Should an answer from a jelly with more expertise be weighed more?

When I read technical questions requiring special knowledge to answer, I look for answers from experts and give them more credence. It’s silly not to. The experts on questions usually have a way of explaining themselves that makes it obvious to irregular users they know what they’re talking about.

Well, if the credibility of the jelly is high, like @Hawaii_Jake, with technical stuff, I would weigh the more familiar person.
But really, I take it all with a grain of salt. There are some long term users here that fancy themselves experts in things, but I question their credibility because of how they present their “expertise”. I prefer to look for sincere insight here.

Not to me, no. Many people know a lot of random things from life experiences, so I don’t discount anyone’s information.

I waited a couple days to answer a recent VM Ware question, as I’m not an expert, but since I use it everyday, my answer was correct. Just goes to show, you could be missing out on some correct info from non-experts.

I’ve had multiple times that I thought someone wrote a very interesting, eye-opening answer, by whom I thought would be a well respected long-term member, only to find out that it was written by a very new Jelly.
And vice versa.
So no, I don’t weigh them more.
I judge the answer on its merits.

I’m of the opinion that just because a jelly has been a member for 10 years or longer, it doesn’t mean that they are more of an expert on any given subject than someone who joined yesterday. It simply means thast they have been here longer & understand the system better in a way that makes them sound more experienced!!! Much like @rebbel, I have seen some informative answers come out of newbies!!!

I mean, depends what you personally want out of this place.
If people want genuine help from specific questions, then hey…that’s great.

If however like me you’re here for, well..I don’t rightly know, banter & giggles, then it’s all just words on a screen baby.

If it is something that will directly affect my life like medical advice such as this,” Definitely amputate that leg!” I will research it further.
If it is an opinion, especially one concerning politics or religion, I am usually thinking something along the lines of this: “Instead of using social media, translate your latest political opinion into an electronic message and broadcast it deep into outer space using a powerful radio transmitter, because your opinion belongs in the vacuum of outer space”
and I mean that in a gentle,loving way.
I can’t remember where I saw that but it makes me smile. Often.

Quora sucks. I used to take time to answer questions on Quora, but then it got overrun by bots. So I quit. In terms of weighting, no. Expertise is subjective.

how do you differentiate between an answer from someone with experience and someone who is just adding their two cents?

If the answer holds up.

I’m knowledgeable in grammar and language and my answers to questions of that naturer are often fairly detailed and meticulous. But I don’t need “grammar expert” next to my avatar; the answer should speak for itself.

Obviously if someone wants to mention their experience to bolster their answer, they’re free to do so.

It’s a pity there are not more sports related questions here because I have an encyclopaedic knowledge on most sports, nerd levels through the roof.

I didn’t mean expertise in the sense that they’ve been here a long time. More about having experience in the particular subject.

Is expertise truly subjective? @Caravanfan is a doctor, right? I’d imagine his answer on a medical question should probably carry more weight than some Joe Schmo.

@raum- That is, if a person is who they claim to be in any area of expertise or whatever for that matter.
I have no idea about the person you refer to nor do I have the interest to try and find out,but I can think of two personally that I knew of that have fooled people into thinking they are someone they are not and one I was recently told about.
Things have not changed too much since I was last here.

Hmmm…good point.

@raum That’s exactly why I generally don’t answer medical questions.

@Caravanfan -;)

There are some members here who happen to know a lot more about a subject than the self proclaimed experts. It’s worthwhile to think it through.

Fluther was started as a knowledge based Q & A where members self-identified their areas of expertise and were fed questions pertaining to the topics they identified. Of course, you could also look at and answer any question you wanted.

Because the membership is so low and the questions so sparse, we all kind of muck in wherever we want and it is caveat emptor as far as the questioner goes. Hopefully, people can sort out what is useful to them but it is frustrating at times when people who know very little about a subject opine with great confidence. On the other hand, it is not necessarily useful when people are wafflers who answer 10 different ways in one post and question themselves. Brevity and knowledge are the souls of wit. (Is this too long?)

We get to know each other here somewhat well. When @Caravanfan does speak about medical issues I listen. I have directly asked @LuckyGuy for career advice before since he is further along in his. There are many other examples but yes, I do weight some users answers more depending on the subject.

Another thing, for many of us it will be a rare treat when someone actually asks a question in an area we really are an expert in. I doubt anyone here will ask about Geotechnical instrumentation, collecting antique cookware, building guitar effect pedals or SONET ring configurations. Closest anyone has come to that is when Dutchess Asked about Cast Iron once.

@ARE_you_kidding_me I’m actually very careful about it. I’m very much opposed to giving anonymous medical advice. I’ll usually only go so far to correct medical inaccuracies and encourage people to have preventative care like vaccines. I’m also willing to help people to frame questions for their health care provider.

I know you are, that said I will weigh your advice higher than some others because I believe you probably really are a doctor.

@ARE_you_kidding_me “probably really”? heh. No, I haven’t been lying all these years. I promise I am a doctor. Or at least that’s what they tell me in that plastic card in my wallet.

@Caravanfan You never know and you can’t be too careful. This is the interweb after all.

@ARE you, geotechnical instrumentation? Is that quakes, tsunamis, and such?
I have an interest, I think.
Are you familiar only with equipment, or also with the information supplied?
Or am I mistaken about the term?

@Patty_Melt It’s scientific instruments and sensors that sense structural movements in things like bridges, dams and earthen embankments. Used in mining and civil engineering projects. I designed systems that monitored them and served up the data.

I don’t work in that area anymore though.

Cool stuff!