I think the parent is correct, and the situation is more nuanced than your argument would suggest. Politics: Are you critiquing the distribution of funds to th

I think the parent is correct, and the situation is more nuanced than your argument would suggest. Politics: Are you critiquing the distribution of funds to the school your child attends? You probably have some insight there. Are you instead expressing a strong opinion on a complex subject that you likely don't have an iota of experience with? Well, then you should realize that you're probably not in a position to have such a strong opinion. Meal: You're the user, so you have experience here. All you're commenting on is how it tastes to you, so that's perfectly valid, no need to become a chef. Car: Again, you're the user. Are you critiquing a UX problem? Well, then you're in a perfect position to do so. If you're remarking about e.g. the torque to weight ratio then you should probably understand some of the engineering that goes into creating a vehicle. Your argument is the fallacious one here. You're making an all or nothing comparison and life rarely works that way. If you're going to make a statement like "you should rewrite curl in X language" then yes, you should know what the hell you're talking about because you're making an engineering level statement.