Joanie

John, I think you are right. Incorrect advice should always be challenged, because the ripples in the pond are incalculable. Allowed to stand, the advice hangs there on the internet for anyone to come along and see. When joining this group, I must have read twenty old threads for advice on specific trees. Others no doubt do the same. And they take that information to their friends, or to their club, sharing the mistaken beliefs.

Having said that, I must admit that while being a very, very small fish here (one might almost say pre-fish), in my own "hobby" I am one of the top three in the world. I have spent ten years teaching, giving seminars, travelling to other workshops to help troubleshoot, etc. Along comes the internet, someone starts a yahoo group of the same interest, and suddenly I am challenging and being challenged by many other hobbiests. Most of them are willing to learn, and learn correctly. However, some are able to act as though they know when they really don't. At all. Period.

When the argument gets to a certain level, the less informed can no longer follow it, and they end up as you say, taking sides. For those still arguing, dearly held beliefs die hard. Personalities come into it, and that's where the learning stops.

However, in the end at least the wrong information was challenged. You can't just let it sit there, with the authority that the written word seems to carry. Perhaps the criteria for challenging it should be whether it is really a problem piece of information, or just another way of doing the same thing. Like the soil stratification discussion, as was pointed out both methods seem to work for people who know what they are doing otherwise. Therefore, it is less important to carry the day, because used properly either method will not cause disaster.

It is hard when there are strong personalities and strong opinions on a forum, inevitably someone gets their feelings hurt or leaves because it just isn't worth fighting over anymore. And that's a shame, because the information that all of you have given on this forum is worth all six bonsai books I own, and if you knew the hours and hours that I (among hundreds of others, no doubt) spent reading your posts and thinking about your responses you would know that it was all worth it.

Joanie