> if it had quiz showing me their method could get over 95% correct after reading a 10 or so word summary of the end result, I'd take it very seriously. Often,

> if it had quiz showing me their method could get over 95% correct after reading a 10 or so word summary of the end result, I'd take it very seriously. Often, amateurs find seemingly obvious answers to the wrong question. I once was reading Amazon user reviews of translations of Confucius' Analects. For one translation, a few reviewers observed that the translator went bizarrely off-topic in the footnotes, giving his opinions on various things Confucian and contemporary. I ruled out that translation. Then I read a Chinese scholar's review of translations, and learned that such commentary was in fact the standard of the leading editions of the Analects going back millennia. The Amazon users - as amateurs often do - had no idea what they were seeing, and if I hadn't found the scholar's review, I would have believed them too (and missed out what that incredible work translation - a widely recognized work of art and genius - had to offer me from Confucius). That's the last time I trusted Amazon reviews. Similarly, you can find plenty of well-reasoned, persuasive, and totally wrong legal and medical advice online (including on HN). How can one avoid falling into the same trap as I did with the Amazon reviews? Don't trust amateurs, no matter how persuasive they seem, in questions that require expertise.