Well said Mark.
My own opinion is that a calculator like the one on that site exhibits the limitations of any database. I write some database applications as a regular part of my job and I am fully aware that no database is any better than the source documents that they use. In this case, the author has relied on the input of a large number of on-line forums as a source of information about various fish. The problem is not in the author's ability to put together a database based on his data sources but that the sources are deficient in their data input. If you take any old forum comment at face value and simply believe it, you end up with a database that contains some great data and some not so great data. The author of the database is very interested in fish but has too little experience to be able to judge that information and its veracity. That simply means that shear numbers of posts, or similar qualities become the standards he judges thing by. If 5 poor quality forums come to similar conclusions, the calculator is set to accept that advice even if the serious forums such as TFF have a different answer. Although I am fully aware that we are not perfect here, I have far more confidence in our answers than in many of the answers I find on the same subjects elsewhere. If I wanted the opinions of the less reliable forums, I would go there to ask my questions, not believe that database site. Who knows, sometimes the database may actually have a right answer. You never can tell, which is why I prefer to listen to people that I trust.
My own opinion is that a calculator like the one on that site exhibits the limitations of any database. I write some database applications as a regular part of my job and I am fully aware that no database is any better than the source documents that they use. In this case, the author has relied on the input of a large number of on-line forums as a source of information about various fish. The problem is not in the author's ability to put together a database based on his data sources but that the sources are deficient in their data input. If you take any old forum comment at face value and simply believe it, you end up with a database that contains some great data and some not so great data. The author of the database is very interested in fish but has too little experience to be able to judge that information and its veracity. That simply means that shear numbers of posts, or similar qualities become the standards he judges thing by. If 5 poor quality forums come to similar conclusions, the calculator is set to accept that advice even if the serious forums such as TFF have a different answer. Although I am fully aware that we are not perfect here, I have far more confidence in our answers than in many of the answers I find on the same subjects elsewhere. If I wanted the opinions of the less reliable forums, I would go there to ask my questions, not believe that database site. Who knows, sometimes the database may actually have a right answer. You never can tell, which is why I prefer to listen to people that I trust.
