Is it actually a good idea trying to educate "placebophiles" on other websites?

2018-04-29 12:13:02

NB: I can't decide if this post should go here or to General Audio, so better be safe than sorry. Feel free to move if necessary.

I've been to some forums where placebophiles run rampant and routinely tell utter nonsense in discussions, even up to claiming that they hear the difference between a FLAC file and the result of decoding it. (I am not joking, the situation is really that bad).
Also they claim to be able to hear the supersonic frequencies, to hear the difference of downsampling to 44.1 kHz or even any downsampling, to hear the difference between PCM <-> DSD conversion, etc.… basically, everything you'd expect from placebophiles, and more.
What's bothering is that some new members are sometimes being fooled by that and they end up joining the cult.

It seems that the initial attempts to convince them do some ABX tests and also to learn a little bit of maths, physics, logic and critical thinking, have failed, they respond with some made up nonsensical reasons why ABX testing won't be faithful to the reality and since they are in bigger numbers and "trust" each other, I am not sure if they are able to listen to any outside information at all.

Do you know any particular strategies to solving that or it's better to just accept that some people never learn and are going to waste money and disk space, and ignore them?

Re: Is it actually a good idea trying to educate "placebophiles" on other websites?

Reply #1 – 2018-04-29 13:14:47

point them to this forum as a place for better information, but otherwise, give up.  It's the old cartoon:
https://laughingsquid.com/someone-is-wrong-on-the-internet/

Re: Is it actually a good idea trying to educate "placebophiles" on other websites?

Reply #2 – 2018-04-29 16:20:38

You'll be treated as an outcast assuming you don't get banned. I've experienced the very same thing on forums that concern themselves with the electric guitar.

Re: Is it actually a good idea trying to educate "placebophiles" on other websites?

Reply #3 – 2018-04-29 19:32:00

Here is a piece of advice that I foolishly ignored during most of my audiophile-forum life...

Do not try to teach a hippopotamus to sing. It is a waste of time and only annoys the hippopotamus.

Re: Is it actually a good idea trying to educate "placebophiles" on other websites?

Reply #4 – 2018-04-29 19:50:08

Thank you for the tips.
I probably should have noted that these forums are not themselves focused on being "audiophile", there are just some internal groups of people (maybe some of them using sock-puppets) which spout placebophile nonsense regularly. So unless I break the forums' rules, it's unlikely that I'd get banned for trying.
But yeah, it looks like it's a waste of time.
Maybe I'd tell some of them to go here when there's a good opportunity to do so (like them having a specific and more-or-less technical question).