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They might be the group admins or they might be well-regarded longstanding members, but almost any niche topic or hobby group online will have its handful of experts. It’s great that the internet has made it easier than ever for people to learn from one another.
But I’ve noticed that groups like this can often develop into something more sinister: the cult of expert personality. I come across it in plant groups, as well as lots of other interest-specific communities. Here I’ll try to explain how to recognise and avoid it.
I’ve also written a detailed description of my encounter with a specific cult of expert personality, the Garden Professors, in this follow-up article.
What goes wrong with experts in online communities
A cult of personality happens when a group creates a shared perception of their leaders as being idealised, heroic, or otherwise perfect. A cult of expert personality is when that idealised image is specifically based around the leaders being authoritatively knowledgeable in their subject. The group members come to treat the experts as not just helpful people with useful experience, but as an infallible source of ultimate truth.
I’m no social scientist, but I think this begins to happen naturally as a result of the way humans behave collectively. It arises even more easily if the experts place particular emphasis on the scientific method and information literacy in general, because that gives an even stronger impression of intelligence and modesty.
Although the cult is maintained by the combined action of all members in the group, it’s the perceived experts who have the power. The leaders enjoy being trusted and admired, so it’s tempting to encourage the idealisation as it begins. Over time, those trusted people will take on the role of cult experts – no longer bound by the need for evidence or justification of their expertise, but instead enforcing their authority to keep their followers awed and under control.
At its most extreme, a cult of expert personality will make it completely impossible to question or disagree with the experts without being dimissed, attacked, or excluded. The result is that anyone who doesn’t think that the experts are an unquestionable paragon of fact leaves, by choice or by force, and the only longstanding participants left are “worshippers” following the idealised experts.
I don’t know if it’s possible to come back from that state once it’s in place. I’ve never seen it happen, but maybe it can. I think it would require a drastic change of attitude from the experts, or a complete overhaul of the group members – if not both at once.
Recognising a cult of expert personality
An online community that contains knowledgeable and well-regarded members is not necessarily a cult of expert personality. It’s defined by the way experts and other group members behave towards each other.
Here are some comparisons between trustworthy experts and cult experts.
| Trustworthy experts | Cult experts |
| Trustworthy experts can be wrong or uncertain. They’ll admit if they made a mistake, they’re glad to learn something new, and they’re honest about being unsure or unable to answer. | Cult experts are always right. Their opinions are facts, they have nothing left to learn, and they’ll attack or silence others before admitting they might be mistaken or uncertain. |
| Trustworthy experts explain and source their information. They can tell others how they know something, and prove their claims with evidence. | Cult experts don’t need to explain. They are secretive or evasive about where their information comes from, and they silence or shame people who ask for clarification. |
| Trustworthy experts want to create more experts. They are positive and supportive when others learn new things, and kind when others make mistakes. | Cult experts discourage expertise in others. They discourage others’ attempts to learn, and nitpick every answer in order to strengthen their own appearance of authority. |
| Trustworthy experts explain and follow the rules. If they administrate the community, they are clear about what topics of discussion are allowed and what behaviour is unacceptable. They follow their own rules, too. | Cult experts are above the rules. They move the goalposts to control a conversation, while breaking the rules themselves without consequence. |
| Trustworthy experts earn respect by making trustworthy contributions to the community. | Cult experts enforce respect by wielding shame and fear of authority as weapons. |
As I mentioned earlier, it’s not just the experts who perpetuate the cult dynamic. There’s lots of variation in the way the group followers behave. They might heap awed praise on the experts, or attack anyone who disagrees, or avoid engaging for fear of the unpredictable consequences. Their actions always enable and serve the cult expert’s position by reinforcing their image as an ultimate and flawless authority of knowledge.
Of course this isn’t a true binary. Any group with experts can exist on a continuum between these two extremes. The point of these descriptions is not to provide a diagnostic checklist which can categorise every group and be done with. The point is to provide a guide with which to continuously evaluate the legitimacy of any intellectual authority you might encounter.
How to avoid getting sucked into a cult of expert personality
The ability to be wrong is the crucial foundational factor that an expert’s trustworthiness hinges on. So any time you encounter someone who’s being treated as an intellectual authority, ask yourself: how would you find out if they were wrong?
- Do they admit to being wrong or uncertain sometimes? Then you can trust them to own up when it does happen.
- Do they explain and source their information? Then you can verify or falsify their claims for yourself.
- Do they let people question or disagree with them without punishment or exclusion? Then you can ask them yourself if you doubt something, and trust them to take you seriously.
You can’t just ask yourself these questions once. You have to keep asking them, forever. No matter how experienced and well-regarded, no real expert should ever want your unquestioning faith.
If an expert makes it impossible for them to ever be shown or proven wrong, then you cannot trust them to be right. You have no way of knowing whether any claim they make is true, because they would deny or suppress it if it wasn’t.
In a very extreme group culture, the pressure of being surrounded by a group who insist the expert is undeniable and infallible can be almost overwhelming. It may be impossible to participate or remain if you don’t utterly accept the expert’s authority. If that’s the case, it is not a good community to be in, and you are better off out of it.
How to avoid becoming a cult expert
From my own observations, these cults seem to emerge in niche topic communities very easily. It’s almost as if a group culture will slide towards this state by default unless the perceived experts apply constant and active effort in the opposite direction. If you are well-regarded in your community and you don’t want to be treated like a cult expert, it will require continual work.
You do that by demonstrating to your members how they would know if you were wrong.
- Admit when you have been wrong or aren’t certain of something. It might feel better to deny it or pretend it never happened. But owning up is the only way to earn real trust.
- Explain and source your information. Yes, it takes more effort. You have to do it anyway. Make sure that others can verify or falsify your claims, no matter how confident you are in them.
- Let people question and disagree with you. Don’t ever punish or silence people simply for doubting you. Always take a sincere criticism seriously, and be open to actually learning from it.
These aren’t actions you can take once and then forget. You have to keep doing these things for as long as you are a trusted community member. There is no endpoint. Part of your responsibility as a person with perceived authority and expertise is to make sure you never end up beyond questioning.
If you make it impossible for anyone to ever see you be wrong, you cannot be trusted to be right. To educate your community in how to evaluate information, you have to start by teaching them to evaluate your information.
If you develop a community of people whose only way of determining fact is to ask “does my favourite expert say it’s true or not?”, you have not created a group of scientifically literate learners – you have created a cult of expert personality.