Comments on: Community Knowledge is Powerful

By: Doug Devitre

Doug Devitre — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:20:41 +0000

Thank you Brad for an excellent post. I am spending more time teaching people what RSS means than anything else. Once people get the RSS concept for posts, I can then take them to the RSS of comments.

Blogging is an excellent form of collaboration for brokers, organizations and associations. I highly recommend creating a wiki for JUST the facts. My favorite is WetPaint. The wiki will address the facts, the blogs will handle the opinions.

In speaking with large brokers and associations they do not want to pursue the blog concept because the liability of the comments, fear of political favoritism, and imputed knowledge in those states where it exists.

By: Brad Nix

Brad Nix — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:16:27 +0000

There is no doubt that what was discovered in the ‘exceptions’ portion of the bill changed the number of people that will be effected, however it did not change the fact that our government added a new tax that went unnoticed by traditional media. Our blog format allowed me to present the original finding of the new law’s (with acknowledgment to Dan Green for first turning me on to this) hidden tax. Assumingly drawing attention to this issue where the comment section allowed others to add the exceptions and clarifications as more research became available. The way I see it, this is an example of the wisdom of crowds at work. If the original author got it right or covered every angle every time, then all the comments on blogs would read “great post”, “good job”. I understand your point and wish that I had covered every exception and detail in my original post, but I am thankful for the blog format to allow the community to share the collective knowledge. We are all better for it. If I had written the same article in a newspaper, no one would ever have learned of the exceptions.

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 06:29:10 +0000

Brad, you misunderstood my disagreement.

This wasn’t an example of the wisdom of crowds or a collective knowledge base that solved a problem. You rendered an opinion on a complex legal and tax issue where the facts were in the 600+ pages of the bill. The other sources that you couldn’t research because you were among the first to market made their analysis on the same available facts. This wasn’t a situation where the facts changed or were revealed over time. It was just someone pointing out a mistake and then citing proof when you argued that she was wrong.

By: Brad Nix

Brad Nix — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:32:12 +0000

Bob, I don’t see us ever agreeing here. It’s a difference in thinking, nothing more.

Blogs are not just a self-publishing platform (there’s Frontpage for that), they are online community builders where shared knowledge is greater than one person’s individual knowledge. It’s easy for this turn into a 1.0 vs 2.0 debate and for those type of things I point you to Wikipedia (another community generated knowledge base).

Therefore, based on your goal of absolute facts, I don’t have any suggestions for you to read at all. Books, newspapers, magazines, encyclopedias, white papers, etc… all have errors. The problem with those errors is that it takes weeks or longer to see a correction (usually tucked away on a table of contents page or something similar). However, in a blog setting the corrections are made real-time by more people than just the publisher/author/editor. I could go on, but I think we are heading to ‘agree to disagree’.

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:07:49 +0000

the facts aren’t always going to be perfect, which is totally understandable.

That is not understandable and it should not be acceptable.

The author is correct too that the blogger, in effect, relies on reader comments to add to or correct the post.

That is an irresponsible approach. Want to lose credibility fast? Stick to that philosophy. That attitude just reinforces what many think about blogs – just people with a soap box who don’t care about getting it right.

@Bob it’s hard to do more research when you are one of the first to write an opinion on the topic. Since my original more analysis was made around the web. It is the blog format that allows for information to be delivered ‘as it happens’ and corrected or ammended as more data comes online.

I disagree with this on all fronts. A blog simply allows one the ability to self publish – it doesn’t relieve one of the responsibility to be accurate and then depend on a communal fact checker system.

By: Denver, CO

Denver, CO — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:24:11 +0000

Blogging is more editorial than journalistic. Bloggers aren’t full-time professional reporters. They are people who have a career and do blogging as part of that career. As such, the facts aren’t always going to be perfect, which is totally understandable. The author is correct too that the blogger, in effect, relies on reader comments to add to or correct the post. The news gets it wrong more often than any of us know. If we could comment in response to a news broadcast or a newspaper article, we would see quickly how often they get it wrong.

By: Mark Eibner

Mark Eibner — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:16:46 +0000

we're at it again Community Knowledge is Powerful: By commenting on this post, you may .. http://tinyurl.com/5p2hne

By: Derek Overbey

Derek Overbey — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:51:45 +0000

Brad, I agree with your post. I feel the community self corrects. Sometimes when we read something in print like a newspaper or magazine, we may automatically take it as the truth because we “think” the writer has done their fact checking before it hits the press. In today’s world of blogging, we have the opportunity for the community to bring to light some inaccuracies in a story and help all involved to get the facts straight which is a great thing.

By: Brad Nix

Brad Nix — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:44:06 +0000

@Bob it’s hard to do more research when you are one of the first to write an opinion on the topic. Since my original more analysis was made around the web. It is the blog format that allows for information to be delivered ‘as it happens’ and corrected or ammended as more data comes online.

Blog writers, readers, and commenters all contribute to making the community better. Otherwise, we’d just write white papers and static web pages.

By: Bob

Bob — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:00:27 +0000

The lesson to be learned is to do more homework before publishing.

By: Paula Henry

Paula Henry — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:55:30 +0000

Brad –

I read that post with great interest. The comments leading to Ms.Dvorak’s comment and the resulting conclusion were indeed an education. It is exactly this knowledge which keeps me coming back to AG and other sites where I know the converstaion will become a learning experience.