You brought up this issue after my comment. So I will clarify that I did not attempt to restrict knowledge sharing but instead pointing out the unfortunate fact that redialers also learn from these discussions. Its a tradeoff.

I do not know many things about watches so I agree with you it would be nice if everybody can just spill out all their knowledge. However, you don't have the right to force people to share what they know (it takes many years for them to accumulate that knowledge -- books, discussions, etc). For example, the fact that they told that the bezel was bad (don't buy) is useful information for you right? After all, you say "redialers will find out eventually", you can also find out eventually.

Just my thought of why I don't get offended when people do that. Nothing personal against you, but hope this helps as a way to not feel offended.

 

I acknowledge the time and hard work taken by many to acquire knowledge and don't expect them to essentially publish an online resource via this forum. However what I cannot understand is members taking the time to reply to a post and inferring that they have further knowledge that they are unwilling to share with the forum.

 

The quote I highlight wasn't actually a direct reply to an enquiry by me, it was posted on a thread I was following.

 

Info sharing here is really like receiving an unearned gift: there a people that do a ton of private research, and then are kind enough to comment on something that either saves one time, money, or grief.

The "fake" issue is a tough one. The inclination here is to share knowledge in detail, but I do see the point that it just enables the fakers.

There is a compromise I see, but are people generally happy without explanatory details? In other words, if you ask a question about your dial authenticity, and 5 experts chime in that it is a re-dial, is that going to be enough? Would you trust that to make whatever decision you have to make, or are all the little nuances going to be necessary to feel comfortable? Because if the former will suffice, then we get what we want without having to expose exactly what we don't want the copiers to know.