BLOG: Keyboard captains

Thinking too much about something can introduce doubt and irrational thought, especially where background knowledge is shallow and there's an absence of experience.

In this day and age a person can browse online for a piece of information, cross reference a number of sources to form a consensus view and subsequently proclaim expertise – if you’re a reader of chat forums and various internet content sharing pages then you’ll likely see this occur time and time again. Internet research is a fact of life nowadays, however, a shortcoming in some of the information propagated stems from a lack of real world experience and a pragmatic view of the given subject matter – internet experts and keyboard captains are armed with a wealth of theory, but often lack practical know-how.

A classic example is the heavy scrutiny placed on new tackle, products or techniques that enter the market with various failure scenarios discussed or theorised – it’s not often that you see or hear of extensive experiences that lead to a particular doomsday situation, but rather content that stems from creative wanderings which spark thought – both rational and irrational. I often wander off on tangential thoughts myself and also have a critical eye, however, in the absence of hard facts or past experiences I’ll generally offer the benefit of the doubt.

All of this instant information and peer review can often cloud common sense, leaving pragmatic solutions by the wayside. I recently penned a piece on DIY reel servicing and couldn’t find any Shellite to include in an image outlining cleaning products. Instead I grabbed a bottle of metho and disclaimed the image, however, had I used metho, kero or a degreaser to clean the bearing, would that have made a tangible difference? Do you really need to fork out the dollars on what is proclaimed the most appropriate if you have something similar on hand ? The instant expert would likely advise you against it, but realistically if you want to clean a carbon steel bearing, any product that can get the grease out will do at a pinch. Sure there might be some residue but if you soak the bearing in oil to combat the residue and then pack it with grease it will likely last a very long time. If grease isn’t appropriate then use whatever is, but make sure you use a decent amount to flush out the cleaning agent.

I’ll be the first to admit having critical and often sceptical thoughts when dealing with new products, however, I am fortunate in being able to test and use both pre-production and production items which come my way through various channels. While the pundits online are deliberating over that black swan event which “may” cause failure, spending time with something in the field is the only real way of putting a product to the test.

I’m opening myself up to attack by those who study exploded assembly diagrams and identify potential design flaws and again I’ve been one to over analyse on occasion, however, in this day and age with an abundance of information available, complex thought needs to be tempered with simplicity. If it ain't broke then it don’t need fixin'!

Are you an online information junkie or have you built a database of knowledge through years of experimentation and experience? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.