Why can't people just say "sorry, I don't know the answer"?

[eti]

I know this is Captain Obvious territory, but this makes me despair for society. Barely anyone with any ACTUAL credibility and life experience in a profession, is able to make themselves heard above the incessant noise of "answers" and "solutions"/"tutorials" that is Joe Blogs types (often, and usually millennials) spewing out copy/pasted speculative bullshit that they've heard and ARE PASSING ON BUT HAVEN'T TESTED.

There's nothing that makes me more irritated and distrusting of the great unwashed out there, than the sea of morons who simply can't STAND not to be the one shoving their hand in the air, so to speak, saying "ME ME ME MEMEMEMEMEMEEEE! LISTEN TO ME OVER THE OTHERS, I HAVE THE SOLUTION!" and when there's a trillion and one of these goons out there, each INCAPABLE of simply saying "I'm sorry, I just don't know the answer" - when you have a dumbed down, clickbaity, metrics-are-all-that-matter "like comment and sub-scraaaaaab" bullshit internet "society", how is anyone supposed to know where to go for ACTUAL EXPERIENCE (apart from here of course, but even then we get a little bit of this)

People online are generally, usually, full of utter shit. Sorry to be so blunt but you can't dig through horse shit "answers" for hours and hours for every single answer, it's tedious and exhausting. Why can't folk just keep their know-it-all-but-really-not-at-all traps shut, instead of DESPERATELY needing to feel validated, even if their "advice" is utter bollocks (and usually it is)?

[greenpossum]

Why can't people just say "sorry, I don't know the answer"?

Sorry I don't know the answer. 

[eti]

Why can't people just say "sorry, I don't know the answer"?

Sorry I don't know the answer. 

Now that was a terse, elegant and spectacular response. I wish I could give you a prize. 

[Circlotron]

An on duty policeman gave me a speeding ticket.
That was a uniformed opinion.

[AlfBaz]

... saying "ME ME ME MEMEMEMEMEMEEEE! LISTEN TO ME OVER THE OTHERS, I HAVE THE SOLUTION!"

Facts are hard, they require irrefutable evidence and what's worse if that evidence is something that the majority of people haven't experienced in their day to day lives then they have to believe the source or have confidence in it. These two things can be eroded by a constant barrage of bullshit.

Opinions on the other hand are easy to come by and barely distinguishable from facts in most peoples minds. They do, however, require validation so the loudest most obtuse dickhead will always have the floor and be able to generate the constant barrage of bullshit needed to undermine facts that oppose their opinions

That's my opinion

[TK]

Because if I don't know the answer I don't post an answer, so you don't see me saying "I don't know the answer"

[Nominal Animal]

Because of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

No, it's not a meme; it is the actual name of the psychological phenomenon of illusory superiority.

[eti]

Because of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

No, it's not a meme; it is the actual name of the psychological phenomenon of illusory superiority.

I'd rename that to something like "The horse dung crew 'duh' effect" hehe

[Cerebus]

As far as experienced voices being ignored, it's usually because the questioner had an answer they wanted to hear, and they didn't get the answer they wanted.

I recall a start-up where someone was hired who'd done two very similar startups before. Their wisdom, based on actual recent experience, was "Doesn't matter what you do, because of how long it will take external suppliers to get their act together it will be six months before you will be able to onboard your first customer". "But the plan is for three months, we've got everything prepared." "It'll take six." "But the plan." "Change it." Cut a long story short they were ignored, it did take six months, the company ran out of funds at the twelve month point (by three months worth of income), had to lay off half the staff, failed to pay a lot of bills leading to a big loss of goodwill and barely survived.

[nuclearcat]

Deeply my opinion only:
I think you take it too emotionally. This is the essence of human society.
And sometimes truth come from wrong answers... thru the discussion.

My personal way, if i really want to, i just tell why this answer is wrong or correct one. The main thing is to be convincing in your reply, why wrong, to those who read.
If we stop turning blind eye to such bs, those who seek attention will stop doing so, because otherwise they will quickly gain bad reputation.

Sometimes people are very stubborn and you need to make it new level. Dave does that very well, polite and convincing.
I go to "russian mode", and if person keep spewing total bullshit, i tell straight he is uneducated moron, etc, etc, and underscore why, all his bs.
Yes, it makes enemies, but sometimes it is necessary to eliminate exceptionally persistent people spewing pseudo-scientific bullshit. Because they tend to form cults around them, like "flat earthers", "infinite energy generators", "perpetuum mobilers" and so on, and their stuff start to hurt society.

[T3sl4co1l]

An on duty policeman gave me a speeding ticket.
That was a uniformed opinion.

A collective of positively charged molecules picked up their electrons and went home.  On that day, they were unionized.

Tim

[bobcat2000]

The guy in my psychology class said that there were 4 different personalities in your head.  They constantly argued with each others.  If one of them won, "sorry, I don't know the answer" might come out from your mouth.

[DimitriP]

For the record, the number on the floor is quite possibly an unfinished 8. But I don't really know for sure

[coppice]

Its very hard for many people to say "I don't know the answer to that". You see this a lot with religious people. Having an answer to every question is important to them. The veracity of the answer is far less important. For some it is completely irrelevant. Study of the mind seems to indicate that useful reasoning takes place at a subconscious level, and that conscious reasoning just creates post hoc rationalisations for what subconscious areas of the brain come up with. The need to rationalise an answer for every question is driven in the conscious mind, even when the subconscious has come up with garbage for it to work on.

[bobcat2000]

The guy in my psychology class also said that if there were enough people in one side, the people in the other side would be forced to agree mentally with the other group.

What that guy in my class is saying is that if there are a bigger group to say this is a "6" for example then the group who say this is a "9", the group who say this is a "9" will be forced mentally to agree that this is indeed a "6".

The group who will say "I don't know" maybe too small in size.  So, they will not say anything.

[magic]

often, and usually millennials

Because Boomers told us that we all are important and our opinions matter, as if they actually did.
Because Boomers told us that everything can be figured out by Logic™ and Science™ and so we do, using you and your problem as a guinea pig, thank you for your continued and enthusiastic participation in the Scientific Method™.
Because Boomers told us that training matters less than Creativity© and Learning How To Learn©.
Because Boomers told us that Open Debate® and Meritocracy® ensures that the best opinions ultimately win, so a few bad opinions can, should and will be tolerated, and they will inevitably be few.

Something more from fellow Millennials?

[coppice]

The guy in my psychology class also said that if there were enough people in one side, the people in the other side would be forced to agree mentally with the other group.

What that guy in my class is saying is that if there are a bigger group to say this is a "6" for example then the group who say this is a "9", the group who say this is a "9" will be forced mentally to agree that this is indeed a "6".

The group who will say "I don't know" maybe too small in size.  So, they will not say anything.

One group is frequently intimidated into agreeing with another group, even when they know they are wrong. Never underestimate the power of persuasion when an argument is backed by unpleasant consequences.

[Cerebus]

It doesn't have to be intimidation, for social animals like man there's a natural tendency to want to 'fit in', so people will completely unconsciously tend to agree with the majority opinion. There are, of course, some who will not automatically agree with the majority opinion. Some of this group are people who like to think for themselves before coming to a conclusion which ultimately may or may not agree with the majority opinion, and there are others who always just simply disagree for its own sake. Depending on one's own want, the latter are either iconoclasts, have oppositional defiance disorder, or are 'wee gobshites'.

[joeqsmith]

Because Boomers told us that we all are important and our opinions matter, as if they actually did.

It sure wasn't me. 

     

[Fixpoint]

Is this thread a self-referential example for what the OP complained about? Oh dear.

People want to be admired, people want to be envied. And they see Instructibles.com and YouTube as the perfect means for that. Not StackOverflow, because there you need real expertise to be successful. On YouTube, in contrast, it is enough to be an arrogant, egotistical loudmouth (for guys) or pretty (for girls).

So, this sometimes leads to extremes like a teenage noob giving a "tutorial" for what she just "learned" a minute ago. In reality, the person didn't understand anything which shows in the tutorial which teaches wrong things. On top of that, I once read an article written by "some guy" who opined that one of the best thing a beginner can do is "teaching". What!? Yes, it was probably a self-referential thing. Again.

[Bassman59]

For the record, the number on the floor is quite possibly an unfinished 8. But I don't really know for sure

Why do we assume that it was a number?

[RenThraysk]

It does save time.

A good set of reference books is quite valuable still, when you just want a single reliable answer.

Though there are worse things out there that make me despair more for society.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/math/a33547137/why-some-people-think-2-plus-2-equals-5/

[tszaboo]

For the younger generation, it has to do with social networks. I started using the internet in the 1.0 era, I've read the netiquette. Now I see young children pushing mommy's phone before they can speak properly. They start striving for facebook likes at 8. At 10-12 children start having burnouts and getting suicidal, if their photo of their new shoe doesn't get enough likes. It is a drug, they need attention.

On an N to 1 e-conversation, I'm not going to say that I dont know the answer. It is a waste of bytes. If the same happens on a meeting at work, I'm not going to say that, probably I say 'it depends' or say how can we find out the answer.

[ucanel]

Because of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

No, it's not a meme; it is the actual name of the psychological phenomenon of illusory superiority.

Lemone juice made this thief invisible:

https://youtu.be/oFL5NoM9GVE

[m98]

On top of that, I once read an article written by "some guy" who opined that one of the best thing a beginner can do is "teaching". What!? Yes, it was probably a self-referential thing. Again.

People who recently acquired knowledge, in my experience, are more likely to be able to explain it to someone unfamiliar in a way he can grasp quickly. Also, you improve your own understanding of a subject if you explain it to others.