Why is the internet so bad with nuance, and is there anything that can be done?

[DSeid]

@Little_Nemo

If you discuss something like growing squashes with the people you meet in person, you’re probably only going to talk about it with five to ten people. If the discussion on squash occurs on the internet, there may be fifty to a hundred people who comment.

And as the size of the group grows larger, the likelihood of encountering people out on the fringe who hold extreme beliefs on the topic increases. And while these people on the fringe may be a small minority in the conversation, they’re often the loudest and most noticeable participants.

I suspect this is a very large part of it: the internet is a tool that amplifies.

That amplification includes those few who have the dangerous little bit of knowledge, which the circumstance the OP references, those who know a factoid and are desperate to share that wisdom without really understanding the rest of the story.

Meanwhile those who don’t even know that factoid, those who know more of the rest of the story, those who suspect there a test of the story, and those less desperate to post, say nothing.

Selection bias operates and the ones we hear are almost only of that first group. And a few with an intelligent question about squash growing or admiration for your gardening… but only a few