Resident Experts

Hi,


Just wondering if we could create some designated experts if there volunteers to do it that is. I am sure we have a few members that can be considered experts in certain areas of the hobby, species food water breeding Cichlids Marinwe and so on. Even something on their user ID to denote this?

We would have the usual debate by posting but it would be good to know who is an expert on what subject which can help and give a better chance of success when choosing the correct advice to follow, it might also narrow the focus on problems and resolutions, It would be cool to get advice from keepers that have actually had practical experience of what you are dealing with rather than read it 5 minutes before and replicated the info, (this can leave out important info gained from actually going through the process yourslef) which has uses too in most questions asked, but in certain cases the help of an identified pro with some hands on would also be good.


Just a thought.


Mark

i dont think anyone here would call themselves experts, and we all can learn something off each other as different things work for different people, the way it is forum wise gives a wider scope for good info to come from people who have practical expierence rather than have a couple of so called experts, i my self have been fishkeeping 26 years and still would not profess to know it all, quite the opposite the more species i keep and deal with the less i find i know, practical expierence is the best advice you can get. just my 2 cents on the subject

sheag35 wrote:

i dont think anyone here would call themselves experts, and we all can learn something off each other as different things work for different people, the way it is forum wise gives a wider scope for good info to come from people who have practical expierence rather than have a couple of so called experts, i my self have been fishkeeping 26 years and still would not profess to know it all, quite the opposite the more species i keep and deal with the less i find i know, practical expierence is the best advice you can get. just my 2 cents on the subject

I would tend to agree with Sheag35.

We all know that internet forums (and the internet in general) can be a bit of melting pot of information, experts and expertise.
The remotely digital interface does not allow people to know exactly who is on the remote keyboard either typing away or copy-n-pasting away (whatever the case may or may not be)

But my thoughts are that an internet forum should allow all people with whatever level of experience, qualification, expertise, post their opinions and experiences on various topics.

As posts progress, useful and non-useful information can be segregated. There are generally enough people who would know enough to either agree or disagree with a posted opinion. I’m sure that if someone said “keep Malawi cichlids in peaty acid conditions” that enough people would post a reply to that (in a dignified manner I hope)

As Sheag35 says, 26 years of keeping and still learning…..I would be in the same boat (except being probably much older that Sheag….I don’t know though…. I have nearly 40 years of keeping and still learning).

I know myself that I have kept a great variety of fish….but there are many many more fish out there that I’ve never heard of let alone knowing anything about their keeping.

I like a good debate, often good debates require fresh blood to stop things becoming stale. To me, all voices are welcome and should be encouraged to get-in-on-the-act.

Someone who has just started fish keeping may, therefore, offer superb information on fish that they happen to have experience with yet maybe non of those with years of experience and skill have ever touched.

I think, however, that at a Society level, there is room for a panel of ‘experts’ (I hate that word by the way) who can engineer a route to spreading knowledge. ‘Engineer’ is the right word here, as a chartered engineer may or may not know about a specific topic area…but he/she knows how to get or refer to an effective knowledge pool.

I can see the good side of Mark’s suggestion, but maybe having such an item may, in itself, be counter-productive unless there is some good organisation and thought put into the idea. On that….then…..It may or may not be a goer.

I like new ideas and initiatives so long as they truly improve on what is already there.

Ian

Just a thought, and like I said above, things would go as usual on the whole, this would only be an in specific cases, and I am not taking the literal meaning of expert though I consider someone that has bred fish for 30 yers to have some expertise in this area though the word "Expert" can be omitted.

It is not meant to be a big deal, some specialty informaton could be on their profiles rather than actually creatng some forum structure or addition to the name like a rank, this is meant to be something subtle and accessable if or when it could be useful by users.

Ta for your thoughts on it lads.


Mark