KiwiPassenger
18th Apr 2006, 15:54
As one very new to this extremely interesting site, may I say it is always interesting as an outsider to see professionals, in any profession, discussing their areas of expertise, particularly at the interface with laymen, as happens on this site.
First - the admission. From my handle you'll gather that I both hail from Enzed and also that I am not a pilot. I am, however, one of the more frequent flyers you guys (and ladies) would encounter, especially on intra-Asia and Asia-Europe routes. I therefore have a vested interest in the high levels of professionalism shown in the airline industry!!
Now a small gripe. Two of the threads I visited today were written by someone showing dubious literacy skills and a seemingly naive enthusiasm for plane-spotting. The handle used was BigFlesh2005. The first thread concerned him thinking he had spotted a large transporter aircraft at 60,000ft (sic) bove his home in Sheffield. This prompted much discussion (friendly / chiding advice that 60,000ft was unlikely to say the least; discussion on what sort of transporter it could be etc etc). As with many threads, it took on a life of its own, with responders feeding off each other, posting photos of large aircraft, and so on.
Then someone spotted that earlier posts by the same user were written clearly - no spelling / grammatical mistakes, and by someone seemingly with a much greater knowledge of aircraft. That person suggested the whole thing was a wind-up.
After more evidence of earlier posts was provided, BigFlesh confessed to being the son of the user, and this was accompanied by an apology from Dad. The site moderator responded that time wasting was not appreciated and BigFlesh has been terminated.
This appears to me to be heavy-handed. My first guess at the top of the thread was that the poster was young (not just the spelling, but also the tone and atttitude of the writer and his/her enthusiasm). It is possible, of course, that we see evidence of a learning difficulty as well (dyslexia?). I hasten to emphasise I don't know these people - I'm based in HK after all.
But in the rush to enthusiastically respond (and even compete with each other) it took a little time before someone said, "Hang on!". Then BigFlesh was accused of time wasting - perhaps, but everyone seemed to be enjoying responding with competing theories - and he was banned.
You may accuse me of naively accepting the "Dad's" explanation. But why would someone conduct a wind-up using their own account when it had previously been used to post seemingly sensible questions and comments?
Hope this mild criticism doesn't see me tarred and feathered as well....
Regards
KiwiPassenger
PS: I can't find the spell-checker yet, but hopefully I won't require it too frequently!
First - the admission. From my handle you'll gather that I both hail from Enzed and also that I am not a pilot. I am, however, one of the more frequent flyers you guys (and ladies) would encounter, especially on intra-Asia and Asia-Europe routes. I therefore have a vested interest in the high levels of professionalism shown in the airline industry!!
Now a small gripe. Two of the threads I visited today were written by someone showing dubious literacy skills and a seemingly naive enthusiasm for plane-spotting. The handle used was BigFlesh2005. The first thread concerned him thinking he had spotted a large transporter aircraft at 60,000ft (sic) bove his home in Sheffield. This prompted much discussion (friendly / chiding advice that 60,000ft was unlikely to say the least; discussion on what sort of transporter it could be etc etc). As with many threads, it took on a life of its own, with responders feeding off each other, posting photos of large aircraft, and so on.
Then someone spotted that earlier posts by the same user were written clearly - no spelling / grammatical mistakes, and by someone seemingly with a much greater knowledge of aircraft. That person suggested the whole thing was a wind-up.
After more evidence of earlier posts was provided, BigFlesh confessed to being the son of the user, and this was accompanied by an apology from Dad. The site moderator responded that time wasting was not appreciated and BigFlesh has been terminated.
This appears to me to be heavy-handed. My first guess at the top of the thread was that the poster was young (not just the spelling, but also the tone and atttitude of the writer and his/her enthusiasm). It is possible, of course, that we see evidence of a learning difficulty as well (dyslexia?). I hasten to emphasise I don't know these people - I'm based in HK after all.
But in the rush to enthusiastically respond (and even compete with each other) it took a little time before someone said, "Hang on!". Then BigFlesh was accused of time wasting - perhaps, but everyone seemed to be enjoying responding with competing theories - and he was banned.
You may accuse me of naively accepting the "Dad's" explanation. But why would someone conduct a wind-up using their own account when it had previously been used to post seemingly sensible questions and comments?
Hope this mild criticism doesn't see me tarred and feathered as well....
Regards
KiwiPassenger
PS: I can't find the spell-checker yet, but hopefully I won't require it too frequently!