From time to time, people here offer others inappropriate advice. Though
this is unfortunate, the good part about this newsgroup is that many
contributors "speak" up and can set the record straight.

Nevertheless, a major problem is whether the person who sought
advice can sift out the good advice from the bad advice.

How can we protect the naive person who comes to RPDB from the
advice of someone who chronically offers bad advice?

Well, the usual approach is to exchange posts with the source of bad
advice. Often these messages become increasingly uncivil and the
person who originally sought advice may wonder about whom to believe.

My suggestion, is instead to develop a web page that addresses
chronic bad advice. The web page ought to rationally address the
bad advice and offer readers the option of "talking" with
those who deem the advice inappropriate.

In the future, when such bad advice is posted, regulars can refer
people to the well-crafted and, I would like to believe, credible
rebuttal.

I don't read many of Jerry's posts anymore, but years ago, when
I did, I helped create this webpage with the other RPDB regulars:

http://home.earthlink.net/~tdwillis/.../concerns.html

From time to time, I have offered bad or inappropriate advice
and have learned much from the follow ups. But "the trick" here,
I would think, is to protect the naive person who seeks advice
from those who chronically offer bad advice.

Best wishes,

--Marshall