chas wrote:Jayhawk wrote:crookedtune wrote:Another approach might be to skip all the credential-posting bravado, and for readers to simply accept all advice with a healthy grain of salt. Trust is, they'll need to do that anyway....
Get out of here with your common sense approach! We need certification so everyone knows the qualifications of each board member...
Seriously though, I agree with you completely. Just because you take your car to a dealership for a repair, it doesn't mean the mechanic truly is an expert on your particular model, honest, or more than a week away from his/her training. Does your bank teller truly understand how to wire money in Euros to an Irish bank account (I was told this wasn't possible by several folks before they found someone who could help - had I taken them at their word, it wouldn't have happened). And as one of the doctors who works for me said, just because you made it through medical school does not mean you know very much about medicine and treating patients.
Every interaction we have with another individual, in person, by phone or by internet, requires that we evaluate the merits of the person giving the advice and come to our own judgment before we decide to take the advice or not.
Ditto. Anyone asking advice here oughta read the archives back awhile and get to know different people's points of view, prejudices, knowledge base, etc. Few of the frequent posters to this forum hide much.
Charlie: hack Irish flute player five years; hack traverso player for a year or two; turned enough wood to know that a small misstep can lead to disaster or danger faster than you can say "2000 rpm".
It's also very frustrating to pipe in every now and again after some time away (not a flute expression, I realize) to lend an opinion or bit of advice and have to stop to certify who exactly I am, how long I've been playing, what my qualifications may be, etc. -- especially since many of us have already shared that information time and time again over the years. And for some of us, it has been years, and - hopefully, in that time - all of us have gotten that much better, and have learned that much more. In any event, the once interesting post topic is suddenly put on hold while we bring out our resumes. The truth is, there are always people here that know more than others, and others that know less.
This said, I agree wholeheartedly with the last few posts. Taking advice from anyone -- even old pros -- should be taken with a pound of salt. We've all read fairly animated posts between some of the most seasoned makers and players vehemently disagreeing on everything from embouchure and tone, to what flutes play best, to what woods have what properties, allergies, oils to use, and what ornaments we must employ and when, if, of course, at all.
Tastes and experiences vary. Some here mix ITM with anything else that suits their fancy, while others are purists and want only pure-drop information. If the latter is their passion, advice from the former will be largely useless, or, worse, time-wasting and "wrong" -- not in a universal sense, but in its value to what an individual is spending their time on.
Useful information is measured only in how much it touched on something an individual was/is wondering, and where they are in the learning curve. Some of the most accepted advice is distributed between novices. Why? Because newbies relate better to one another, and their recent experiences are most valuable to other newbies. My dissent or advice might hurt, rather than help, because I'm further along and my early struggles are (fortunately) behind me; I've forgotten some problems, or didn't have them in the first place (but had others). I've moved on to newer struggles that newbies won't relate to, but that might still be well behind the learning curve of some of the true masters out there. Everything, as they say, is relative. Or, everyone is a relative. Or is that just in certain areas?
Anyway, I've rambled long enough; have to go put together my resume, my recordings of rigs and jeels, my reference numbers and personal endorsements, and have my 8x10 glossies updated -- the last time they were taken, I had hair...
Gordon
Wow, that's reassuring...... 
