Comment by dorkwood

When I was younger, I wasted a lot of time following the advice of online strangers who seemed to have a lot of conviction in their ideas -- much more conviction than I'd ever had about anything myself. To me, that was a sign that they must know what they're talking about. It turned out to be the opposite. These days, I try not to blindly follow the advice of anyone who can't demonstrate their knowledge to me in some way; if you're telling me how to paint a picture, you better be able to show me one of your paintings.