The day a customer called my historical timeline 'lazy' made me rethink everything

I used to post these long threads about ancient inventions and their supposed origins, thinking I was pretty thorough. Then about 3 months ago, a guy commented on my post about the Antikythera mechanism, saying I skipped over the 100 year gap between the first references and the actual archaeological evidence. He pointed out I was using a secondary source that had no footnotes, and that made my whole argument shaky. At first I got defensive, but I went back and checked his sources from a university library database. Turns out he was right, the timeline I used was off by at least 50 years based on carbon dating reports. Now I always go straight to the original excavation papers or peer reviewed journals before I write anything. Has anyone else had a random commenter catch a big mistake in your research that changed how you work?

3 comments

3 Comments

dylan_brown301mo agoMost Upvoted

Man that sucks but honestly props to you for actually checking his sources instead of just doubling down. Most people would've just blocked him and kept it moving.

riverdavis1mo ago

So did the guy actually point you to a specific source that changed your mind, or did he just show you enough holes in your argument that you realized you were wrong on your own? I'm curious because I've had both experiences. The first one is usually easier to swallow, like someone handing you a map after you've been walking the wrong way. The second one stings more because you have to admit you didn't even bother looking at the thing you were arguing about. I had something similar happen with a whole YouTube video debunking a stat I'd been repeating for months.

gavin3651mo ago

Yeah exactly dude. That's the thing though, most people don't wanna admit when they're wrong. They'd rather just keep the argument going forever or delete the whole thread and pretend it never happened. But I'd rather look stupid for a minute than stay stupid for the rest of my life. It sucks to find out I was believing some half-baked garbage, but at least I know now. And honestly the guy who corrected me was pretty chill about it once I actually listened. So I learned something new and made a connection instead of just burning a bridge for no reason. That's worth the embarrassment any day.