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Aristotle's three appeals (the three aspects of any attempt to make a persuasive argument):

Ethos--The trustworthiness of the speaker; their credentials, character, etc. You can trust me when I say this, because of who I am.

Pathos--The emotional appeal of the argument. Getting people riled up.

Logos--The cold logic of the argument. Rationally and dispassionately, does it make sense?

There is an awful lot of unnecessary Pathos online, and not enough of the other two. The OLF excepted, of course.

And while I’m on my geezer rant:

It’s not that the need for Ethos is ignored online; the problem is that it is manufactured so much of the time. Does that person on YouTube really run a busy woodworking shop, making things and selling them? I mean, they have a back wall made of barn wood. They must be legitimate, right? But very often, their true income source is making the videos. The shop is a filming studio, not an actual shop. Which would be fine if they were Julia Child, bringing real wisdom into that studio. Or Robbie O’Brien, the Julia Child of our specific craft. Or Dan Erlewine. Or John Hall. There are others I trust. But soooooo many others are all hat and no cattle, fakers trying to make money off of my attention to their content.

And let us not forget the well worn path of those who have true Ethos, but squander it to hawk some product or service they don’t believe in. It’s sad to watch, but it happens.

I have been predicting for a while (maybe more hoping than predicting) that, because we are living in this current age of hucksters and carnies, and living with the horrible effects of it, people will soon lash out against that nonsense and seek authenticity instead of flashy presentation. Fingers crossed.

From your lips to God's ears.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

meddlingfool wrote:
" The good advice is still out there, the problem is that you have to have at least some basic level of knowledge and understanding already to sort wheat from chaff."

The Dunning-Krueger Effect lives on.

Ahem.

It’s the Gallien-Krueger Effect around these here parts…;)