Lots of contentious issues bring Google-Experts out of the woodwork; people who claim to have counter facts because they’ve “done their own research” on the subject. It’s absolutely true that people who are affected by projects or initiatives do indeed bring wisdom and oftentimes ground-truthed knowledge that is really valuable and shouldn’t be ignored. But I’m referring to the people who believe that their 45-minutes on the internet is better than your Ph.D. Responding to those challenges effectively takes patience, a bit of zen, and a wise response strategy.