We can ignore it but not everyone will know to do so.
People come here to ask advice knowing that people with many years' experience will offer guidance.
If we can see someone offering up that guidance in the style of someone who has the knowledge and experience, but who is probably copying and pasting from myriad other sites, then we should step in. If that person has confirmed recently that they got into gardening last year then they shouldn't be writing in a style that makes them appear to have a lifetime of experience.
Ignoring it, as some have suggested, may lead to others taking that guidance as if it has come from someone knowledgeable when in fact it is potentially harmful nonsense procured from a quick google search.
Money and time are precious and I'd hate the think of people wasting it on the back of a barrage of nonsense taken from google. We can all google answers. The thing that makes this place special is that the guidance comes from people who have lived it and done it.
I'd not have the successful garden and pots I have now if it hadn't been for the people on here.
It needs to be protected. I don't know how this can be done but I hope someone has at least one good idea.
The problem is though @Fire -how does a new or inexperienced gardener [and there's been hundreds probably in the last 18 months] know the difference, when someone passes off total rubbish as being fact? That's what the real problem has been in the last couple of weeks.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
@Fairygirl - as I mention above, I have always assumed that old hands flag errant nonsense. But there needs to be systems operators who remove persistent trouble makers.
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This thread is move fast, so to catch all comments it's worth refreshing and reading from the top...
Some other forums that I use elect long-serving and trusted members to act as content moderators and they are given the power to act. The forum provider itself retains overall control of course, but having member mods means that nasty trolls are dealt with faster and extremely offensive posts are deleted rapidly. I can think of a few sensible and fair members that would get my vote.
As to rubbish advice that is at best ineffective or at worst dangerous, most of this is well-meaning, if misguided and is generally tactfully and gently corrected by other members. Some really bad advice/repetition of ignorant social media hacks inevitably slip through the net of course. But how do you moderate advice? Who decides on an amateur gardening forum what is ‘correct’ when even professionals/professional bodies can vehemently disagree on the ‘right’ way to do something? Should we even try? Surely it’s up to the OP, new or old, to exercise their judgement and consult a variety of sources before deciding on a course of action?
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I think there’s a difference between genuine areas of disagreement or difference of experience, which on this forum are usually acknowledged and mutually respected, and totally wrong statements such as ‘no one can have heavy clay in their garden as it’s against building regs to build a house in clay anywhere in the western world’. That sort of statement just has to be refuted.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Some other forums that I use elect long-serving and trusted members to act as content moderators and they are given the power to act. The forum provider itself retains overall control of course, but having member mods means that nasty trolls are dealt with faster and extremely offensive posts are deleted rapidly. I can think of a few sensible and fair members that would get my vote.
I was going to say the same. The forum owners can't have it both ways- assuming it'll look after itself but not giving the forum members the means to do so. Every other forum I've been on has had user-mods. It means things like this get nipped in the bud swiftly.
I don't buy the Gardeners World magazine - but perhaps someone who does so, might be able to find an email address which would get through to a moderator in the end? Could be worth a try. We need help...
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
I think there’s a difference between genuine areas of disagreement or difference of experience, which on this forum are usually acknowledged and mutually respected, and totally wrong statements such as ‘no one can have heavy clay in their garden as it’s against building regs to build a house in clay anywhere in the western world’. That sort of statement just has to be refuted.
But it doesn’t. No statement does unless it breaches the forum policy - simply not responding to it is enough.
Its okay for incorrect information to be on a forum, people can judge for themselves when they see many other people posting a different point of view or set of information, or linking to reputable sources.
"ignoring" Posters of incorrect information could easily lead to a situation where novice gardeners see it as unchallenged, "therefore it must be accurate" which isn't desirable.
Posts
That's what the real problem has been in the last couple of weeks.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
As to rubbish advice that is at best ineffective or at worst dangerous, most of this is well-meaning, if misguided and is generally tactfully and gently corrected by other members. Some really bad advice/repetition of ignorant social media hacks inevitably slip through the net of course. But how do you moderate advice? Who decides on an amateur gardening forum what is ‘correct’ when even professionals/professional bodies can vehemently disagree on the ‘right’ way to do something? Should we even try? Surely it’s up to the OP, new or old, to exercise their judgement and consult a variety of sources before deciding on a course of action?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
policy - simply not responding to it is enough.
Its okay for incorrect information to be on a forum, people can judge for themselves when they see many other people posting a different point of view or set of information, or linking to reputable sources.