To clarify, I trust research papers since they are a network of citations each reviewed by peers, not because they were written by researchers. So when someone

To clarify, I trust research papers since they are a network of citations each reviewed by peers, not because they were written by researchers. So when someone cites papers they tend to be trustworthy and you can have a discussion. When they don't you can't trust them, you can still have casual conversations but you can't trust any facts. Them being a researcher or not doesn't matter here. In short: Trust science, not scientists.