"jim beam" wrote in message
...
quick survey:

hands up all those that feel free to criticize a piece of equipment
they've never tried. anyone?

further example: criticism of new materials outside the experience of
the author and/or based on erroneous "facts" is a particularly
interesting phenomenon.

why do people do it? seriously, i'm genuinely interested by this. any
thoughts?

jb

It's my opinion that the internet allows anonymous people to feel good about
rendering an opinion as a fact, and not have to back it up or defend it. I
think we all like to feel that we're an expert about something and there are
millions of us that like, enjoy, and are passionate about bikes. We don't
know how to say "in my opinion", and "I read an article", and on and so
forth. We spew hearsay, fifth-hand anecdotes and ill-considered opinions as
facts that all should believe.There are less than a handful of people that
post here that I would absolutely trust what they say as being based of
facts and expertise. Peter Chisholm and Sheldon Brown are two of them.