My opinion is that the purpose of this forum is to mentor and be mentored.
We can stop right there. Quite a few people (I would say the vast majority) come here to discuss flying related matters with other pilots; neither more nor less. Sometimes, one asks questions that one seeks answers to; other times, one wants to discuss matters for which there is no straight answer, but to better formulate opinions. Occasionally, it's about influencing opinions; hardly ever for some, all the time for others... Most of the time, it's just for general aviation chatting, the way you could do at your local club house...
But very rarely, I think and hope, do people come here to receive instruction, tutoring or mentoring. An internet forum would be a rather bizarre place to come look for that. It gives opinions that one can consider; thoughts that one can take up with one's instructor (if applicable) or consider for oneself, whichever applies; suggested facts that one can look up in the relevant publications. Occasionally, information that is non-critical or trivial enough that one can afford to take it at face value. But mentoring, at an internet forum? Hardly!
Far more often, people come here to
give such instruction. In a percieved role as mentors, providing instruction to people who they certainly do not consider as peers, their expectations will most probably clash badly with what they will receive from whoever they attempt to instruct. If one asks a vastly more experienced pilot for advice, one will most likely listen, try to learn as much as one can from the conversation, and easily overlook even a hint of "superior" behavior from one's mentor. But if one comes into an internet forum with some question or comment and gets an unexpected telling-to by some unknown internet avatar, demanding that one shuts up and listens to whatever pearls of wisdom said sky-god generously offers, and where disagreeing means one is a) a disgrace for humanity, b) a danger to onself and everyone else, c) not worthy of even participating in the discussion, let alone to be considered a peer of other pilots, or d) all of the above, one will probably not respond in quite the respectful manner the self-appointed mentor had expected.
And that is a great shame, because people like Pilot DAR or Chuck do seem to have that extraordinarily rare degree of experience and knowledge that make what they say worth listening to as 'instruction' or 'mentoring', even at an internet forum. I appreciate tremendously what they, and very few others, post along those lines. But to appreciate it one has to know this place; it would be naive indeed for a new forum visitor to take that kind of instruction to heart without having taken quite some time to learn who is who on the forum, who is generously sharing their significant knowledge and who is just puffing up their own ego.
Thus, and this is my point: When the view that "this is a place for (mostly) general aviation pilots to discuss general aviation" meets the view that "this is a place for mentoring", the result is an inevitable clash. The resulting carnage, which can hardly even be called a discussion, will hardly give any benefit to anybody, and what is said will very poorly reflect on the attitudes, skills or knowledge of those participating. It is a waste of everyone's time, and a source of animosity for a long time after.
I most sincerely disagree with the quite revolting things Pilot DAR had to say about David above, and think it is a great shame such nonsense is put on the forum. I certainly consider him a peer, and don't think for a moment that anything we have seen of his attitude or flying makes him unsafe. I do not believe for a second you get any meaningful knowledge of a person's flying abilities from a few comments posted on an internet forum!
That I disagree with the landing techniques he expressed, as I understood them, is another matter entirely... But such things can be sorted out through discussion and arguing of various facts and factors, with no patronizing or self-righteous ego bashing involved.