chong

I don't know about other people, but to me, when someone gives an account of his experience, that's all that it is - his experience. Then when he refers that others have had the same experience, again that's all it is - they have the same collective experience. With that, he can choose to offer an opinion based the experience. But expressing an opinion does not make it a claim to be the authority on the matter, or a statement of fact. So, I didn't know that revealing your experience, and expressing a different opinion is motivated by pride or fear. I thought that the posting one's observations/opinions on the subject was the purpose of participating in discussions in a thread.

If I were to make a claim, I would try to quote an authority, or if available, attach a copy of the pertinent source, report, article, or other publication. In these forums, because of the casual, non-scientific, non-legally binding nature of the organization (except regarding purchases), when I read other people's claims, I usually do not expect them to produce documentation to support their claims. But if my experience is far removed from the claim, I believe that stating my own experience does not invalidate the other person's claim.

A case in point is the wisdom of ordering materials from TyTy Nursery. I don't remember anyone else saying anything good about them. But when I revealed my experience with them, it almost seemed like a lot of people were getting on my case. Contrary to common opinion, when I again placed an order from them, the messages I was getting was anything from sympathy to "are you nuts?" Then when I received a reasonably satisfactory shipment, the message I was getting was, "You're one of the lucky few", or "just you wait, you'll see". Okay. I said that I was willing to take the risk. How many people are there who ordered plants from Thailand expected that their plants would grow 100%? And how many of those plants are actually still alive now? So, from where I sit, what's the difference?

When I ordered those plants from TyTy, I wasn't trying to prove anyone wrong, or prove myself right. I ordered those plants because I wanted those plants for a long time, and so that I can stop wondering if the plant is really what they say it is.