according to industry standards and best practices, and has a high probability of success. If offering an opinion about what you think the person is dealing with, if you are making a random/wild guess -- stop, or at least make it clear that it's a wild guess.

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