2 points about bad advice (in response to leah's detractors)

On Sat, 6 Dec 2003 08:39:46 -0500, "Sionnach"
wrote:

Leah often gives good advice; it's just that she's new to dog training,
and has a habit of also giving advice on matters she doesn't have sufficient
experience with. One of the problems with that is that because she's
employed as a low-level beginning obedience/puppy trainer at PetsMart, she
has a title to add to her name which gives that bad advice more weight.

I'm sorry, you *completely* lost me at this point. At the risk of
indulging in hyperbole, I would have to say that the fact that Leah
persists in adding this "credential" to her posts is no less deceptive
than Jerry's "testimonials", if for no other reason than that she is
(IMHO) *consciously* using it to give her advice (good or bad) more
weight.

(I wouldn't mind seeing a line added to Lia's periodic 'newcomer
briefing' to the effect that any self-advertisement of this sort is
only worth the pixels it's displayed on.)

Nobody wants to "punish" Leah's bad advice, and nobody called her names.
Geez- where's Marshall Worth when we need him to continue his crusade
against the evils of hyperbole?

"It's EEEVILLL, I tell 'ya!!! Hyperbole will cause the downfall of all
that we hold dear!!!!"

Lee

On Sat, 6 Dec 2003 08:39:46 -0500, "Sionnach"
wrote:

Leah often gives good advice; it's just that she's new to dog training,
and has a habit of also giving advice on matters she doesn't have sufficient
experience with. One of the problems with that is that because she's
employed as a low-level beginning obedience/puppy trainer at PetsMart, she
has a title to add to her name which gives that bad advice more weight.

I'm sorry, you *completely* lost me at this point. At the risk of
indulging in hyperbole, I would have to say that the fact that Leah
persists in adding this "credential" to her posts is no less deceptive
than Jerry's "testimonials", if for no other reason than that she is
(IMHO) *consciously* using it to give her advice (good or bad) more
weight.

(I wouldn't mind seeing a line added to Lia's periodic 'newcomer
briefing' to the effect that any self-advertisement of this sort is
only worth the pixels it's displayed on.)

Nobody wants to "punish" Leah's bad advice, and nobody called her names.
Geez- where's Marshall Worth when we need him to continue his crusade
against the evils of hyperbole?

"It's EEEVILLL, I tell 'ya!!! Hyperbole will cause the downfall of all
that we hold dear!!!!"

Lee

On Sat, 6 Dec 2003 08:39:46 -0500, "Sionnach"
wrote:

Leah often gives good advice; it's just that she's new to dog training,
and has a habit of also giving advice on matters she doesn't have sufficient
experience with. One of the problems with that is that because she's
employed as a low-level beginning obedience/puppy trainer at PetsMart, she
has a title to add to her name which gives that bad advice more weight.

I'm sorry, you *completely* lost me at this point. At the risk of
indulging in hyperbole, I would have to say that the fact that Leah
persists in adding this "credential" to her posts is no less deceptive
than Jerry's "testimonials", if for no other reason than that she is
(IMHO) *consciously* using it to give her advice (good or bad) more
weight.

(I wouldn't mind seeing a line added to Lia's periodic 'newcomer
briefing' to the effect that any self-advertisement of this sort is
only worth the pixels it's displayed on.)

Nobody wants to "punish" Leah's bad advice, and nobody called her names.
Geez- where's Marshall Worth when we need him to continue his crusade
against the evils of hyperbole?

"It's EEEVILLL, I tell 'ya!!! Hyperbole will cause the downfall of all
that we hold dear!!!!"

Lee

In article ,
Lee DeRaud wrote:
I'm sorry, you *completely* lost me at this point. At the risk of
indulging in hyperbole, I would have to say that the fact that Leah
persists in adding this "credential" to her posts is no less deceptive
than Jerry's "testimonials", if for no other reason than that she is
(IMHO) *consciously* using it to give her advice (good or bad) more
weight.

I was the one who asked her to do it in the interest of
disclosure; I think it's generally useful to know when
someone who's arguing that PetSmart (or however they
capitalize that mess) has a credible training program works
for PetSmart as a trainer and has a vested interest in
having people believe that the PetSmart training program is
worthwhile. I still think it's a good idea - we all have
our biases and interests, but when they're blatant and
directly topical I think we should be explicit about them.

Mind you, I tend to think that PetSmart employment gives
someone roughly the same gravitas as a trainer that working
at Burger King gives someone as a chef, so your point
doesn't really resonate for me personally.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Bad taste is better than no taste -- Arnold Bennett

In article ,
Lee DeRaud wrote:
I'm sorry, you *completely* lost me at this point. At the risk of
indulging in hyperbole, I would have to say that the fact that Leah
persists in adding this "credential" to her posts is no less deceptive
than Jerry's "testimonials", if for no other reason than that she is
(IMHO) *consciously* using it to give her advice (good or bad) more
weight.

I was the one who asked her to do it in the interest of
disclosure; I think it's generally useful to know when
someone who's arguing that PetSmart (or however they
capitalize that mess) has a credible training program works
for PetSmart as a trainer and has a vested interest in
having people believe that the PetSmart training program is
worthwhile. I still think it's a good idea - we all have
our biases and interests, but when they're blatant and
directly topical I think we should be explicit about them.

Mind you, I tend to think that PetSmart employment gives
someone roughly the same gravitas as a trainer that working
at Burger King gives someone as a chef, so your point
doesn't really resonate for me personally.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Bad taste is better than no taste -- Arnold Bennett

In article ,
Lee DeRaud wrote:
I'm sorry, you *completely* lost me at this point. At the risk of
indulging in hyperbole, I would have to say that the fact that Leah
persists in adding this "credential" to her posts is no less deceptive
than Jerry's "testimonials", if for no other reason than that she is
(IMHO) *consciously* using it to give her advice (good or bad) more
weight.

I was the one who asked her to do it in the interest of
disclosure; I think it's generally useful to know when
someone who's arguing that PetSmart (or however they
capitalize that mess) has a credible training program works
for PetSmart as a trainer and has a vested interest in
having people believe that the PetSmart training program is
worthwhile. I still think it's a good idea - we all have
our biases and interests, but when they're blatant and
directly topical I think we should be explicit about them.

Mind you, I tend to think that PetSmart employment gives
someone roughly the same gravitas as a trainer that working
at Burger King gives someone as a chef, so your point
doesn't really resonate for me personally.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Bad taste is better than no taste -- Arnold Bennett

In article ,
Lee DeRaud wrote:
I'm sorry, you *completely* lost me at this point. At the risk of
indulging in hyperbole, I would have to say that the fact that Leah
persists in adding this "credential" to her posts is no less deceptive
than Jerry's "testimonials", if for no other reason than that she is
(IMHO) *consciously* using it to give her advice (good or bad) more
weight.

I was the one who asked her to do it in the interest of
disclosure; I think it's generally useful to know when
someone who's arguing that PetSmart (or however they
capitalize that mess) has a credible training program works
for PetSmart as a trainer and has a vested interest in
having people believe that the PetSmart training program is
worthwhile. I still think it's a good idea - we all have
our biases and interests, but when they're blatant and
directly topical I think we should be explicit about them.

Mind you, I tend to think that PetSmart employment gives
someone roughly the same gravitas as a trainer that working
at Burger King gives someone as a chef, so your point
doesn't really resonate for me personally.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Bad taste is better than no taste -- Arnold Bennett

On 6 Dec 2003 11:50:47 -0500, (Melinda Shore) wrote:

In article ,
Lee DeRaud wrote:
I'm sorry, you *completely* lost me at this point. At the risk of
indulging in hyperbole, I would have to say that the fact that Leah
persists in adding this "credential" to her posts is no less deceptive
than Jerry's "testimonials", if for no other reason than that she is
(IMHO) *consciously* using it to give her advice (good or bad) more
weight.

I was the one who asked her to do it in the interest of
disclosure; I think it's generally useful to know when
someone who's arguing that PetSmart (or however they
capitalize that mess) has a credible training program works
for PetSmart as a trainer and has a vested interest in
having people believe that the PetSmart training program is
worthwhile. I still think it's a good idea - we all have
our biases and interests, but when they're blatant and
directly topical I think we should be explicit about them.

I agree that it's a good idea that she makes it clear she *works* for
PetsMart: that's more than enough to cover the 'conflict-of-interest'
question. It's the (implicit) "training qualifications" I've got a
problem with.

Mind you, I tend to think that PetSmart employment gives
someone roughly the same gravitas as a trainer that working
at Burger King gives someone as a chef, so your point
doesn't really resonate for me personally.

Well, that too, but you never know how much someone will read into
that 'tag'.

Lee

On 6 Dec 2003 11:50:47 -0500, (Melinda Shore) wrote:

In article ,
Lee DeRaud wrote:
I'm sorry, you *completely* lost me at this point. At the risk of
indulging in hyperbole, I would have to say that the fact that Leah
persists in adding this "credential" to her posts is no less deceptive
than Jerry's "testimonials", if for no other reason than that she is
(IMHO) *consciously* using it to give her advice (good or bad) more
weight.

I was the one who asked her to do it in the interest of
disclosure; I think it's generally useful to know when
someone who's arguing that PetSmart (or however they
capitalize that mess) has a credible training program works
for PetSmart as a trainer and has a vested interest in
having people believe that the PetSmart training program is
worthwhile. I still think it's a good idea - we all have
our biases and interests, but when they're blatant and
directly topical I think we should be explicit about them.

I agree that it's a good idea that she makes it clear she *works* for
PetsMart: that's more than enough to cover the 'conflict-of-interest'
question. It's the (implicit) "training qualifications" I've got a
problem with.

Mind you, I tend to think that PetSmart employment gives
someone roughly the same gravitas as a trainer that working
at Burger King gives someone as a chef, so your point
doesn't really resonate for me personally.

Well, that too, but you never know how much someone will read into
that 'tag'.

Lee

On 6 Dec 2003 11:50:47 -0500, (Melinda Shore) wrote:

In article ,
Lee DeRaud wrote:
I'm sorry, you *completely* lost me at this point. At the risk of
indulging in hyperbole, I would have to say that the fact that Leah
persists in adding this "credential" to her posts is no less deceptive
than Jerry's "testimonials", if for no other reason than that she is
(IMHO) *consciously* using it to give her advice (good or bad) more
weight.

I was the one who asked her to do it in the interest of
disclosure; I think it's generally useful to know when
someone who's arguing that PetSmart (or however they
capitalize that mess) has a credible training program works
for PetSmart as a trainer and has a vested interest in
having people believe that the PetSmart training program is
worthwhile. I still think it's a good idea - we all have
our biases and interests, but when they're blatant and
directly topical I think we should be explicit about them.

I agree that it's a good idea that she makes it clear she *works* for
PetsMart: that's more than enough to cover the 'conflict-of-interest'
question. It's the (implicit) "training qualifications" I've got a
problem with.

Mind you, I tend to think that PetSmart employment gives
someone roughly the same gravitas as a trainer that working
at Burger King gives someone as a chef, so your point
doesn't really resonate for me personally.

Well, that too, but you never know how much someone will read into
that 'tag'.

Lee