ATS, Where Everybody is an Expert

Some good points there.

This is always going to be a problem on the net, not just on ATS. I like to think i have a enough life experience to have a rough idea when someone is really talking out of their backside.

Something i have found though in my few years on this planet though...

Some people who supposedly have above average intelligence, have near on zero common sense, so is it really that great a thing?

Having the paperwork to show you are an expert in something, does not always guaruntee they are in fact the expert it would appear. I've worked with people who have spent their lives doing college and university courses, only to find they are useless to me on the job.

I trained as a sports therapist when i left the forces, and on the course was an elderly guy who had dabbled in physiotherapy all his life as an interest. Even the instructor, who was a qualified physio himself admitted this old guy knew more than he did. All that was missing was the paperwork and the "I've been to college" tag.

As for the military thing, as ex forces myself this one always tickles me.

No matter what unit you were in, there will be some things you were involved in that you shouldn't be talking about online. My motto has always been, "If you can't talk about it, don't."

Half the stuff the SF and other specialized units do is boring as hell anyway. Things you "can't talk about" aren't interesting enough for people to listen to anyway lol.

Peoples egos do get the better of them online unfortunately, but i just try to take each persons advice as it comes.

CX.

reply to post by wigit


Well done what a way to take something out of contest when you look at it in contest i was effectively agreeing with you by saying that

Quite interesting how you think of this as me having a moan, yes in some ways it is

reply to post by kevinunknown


I think you missed the smiley at the end. Go on, YOU smile.

Hey, if you take something you learned from a thread
and it works for you out in the real world...
Then you bin talkin' to a expert baby..
Even if it was only your self.

reply to post by kevinunknown


Hey, I make no bones about it.....I know very little about almost everything, that's why I frequently make a tit of myself on here.

But sometimes, just sometimes mind you, I think I may just contribute in a constructive and positive way and that makes up for everything.

But I must admit, I do take extra delight in 'making a point' to the aggrandized, not that it happens much!

Reply to post by kevinunknown

As sad as it is that people are constantly claiming to be things they are not it's even worse that people on here constantly believe these liars and the horribly, exaggerated theories some of these "experts" think up. If anything that's not a sign of collective intelligence its a sign of very poor intelligence.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

reply to post by A Novel


Thank you so much for that comment, I wish i had put it in my thread it perfectly sums up what i was trying to say.

And yet in the same rant you claim that we should allow expers to tell us who the experts are.

You have also thrown your expertise around quite a bit on past threads. You've even used it to condescend. I think someone is just upset that theyre not an FSME. Bruised ego maybe?

reply to post by dbloch7986


I used it once outright on a thread I wrote about mental illness to give examples about how bad things can get. Recently I mentioned that I had finished a course on the management of blood born infections I think I am right in saying that the only times I have really used it, I might be wrong. I don’t think these are very bold claims. If that makes me a hypocrite then I can live with that.

In my own personal opinion ATS and ALL of its members in some fashion and from one extend to another are a wealth of invaluable information. Even though some of them don’t recognize just what they are sharing and teaching as it is something entirely different than their posts or threads are trying to convey.

Having said that, it would seem to me the OP is considering a career of one thread after another about what they don’t like about ATS.

It’s passed off as being constructive and well intentioned but is it?

What makes ATS great is the really creative minds that spend a lot of time diligently researching things and then writing out their findings in informative and entertaining threads and posts that promote a real learning and sharing based discussion on both sides of the pro/con divide on the subject.

You might want to give that a try sometime OP, instead of just making thread after thread about what you don’t like about ATS and its membership.

By the way I know guys in MENSA who can’t tie their shoelaces, and separating them from their money is child’s play!

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler
In my own personal opinion ATS and ALL of its members in some fashion and from one extend to another are a wealth of invaluable information. Even though some of them don’t recognize just what they are sharing and teaching as it is something entirely different than their posts or threads are trying to convey.

Ive often thought about this myself and wondered if other people did too.

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler
By the way I know guys in MENSA who can’t tie their shoelaces, and separating them from their money is child’s play!

My honest opinion is that Mensa is only measuring the ability to see patterns and I cant understand how this relates to true intelligence like problem solving in real life. Im good at IQ tests such as these, but I have many problems with other things, such as practical things. Why is only pattern recognition significant as a measurement of ability in people? Its completely ridiculous.

Im aware that there are many kinds of IQ tests, but the matrices that Mensa use are basically pattern recognition/prediction.




[edit on 4-8-2010 by Copernicus]

The few of us here who DO HAVE expertise in certain fields take exception
at your blanket accusation.

I can only speak for myself, Sir, but my expertise is easily be verified.
Not only have I (nearly) completed a ninth grade education at a
highly lauded institution of learning, I am a self-taught electronics
remote control operator, utilizing three different remotes on a daily
basis. And I am planning on adding a fourth when my new TV arrives.

If anyone has any questions regarding couches, cushions, reclining positions,
or inexpensive beer, I would be happy to help with the extensive
expertise I have in these fields.

Good day to you Sir.

reply to post by kevinunknown

ROTFL
I knew I read something where there were two of your posts together and a little dispute and the 's' word used. But it was socialist!

This is very much a socialist policy, as a socialist I love it...

Socialist, not scientist.

Anyway, you Socialist you...(*jk*) Great points in this thread. It astounds me when a thread is really starting to roll and the 'expert' steps in to right all the wrongs and wrong all the rights...

peace

reply to post by kevinunknown
Let's face it. Google and Wikipedia are the real subject matter experts on most online discussions.

I call it getting your "15 minute Masters in (subject here) from Google University."

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


What Proto said plus why would you join a board where you think no one is an expert and everyone is mentally ill, you must feel pretty lonely being the only sane person on ATS OP.

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


I have to say when I saw your name I thought I was in for a real grilling (that’s my attempt at a complement), I was wrong in some strange roundabout way I can almost agree with you. I agree with you that on ATS there are allot of very interesting and intelligent people (I honestly include you among them) however allot of these people are not “experts” they are just well read.

I really am not on a “career” of posting anti-ATS threads, I love ATS but there is a substantial volume of the threads and posts I just hate. I have wrote quite allot of threads that are not anti-conspiracy.

I like the bit about MENSA at the end, I have a very good friend who is freakishly intelligent and has zero organisational or people skills.

Since you asked, I'll answer: Subject Matter Expert is a designation (and no, I'm just talking about ATS' SME badge).

Expertise is experience (not just knowledge). Experience is easily demonstrated. Knowledge is easily obtained. Therein lies the difference. SME's can not only discuss the topic, but also can demonstrate their understanding of the content. This is usually easily identified, thus we can usually discern who does (or does not) demonstrate expertise in any given topic.

reply to post by silo13


LOL, I will forgive you for that mistake.

reply to post by Zaxxon


Damn, where's that star button gone?

You took the words right out of my mouth.

Good post.

The point I most agree with you on is the people who say they are ex-military. They often come across as being brash and arrogant and they tend to brush aside opinions of others who disagree with them.

Maybe that's an unfair generalisation, but that's how I see it with some.

I prefer posters who are modest and don't have to bang on about what they know and who they know etc.

We get the "experts" and then we get the users who fawn over them.