# How reliable and unreliable is this site? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 6, 2024, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170 "2024-02-06T05:59:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jagraze1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jagraze1/32/14870_2.png) [@Jagraze1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jagraze1)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170/1 "2024-02-06T05:59:23Z")
Do you think, there is anything unreliable about this site? Like a lot of suites are unreliable (ex: Reddit). Is SD one of them? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170/2 "2024-02-06T06:01:34Z")
Not a thing unreliable. We’re pretty perfect. 😊 ---
**Author:** ![Jagraze1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jagraze1/32/14870_2.png) [@Jagraze1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jagraze1)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170/3 "2024-02-06T06:40:29Z")
Oh how are you? Edit: are you sure? There can often be mistakes ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170/4 "2024-02-06T06:57:35Z")
I’m pretty good. Yeah, but I make most of the punctuation mistakes. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170/5 "2024-02-06T10:57:54Z")
> [@Jagraze1](#): > > Do you think, there is anything unreliable about this site? Compared to the vbulletin days, this site is reliable as hell. ---
**Author:** ![Jagraze1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jagraze1/32/14870_2.png) [@Jagraze1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jagraze1)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170/6 "2024-02-06T12:43:31Z")
Except, I just saw someone’s thread get locked cause they were spamming ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170/7 "2024-02-06T12:54:51Z")
It’s an Internet forum full of random people you’ve never met and likely never will. It’s up to you to decide how much credence to give any one of us. As for reddit, haven’t we done this before? I don’t know what kind of beef you have with that place but you should probably let it go. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170/8 "2024-02-06T12:58:10Z")
> [@Jagraze1](#): > > I just saw someone’s thread get locked cause they were spamming Yes, but they were spamming _reliably_. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170/9 "2024-02-06T13:03:57Z")
Further to this topic, why would they call a company Reliant, rather than Reliable? Reliable answers only please. > **[Reliant Motors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliant_Motors)** > > Reliant Motor Company was a British car manufacturer based in Tamworth, Staffordshire, England. It was founded in 1935 and ended car production in 2002, the company had been known as "Reliant Motor Company" (or RMC for short) until the 1990s when it became "Reliant Motors" and then finally became "Reliant Cars LTD" after production had ended of the Robin as the company was restructured to be a car import business. It is now a dormant company and the only entity left is a separate parts company... ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170/10 "2024-02-06T13:04:32Z")
I’ve found Reddit to be pretty reliable in the specialized subreddits, or whatever you call them. I don’t particularly Reddit a lot, so maybe I don’t see all the glaring problems there, but in the subreddits I do read, I’ve never seen much issue; people have been polite and informative. I’m sure there’s parts of Reddit that are not, but I’ve not witnessed the stereotypical Reddit complaints. This board? I’ve been here since 2001 and, overall, I’d judge it very reliable. There seem to be enough subject experts and nitpickers here that, over the course of a thread, the subject gets hashed out to something factually accurate. Maybe as reliable as something like Stack Exchange? Orders of magnitude more reliable than Quora and what was Yahoo! Answers (I assume it doesn’t exist anymore.) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170/11 "2024-02-06T13:07:58Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’ve found Reddit to be pretty reliable in the specialized subreddits Yes, I’ve found it works fine so long as it’s technical and above some critical mass of posters. If it’s someone asking about whether a contractor poured concrete correctly or something like that, there will be a dozen people who clearly have expert knowledge who take pride in giving detailed accurate answers, and anyone posting nonsense is quickly shot down by several people. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170/12 "2024-02-06T13:23:16Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Further to this topic, why would they call a company Reliant, rather than Reliable? Reliable answers only please. Because it was named after the famous buggy whip manufacturer, Reliant T. Walrustitty. The newly-formed auto-motivating mechanical horse company was trying to piggyback on the good reputation Mr. Walrustitty had established over the hundreds of years of his work. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170/13 "2024-02-06T13:39:43Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > It’s an Internet forum full of random people you’ve never met and likely never will. When was the last Dopefest? One thing we don’t get much of that reddit abundantly has in a lot of subs is confabulating trolls. We do occasionally get some, usually bemoaning their tragic but curiously strange life, but they are typically called out and quickly banned. Many subs however serve as magnets for such facile experiments in creativity via their very name, but the Dope is far too generic for that. We also don’t have an upvoting system, which is what truly fuels the confabbers-I saw one obviously fake post last week which got over 500 replies and over 1,000 upvotes. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170/14 "2024-02-06T14:25:39Z")
Are you asking whether the web technology here is functionally reliable as a matter of IT or are you asking if the content provided by all us volunteers is factually accurate and reliably analyzed? Well-formed questions get much better answers than do random half thought-through sentences that assume a lot of context inside your head that is not shared in our heads. The old saying “Garbage in garbage out” applies to OPs too. To provide my answers to your possible questions … Technologically this Discourse instance seems reliable as sunrise. Our factual content is probably the best out there short of wiki. Our opinions are like anyone’s opinions. Where we differ from the rest of the general internet commentariat is having no patience for jerks. Or for single-issue wackos. And the moderation infrastructure to put teeth in that. Does spam or trollery occasionally get posted? Sure. is it still visible 3 hours later? As to spam almost never. As to trollery, sometimes it takes a few days accumulation of jerky behavior before the jerk is disappeared with prejudice. It sounds as if you are looking for a source of info you can always accept uncritically with zero evaluation on your part. That’s a fool’s errand, but I will say you (any “you”) could do one heck of a lot worse than trusting 100% of our stuff. We’re that good. Or said another way, the rest of the crowd-sourced internet is that bad. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170/15 "2024-02-06T14:36:14Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’ve been here since 2001 Oops. I’ve been here since 2000, that is. Not a necessary correction but, well, in a thread about reliability, I figured I should set the record straight. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170/16 "2024-02-06T15:01:14Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > in a thread about reliability, I figured I should set the record straight See, this is the kind of unreliability he’s worried about! Everyone knows that records are _round_. Except for those weird ones you pulled out of the back of Mad Magazine, but of course, they were entirely Mad; it’s right there in the name. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170/17 "2024-02-06T15:12:21Z")
> [@Jagraze1](#): > > Do you think, there is anything unreliable about this site? Intelligence and knowledge are the things that impress people here. Post bullshit or troll, and you will find yourself being slowly rotisseried in the Pit. Cites are expected with all posted ascertions. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170/18 "2024-02-06T15:18:23Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Where we differ from the rest of the general internet commentariat is having no patience for jerks. Or for single-issue wackos. Or pseudoscience. Woo gets stamped down on pretty hard, here. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170/19 "2024-02-06T15:23:34Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > Intelligence and knowledge are the things that impress people here. Our two weapons are intelligence and knowledge, and ruthless efficiency. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170/20 "2024-02-06T15:30:59Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > > [@Jasmine](#): > > > > Intelligence and knowledge are the things that impress people here. > > Our two weapons are intelligence and knowledge, and ruthless efficiency. - And math skills. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-and-unreliable-is-this-site/997170.md?page=2)