Put some skin in the game and then you get a voice.

There is nothing wrong with being well read and everyone should learn as much as they can the problem comes with thinking someone is an expert on an issue simply because they know a lot of facts about it. It isn't just the intelligencia look at ESPN, they have a lot of "experts" who can name ever starter in the NFL which school they went to and how they ranked on fantasy football points but they have about the same odds as you or I of picking the next Super Bowl champion so their opinion really doesn't have any more value. The over selling of their value and the idea that their self appointed expertise somehow trumps any argument simply because they are experts. Look at your argument about fact checkers as an example, you thought your arguments won regardless of the actual fact simply because some journalist who had been sprinkled with magic factchecker fairy dust agreed with you.