Okay, I know this is going to come across as more than a little bit grumpy, but I am grumpy today so it is what it is.
But here is my simple plea: Please don't post diaries about topics that you don't fully understand unless you're willing to be corrected, and acknowledge those corrections.
I don't want to make this a call-out diary so I'm going to refrain from pointing y'all to the diaries that raised my hackles today, I'll just say this:
Reading one article, even an article written by an intelligent and/or trustworthy person, does not an expert make. Some experts that we trust can lead us astray sometimes, as most people would recognize if they knew that Paul Krugman himself flip-flops on sweatshops with a maddening degree of regularity.
But here is the thing: I don't expect anyone to be an expert on whatever diary they write. If I did, I wouldn't come here because few people here are experts on their cause, and I wouldn't write here because I deal with the topic that I'm an expert on all week and all day long, so I don't care to write about it here. Besides, it mostly boring, wonky stuff.
That being said, if you don't know a lot about a topic that you really, really want to write a diary about, do diligent research. Make sure that the article you're citing is in line with reality.
It's really easy to be against or for something that you don't fully understand, hence my supposed LGB supporting family on facebook who are plastering duck dude's ugly ass face all over my timeline.
You don't want to be that person. You don't want to be the person that thinks the bearded phony is the real deal.
So before you post a diary that you're not well educated about, spend some time researching it before you post it. It won't take more time than it will it will take for you to offer a rebuttal about the facts in your story, and it will give you more legitimacy whenever you hit the "Publish" button.
7:11 PM PT: I'm not feeling well so I need to go to bed. I look forward to reading your comments when I inevitably wake up in pain a few hours from now. I truly apologize for not sticking around to respond to comments. That's not how I like to roll, but I'm really not doing well today.Thanks for the tips, recs, and comments. I truly enjoy this community and can't imagine what my life would have been like had I not found it.