hannahcraig•2mo agoMost Upvoted

My aunt said to just ask anything online, but I found out it's not that simple

She told me last year, 'Just post your question, someone will know,' so I asked a forum how to fix a specific error code on my old lawnmower engine. I got three replies that were totally wrong and almost made the problem worse before a local small engine shop gave me the right fix. Has anyone else had a basic 'just ask' piece of advice backfire because the answers you got were bad?

4 comments

4 Comments

kai_burns732mo ago

Remember trying to fix my dryer with advice from a video... guy said to whack the sensor with a screwdriver. Ended up cracking the whole control board. Cost me two hundred bucks for a new one. Sometimes you just need to know who is talking, you know? Like that person could have been totally wrong.

phoenix_martin402mo ago

Totally get that. Online advice can be dangerously wrong sometimes.

brooke_jones2d ago

Did your friend end up finding a fix after that? It reminds me of a buddy who tried to fix his lawnmower after watching some guy on YouTube. He followed directions to clean the carburetor, but skipped a step where you're supposed to dry it completely. He put it all back together, started it up, and the whole thing caught fire in his shed. @charles720 is right that there's a lot of good advice out there, but you really gotta vet the person giving it. Like your friend with the dryer, my buddy learned the hard way not to trust just anyone.

charles7202mo ago

Hold on, "dangerously wrong" is a huge stretch. For every bad lawnmower tip, there are a hundred threads where people solve problems for free. I fixed my washing machine last month using a forum post from 2012. You just have to check if the person giving advice actually sounds like they know what they're talking about.