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Snake oil, fraud, confirmation bias

It is becoming increasingly apparent that many threads about legitimate topics devolve into one or more of the contributors here making claims of snake oil, fraud, or confirmation bias thereby derailing the conversation beyond the valid and relevant thread topic and this is getting ridiculous. For anyone here who honestly holds the position that there is snake oil and fraud in the world of Music Reproduction Systems I challenge them to prove their claims in court it should be an easy task based on the claims they make here in Audiogon  AND they will make a fortune because in the US once proven they can file a class action suit and profit enormously from the efforts of others to deceive. These people regularly claim that "there is no evidence" that things such as cables or fuses make a difference when in actual fact Audiogon is filled with evidence that these things make very real differences in Music Reproduction Systems of course those who claim fraud reject that evidence as "confirmation bias" but in absence of any documentation from them they are only repeating the claim they have made so many times that has been refuted many times here by those who have demonstrated to there satisfaction that they make a difference.   I think in actual truth the real fraudsters here are those that repeatedly make these claims of snake oil and fraud and often they have no experience to back up there claims they simply say the claims are impossible!
clearthink

Showing 2 responses by cleeds

cleeds
6,072 posts
 
ethiessen1
Knowledge is defined as a consensus of collective observations. That said ...

That's your definition of knowledge, perhaps. But it's not the generally accepted definition at all. Here's Merriam-Webster:

"Definition of knowledge 1 a (1) : the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association (2) : acquaintance with or understanding of a science, art, or technique b (1) : the fact or condition of being aware of something (2) : the range of one's information or understanding
  • answered to the best of my knowledge
 c : the circumstance or condition of apprehending truth or fact through reasoning : cognition d : the fact or condition of having information or of being learned
  • a person of unusual knowledge"
---

 As you can see, there's no need for a " consensus of collective observations ."
cleeds
6,072 posts
 
clearthink
It is becoming increasingly apparent that many threads about legitimate topics devolve into one or more of the contributors here making claims of snake oil, fraud, or confirmation bias thereby derailing the conversation beyond the valid and relevant thread topic and this is getting ridiculous.
When threads come off the rail such as this, one solution is to use the "report this" link and alert the moderator that the response is off-topic. There are some angry, self-righteous posters here and there's no need to allow them to prevent an otherwise productive conversation.
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