Libel laws being as they are. I think you are pretty immune from being dragged into the courts if you call someone an idiot on an internet bulletin board. Especially if they blatantly are being one!
Mind you, these forums aren't that anonymous. Are they David........
You do need a good filter with many of the posts on here, but there is some gold. I've learnt quite a bit from here, not much about the specifics of flying an aircraft, but more what people want from clubs and schools. I've tried to incorporate much of what I've read in my teaching.
This place has, I think, made me a better instructor.
Personalities being what they are, you will always get arguments over semantics, but when someone is spouting rubbish and won't listen to freely given advice, it does grate a bit and you get people reacting.
Inexperienced argumentative know it alls are nothing new in flying. Most of us have been a bit guilty of being a bit of that at some points in our flying careers, especially those of us that qualified at an early age. I was a teenager when I got my CPL and very early 20's when I started instructing. Now I look back and see how different my attitude is.
I scared myself senseless a couple of times and definately have a fair few ILAFT stories. My goal now is to try and help others avoid the mistakes I made. I got through my first thousand hours withou nailing myself to a tree, sometimes through luck rather than judgement.
I'm totally open to all my students about the things I did and why I was such a pratt. Hopefully they and others might not repeat the mistakes I made and won't rely on their luck as I did.
So David, you won't be the first or the last to come out with a load of old gubbins without the knowledge to back it up, but do try and realise that it is never good to go and antagonise people and continue to come out with totally wrong statements.
I have no problem if you asked a question "I've been told this by my FI, is that correct or is there another method?" but when you present statements as fact without thinking about them, you will get people rolling their eyes and going "oh god, here we go again...................."
Don't worry about David's FI Chuck.
A little word of warning. Whilst the CAA can't take your licence away for what you post here. It is hard to fly without an aircraft and unless you own your own, making an utter tit of yourself here can count against you.
As I mentioned before, lots of people have read these threads and judging by the number of calls and e-mails I've recieved about them. You may find yourself finding it more difficult to hire than you would have previously.
Just a bit of friendly advice there.