Comment · Tue, March 22, 2016 · Ceretropic & Nootropics Depot
The dark side of internet forums
Original post in this thread
rrtrda · 161 points
While these and other health forums contain a wealth of incredibly helpful information and inspiration, I believe their darker sides are often ignored. As people here generally tend to be keen to debate, I think certain issues should be addressed. Let’s see which ones you’ve encountered yourself:
Prejudice: Many people just don’t come here to find neutral information about a certain nootropic/drug. They want to get their preset opinion confirmed. And if nobody tells them what they want to hear, they google further, or dispute what others are saying. The longer you google, the more likely you will stumble across the correlation you were looking for. But how relevant is it?
Misinformation: Yes, there are some people out here that deserve respect. With their profound knowledge they enrich discussions and create value for the community. But they not only check sample size and Pearson’s r. Those people spot methodological flaws and inaccuracies in studies. And can assess their meaningfulness. But let’s be honest about it: those people are rare and most people don’t have the skill nor the time to do that. I myself would love to be one of those able to truly judge. Unfortunatel…
What they were answering
NotHyplon · 11 points
Too be honest I stopped posting as much mainly due to people wanting to believe others postings that are obvious placebo or made up over what has been witnessed. This combined with people trying to push their blends and websites (note: not straight powder vendors i mean "propriety blends"), people ODing on a regular basis and acting like it will have zero repurcussions (phenibut, tianeptine) and a general "I am smarter then you" attitude from people often makes it not worth the effort.
These posts take the form of "I tried X for first time and had HD vision and solved Fermat's last therom whilst juggling." Yet when you look at all tests for X where they monitor EVERYTHING none of the symptoms the thread starter states has happened. These trials will record if you have a headache whilst testing something like immodium that goes nowhere near the brain and they record it all, this is why virtually every drug has similar side effects as "Common" ones. This leads people into thinking their is some NZT around if they can just crack it and in come the propriety blends.
Meanwhile posts that say X helps a bit for Y get buried and it all becomes a bit circlejerky. There are far too many "my first experience with X" posts when these things take time. No one expects to go to the Gym do a few curls and come out all buff(even with steroids) but somehow nootropics are supposed to be someth…
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic & Nootropics Depot
Yeah, I feel you on all those points. I am frustrated with the community as a whole right now too. The general tone of comments is getting more hostile all the time. Nobody can engage in respectful discourse, where both parties might learn something. It always has to be an exercise in who is right and wrong. Then you have an influx of new people just hearing about nootropics, and thinking they are going to be some magic solution that immediately manifests in positive effects. Nobody treats it as the process to figuring out which mechanisms and compounds work best for their brain chemistry, or even understands how much of a process it is. You have all these shitty blogs out there now trying to capitalize on the popularity, and parroting around BS to get people engaged, then funneling them into their affiliate links. The people who first hit those sites are setup with an unrealistic view of what nootropics really are, then bring those posts and questions here. It's frustrating.
I don't know what the answer is, but I know it is not just giving up and accepting that we have to treat the lowest common denominator as the new standard.