Question about spotting someone faking a trade background online...

I was scrolling through a contractor forum the other day and saw a guy giving roof advice that sounded way too textbook. He was talking about 'optimal ventilation ratios' and 'solar reflectance indexes' like a Wikipedia article... but when someone asked him how he deals with old torch-down on a flat roof he went silent. It got me thinking... could this guy be a bot or just someone who watched too many YouTube videos? I used to think anyone who sounds smart online must know their stuff, but now I wonder if half these 'experts' are just pulling from AI scripts. Has anyone else caught a fake expert in the wild and how did you tell?

3 comments

3 Comments

felixhenderson9d ago

Yeah, too many textbook words but zero real world dirt under the nails.

eva_moore9d ago

Man I just got flashbacks to my cousin who got his business degree and then tried to tell me how to run my landscaping crew. Showed up one Saturday with a notebook full of charts and theories while I'm knee deep in mud trying to unclog a drain. He spent 20 minutes explaining "operational efficiency" while I grabbed a shovel and fixed it in 5. Some stuff you just gotta learn by getting your hands dirty first.

theajohnson9d ago

Read something similar about chefs who went to culinary school versus ones who just cooked in actual kitchens.