Orchid Advice on Facebook

[Clawhammer]

I just wanted to rant a little about the horrible advice I see given out on Facebook.

Why do people that have very little knowledge or experience think it is helpful to offer bad advice? It is so frustrating to see these Dunning Krugers confidently guide someone to ruin based on watching a couple youtube videos. I have tried to intervene which never goes well.

Thank god for the experts here at OB or I would have killed a lot more plants following terrible Facebook advice. We may have our conflicts but at least this group contains people who are mostly looking to help others as opposed to pretending they have more expertise than they do.

Rant over.

[Mr.Fakename]

It's not only limited to FB. Reddit seems to hold MissOrchidGirl as a prophet and H2O2 as communion wine.

What's fun is that you can check on someone's profile to see their post history; and you often realize that those who are the most arrogant in discussions are those who never post bloom pics, but always ask for help.

[My Green Pets]

You nailed it with the Dunning Kruger effect. It's all about the ego boost of 'knowing' something someone else doesn't.

Honestly, i take someone admitting 'I don't know' or 'I'm not sure' before giving advice as someone to listen to. Because knowing you don't know is a sign of wisdom.

[isurus79]

I agree with all of the above

[Shadeflower]

Originally Posted by Clawhammer

I just wanted to rant a little about the horrible advice I see given out on Facebook.

Why do people that have very little knowledge or experience think it is helpful to offer bad advice?

I'd like to know what facebook group lol. Maybe I will fit in better there cause as you know your rant well I have the same problem here.

I honestly do not think anyone does it on purpose.

I have literally seen people that have been intensively growing for 30 years or more give bad advice!

I see Missorchidgirl has been mentioned. I have concluded she knows very little about certain things like fertilzing - you won't learn a single thing about fertilzing (at least nothing correct) from Missorchidgirl but when it comes to reptting phals she has years of experience and has good info for beginners.
She has been growing for 10 years so at what point is someone allowed to give advice without getting critizied by the whole community?

I mean I agree with all of the above too but I know there are some really bad practices here on OB too and it goes so far that people then accuse me of the above when it's them copying bad pratices (probably recommended by someone with 30 years experience)

Anyway I am glad I am not the only one that finds it annoying but at the same time I feel like every week all we orchid growers do is argue over who has the most experience..

What is that all about? I obviously care when someone gives out bad advice that would lead to the death of my orchids. I've seen it here on OB too and just ignored it cause guess what you start an argument and usually you end up with the infraction for being argumentative (even if you are right).

I have discovered the secret to endless blooms this year (compared to previous years)

but does anybody care? Has anybody bothered to listen? They'd rather watch missorchidgirld

So yeah this forum at times feels like lets say a physics forum where someone manages to invent the principle of free electricity - the holy grail of any inventor
yet when posted, all other members laugh, an admin even kicks said person for publishing fake news and the members all agree, we burn wood for our electricity, It's worked for centuries already so we will stick to what we know even if he was right

---------- Post added at 02:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:18 PM ----------

I will give a good example.

If you were to look on german orchid growing forums (germany has the biggest orchidfanbase in europe) you would find that growing in lecca is seriously frowned upon.

All german growers pretty much with a few exceptions believe that lecca is completely unsuited for growing orchids and will criticize anyone heavily for suggesting using it.

On the other hand german growers like to use sawdust as substrate.

No joke. Now you tell me, does that sounds right to you?

---------- Post added at 03:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:32 PM ----------

edit ps: just found a great facebook site I've joined.

185,000 members and it's buzzin.

Much better than here so thx claw. I'd post the link but I'm worried all the bad advice givers from OB will follow ha so sorry, was easy to find through google.

Why didn't I find it sooner?!

[Clawhammer]

Obviously I disagree. On the AOS FB page everytime someone asks "what's going on with this leaf", it looks like this..

"It got too cold"
"Too much water"
"Definitely a virus"
"It got too hot"
"Did you check the roots? Unpot and let us know"
"Up the humidity"
"Mites!!! Spray with Neem"
"I recommend potting in sphagnum instead"
"Mount it, thats how they grow in nature"

I feel sorry for the folks needing help. Advice here is usually pretty consistent and for the most part folks here understand what works for one person may not work for another and that environment is the guide.

[Dimples]

I consider FB and similar social media sites to be social clubs. Can you find good information there? Sometimes! Can you find a lot of well-intentioned bad advice? Always.

A board like this is a niche group. You don't stumble into an OB membership. The vast majority of members grow orchids, collections can be small or extensive, professional growers are here too. The advice given isn't always perfect, but the pool of people is typically far more experienced, so they will likely give more tailored advice.

If your car has mechanical problems, take it to an experienced auto mechanic. Don't take it to the monthly Saturday Coffee & Cars exibit on Main Street.

[Dusty Ol' Man]

Of those here who visit the reddit sub r/orchids, I'd be interested in knowing who you are. Isurus79 and I use the same usernames there as here. I recognize some of the advice but don't recognize the reddit usernames. Just a thought...

[rbarata]

There's a reason why I don't have, and never had, a FB account. It's called life.

I consider FB and similar social media sites to be social clubs. Can you find good information there? Sometimes! Can you find a lot of well-intentioned bad advice? Always.

Exactly!
I wonder why one needs a FB account if everything you find there you will find in your life too.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by rbarata

I wonder why one needs a FB account if everything you find there you will find in your life too.

Well, I know this thread is focusing on the negative aspects of FB advice. However..... many, many, many of the best growers in the world are also on FB. Some of the best advice anyone could ever possibly hope to glean online is posted there and no where else. Having access to a world wide web (pun intended) of the best growers at your fingertips is not available in your "real life."

You just have to wade through an ocean of garbage to at the good advice, but it's certainly there. Usually the good stuff is found in the smaller FB groups that focus a particular group of orchids, though there is a lot of good stuff on the AOS page. Again, you just have to be able to find it.