when asking or answering questions, who do you determine?

Question

the "honesty" of the information being given?
Do you make assumptions based on the avatar? the profile? the q&a?
What at the subtleties of knowing when someone on this forum is telling the truth and / or being sincere?

sorry it was suppose to read "how do you determine..."
thanks

Answer 1

I usually read the other answers before I answer, and I always give the best answer that I have, according to what i believe.
it doesn't really bother me if the asker is pretending to be something that they are not. or are serious about their question.
if I like the question i answer it.
however in the past, and possible in the future, I have looked at the askers profile, and their other questions and answers, but only if something in the question does not ring true.

Answer 2

I think that you can follow a persons answers for a time and notice what their general world view is. Some people have a very clear and direct way of answering. Usually sarcasm gives away the insincere answers. Of course the best way to know is just to know more about the subject than they do or to investigate an answer that is interesting or unusual. Some of the avatar names are dead give aways though. Like dedicated atheist or No God or Jesus Lives these names almost always give an indication of where they are coming from.

Answer 3

I assume everyone to be telling the truth until I find information that makes me know otherwise. That may make me gullible, but I prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt. I've never really been a suspicious person.

However, there are those who are obviously not being truthful. It's evident in the way they format their questions and answers, the language used, the writing style, etc.

Still, I would rather err on the side of trusting another than judge anyone unfairly, so I will take the vast majority of people at their word.

Answer 4

If someone asks for opinions, I give my opinion. Since this is R & S, "factual" information, in its strictest sense, will obviously be limited. I don't base anything on the avatars, and I hope no one does the same to the lovely one I picked. But this is the Internet...you have to accept all the "facts" you read with a grain of salt, or simply take the time and do your own research on the subject matter.

Answer 5

I usually answer to the question without looking to the avatar, and I don't care if he is sincere or not, I'll answer to the point. It is not my issue if he is sincere or no, and with time I will know the certain user and that he is only fooling around with his answers and questions, so I will try to avoid him. The most important to me is the quality of his answers and questions even if he is not sincere.

Answer 6

Through all of the things you mentioned, I can pretty much tell if a person is genuine or just talking to hear their head rattle. ;-)

And, IMHO, only about 10% appear to be genuine questions. Also, those responding are mostly haters of the truth and just want to click on the thumbs down thing because they can, they don't really have an intelligent opinion.

Answer 7

Sincerity is judged by the tone of their writing and that also gives hints to whether or not they are answering honestly. As far as facts are concerned, you can and should always do the research to confirm if those are right.

People can be sincere and honest, but total wrong.

Answer 8

I pay no attention to the avatar or the name, if I know the answer, I try to answer it honestly and if I don't, I try to research the answer.

If I can't find the answer I move on to another question that I can answer.

However if someone else has already answered the question properly I usually mark best answer.

Answer 9

I'm pretty naive as far as these things go. I tend to believe that other people are just as open as I am, and I've been fooled before. After awhile, though, when you've seen a person's Q&A's and have a chance to see how they interact with others, their sincerity, or lack thereof, becomes apparent.

Answer 10

Sometimes it takes awhile reading their questions and answers to see whether they are being facetious or sincere. I think that is part of the fun in doing this.