Great answers on this great question. (Perhaps this didn't trigger any key word searches for the "paid traitors" Can we call them Paid-tors??)

Let me start by saying I am no one and I know nothing. So is everybody else. This sub is incredible. It's a bunch of no ones. Sometimes I am in total awe of the pieces that are put together in this sub (and others-diversify.) Good, smart open minded people. It is inspiring. - I think you should definitely start with something that interests you. That may sound simple but it is much easier to research something that is interesting to you personally. Or something with which you already have some information, knowledge or experience. I find myself chasing things that I read that are contrary to what I am sure I know. That gives you a solid ground, home base, place to come back to. For example - I read that they found the passport of one of the terrorists in the rubble on 9/11 - If I work at a paper manufacturing plant, I KNOW that passport paper is really thin so it doesn't make sense that it would have landed so close to the crash site (I'm making this up. I do not work at a paper plant and I am not claiming to know how far passport paper would float.) If that is not logical to me, I start from there because I know that to be true. For example - Jet Fuel can't Melt Steel Beams. It's a home base - whatever your theory is, you gauge it against what you know is true.

• Don't dismiss anything straight out.

  • Do not spend 12 hours a day doing this. Then tomorrow you will spend 13 because you are on to something and the next day...

One step at a time. Trust me on this. It's overwhelming. Small bites.

• Reach out. Make friends. Have someone to bounce ideas off of or with. The more you learn the more alone you will feel. (I dunno did I say that out loud :)

• Go put your feet on the earth once in awhile. For real. I know it sounds fruity. For me, I get wrapped up in all of this and it is a good reminder to stand up, walk away from it, clear my head, refocus and touch something real. I found out I really like how grass feels between my toes.

  • Remember your journey so that you don't become one of those people that comments - eh, this is bullshit, move on. Consider everyone's ideas as important as your own. They do.

Overall I guess my advice would be this - Take it all in, consider it all and keep the parts you want and dismiss the parts you don't. Like THIS post. Hopefully I have given you something worth keeping.

My Daddy says... if someone tries to give you a bucket of shit you should take it. You never know - the bucket might be worth something.