you know, I've seen this dynamic play out a fair amount with online forums, on any topic/hobby, doesn't really matter. It's that usual adage of the best thing about the internet is anyone can say anything and the worst thing about the internet is anyone can say anything.
Often times there is no obvious way for users, especially new users, to determine the scale of any other users knowledge on the topic, and so all posts have the same weight, regardless of if it's a total noob talking nonsense or one of the worlds premier experts . (You can look at number of posts and number of likes, and that can be helpful, but it doesn't always tell the full story).
I've seen other forums where mgmt feels like this dynamic gets out of control, and one approach I've seen is they give perhaps the 10 top expert users on the forum some kind of special badge or status, and turn them loose on the forum with a big stick. Their job is to come in a shut down noobs spouting nonsense. I get the idea, but I'm not sure it works in practice. The reality is that everyone is a noob at some point, and flounders around being a noob and making noob mistakes (like me). If you stay around long enough you start to get enough experience to be able to contribute back more substantially to the forum.
If you get overly aggressive about shutting down people who don't know what they are talking about, it can have a chilling effect on the vibe of the forum in general. And of course, all the noobs are the potential future of this hobby.
Anyhow most people on this forum are neither noobs or experts, they are just enthusiasts who have a passion for this hobby, and enjoying sharing it with other like minds. If you spend time here you eventually figure out who you want to listen to and who you want to ignore.
If you are a brand new user posting about your grandfathers watch, and you get 5 people telling you it's a redial, and 5 people telling you it's not, that doesn't do you much good, and you will not have a way to figure out the truth. But I guess that scenario is not really the primary function of this forum.
I find this forum to be one of the more balanced of any that I have joined, and I think the creators and moderators are a big part of that success. It takes a real fine line to know to step in and when to step back. I wasn't around here in the beginning, so I actually don't know the full history of who created it, and who maintains it, but I know Ash
@dsio is a big part of that, and my apologies to any other key players who I am missing.
Hi guys, 
