I ain't no expert

[SkiprJohn]

Not an expert here. Been sailing a long time though. Owned lots of boats. Sailed on many, many more. I've been paid to sail and deliver and been paid to teach sailing and have even been paid to work on some boats but I don't consider myself a professional either. I also have lots of shipboard experience having been in the Navy for nearly 30 years.

I know some things about specific stuff and that's when I post a suggestion. Why do I have so many posts? Because, I send a welcome message to every person who joins the forum and not because I'm giving them all advice.

Some have criticized folks who have a great deal of posts here. I suppose they think that by being silent it makes you a better forum member and a better sailor and more an expert. Sorry, I can't agree with that.

If you have an opinion due to your experience and can help another sailor out by posting it then please post.

kind regards,

[SkiprJohn]

Thanks Don. It's hard to come out of the closet and admit you are not an expert. I value your opinion as I think everyone should.

kindest regards,

[Celestialsailor]

I personally feel that experience is a great teacher. Especially regarding boats. Boats teach us how to work on them. Especially if you're a blue-collar guy. So this experience can be related here. It doesn't much matter how much you post.
That being said...I would like to say also that the delivery of the post is very important. If all the post from a particular person is demeaning and mostly negative, it can be a great turn-off. Light sarcasm can be a humorous response or statement. However negative cruelty can be something entirely different.
I have been called out on the mat a few times for crossing the line. Those are good lessons for me. It allows me to gauge my responses better.

[Snore]

Don,

Experts are generally located more than 50 miles away from the job and ARE PAID!

This being an Internet forum it is a free exchange of ideas. Spent sime time fter a race with a circumnavigator and others with impressive blue water resumes, I know that many of them realize they still have much to learn.

If anyone cannot accept the fact that this is an Internet forum wherein opinions are shared, that is their issue.

Just my HO

Bill

[knottygurl]

You mean to tell me that this expert map can not be used for a circumnavigation

[sww914]

When I was being trained, my mentor told me that the difference between a good mechanic and a bad mechanic is that a good one catches his mistakes. A rule to live by.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by knottygurl

You mean to tell me that this expert map can not be used for a circumnavigation

Hey, that's copyrighted - you owe me a dollar .

(and Boatman61 did reach Australia - whether helped or not by this chart is a seperate matter ).

[Lagoon4us]

Don 'Google' has created the keyboard expert, experience by actually doing something seems to have lost out to the 'Fast fingers of finding out'.

Enjoy reading your responses and am always puzzled by the barbs some throw for seemingly no good reason.

Cheers

[sailorboy1]

Just as a note, I'm not looking/trolling for any type of praise etc.

If some people like reading my "stuff" that is great if others don't I'm sorry and just put me on your ignore list if I've gotten to that point.

But I'm still no expert! But I'm also not an idiot!

[DeepFrz]

I thought an expert was someone who knew more and more about less and less until he knew absolutely everything about nothing...

[sww914]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

Just as a note, I'm not looking/trolling for any type of praise etc.

If some people like reading my "stuff" that is great if others don't I'm sorry and just put me on your ignore list if I've gotten to that point.

But I'm still no expert! But I'm also not an idiot!

There are only three people on my ignore list and they're all there for the same reason. Super negative. You're not that.

[Weyalan]

I think that the whole point of anonymous internet forums is that you canvass and receive personal opinion. Some of it informed, much of it uninformed. You can try to separate the wheat from the chaff, but essentially what you are getting is worth precisely what you pay for it!

There is abzsolutely no obligation to qualification nor experience to post an opinion, nor is there any obligation to post only correct opinion.

It is my opinion that anybody who places a great deal of faith in "expert" opinion posted on an anonymous internet forum would be well advised to re-evaluate their methodology. Berating anybody here for their opinion is an entirely pointless exercise (I'm replaying Monty Python's Argument sketch here, in my head).

Me; I love this place and I value the wealth of exerience, knowledge and perspective that I find here. But "expert opinion" in the true sense of the words... not so much.

[goboatingnow]

I don't quite understand the point. Whether you get valuable expert opinion, based on experience, a google search or just someone's ideological hang ups , all of it is , is in the vein of " bar talk" . To be of use you have to factor it and decide what weighting to give it. After all its an anonymous Internet forum, like 1000s of others. People seem to think it should be some sort of infallible oracle.

Dave

[boatman61]

Shoot.... MarkJ's only done 7000+ posts in 5yrs...
Gotta get more sea time...

[SaucySailoress]

Originally Posted by Rocketman

Now, to your topic, there are a lot of us here that seem to do nothing all day but read and reply to people on the CF. Maybe it is there goal in life to contrubute to something before they die, who knows. When I see that someone who has thousands of posts, it makes me wonder, when do they do anything, but post on CF. Do they actually sail, eat, or sleep?

In my experience, most of the members with high post counts have high post counts because they care, and have a lot of experience to share. Many are liveaboards or have been liveaboards. I suspect they have more time to post, sail, eat and sleep because they are living aboard, and aren't stuck in traffic, or ironing, or watching the TV!

Some of us have a higher post count because of housekeeping duties. I will admit, my post count has significantly shot up because of these duties (it was only around 800 when I was invited to moderate). I continue to read, absorb and integrate some amazing ideas into our yacht, ready for casting off in the Spring. I continue to moderate because I love the atmosphere here, the inspiration I get (this is really gonna happen... we are selling up, have moved the 160kg of most prized possessions to the in-laws' for storage, and every time we travel we return with bags stuffed full of rigging, watermakers, winches, wet weather gear, etc) and truly I appreciate what I learn.

I sometimes worry about what the likes of you will think about my high post count.

But at the end of the day I know that I try to contribute meaningfully and carefully without shooting my mouth off without regard for others' feelings. And your comment has hurt my feelings. Yes, it is my goal to contribute something back to the forum before I die, and maybe somehow that will help another reader to cast off and throw the iron out.