clunckdriver;
Some thoughts on reading thread contributions.
It is long past time to take this profession back from "internet experts".
Regarding what is written on these threads, there remain a few professional pilots here who haven't given up on discussions and who can separate some of the nonsense written by those who don't do the work from those who know their stuff.
Unless a newbie shows authentic curiosity and genuine interest, the rest just gets ignored, and, where particularly painfully-wrong, the poster ends up in the "ignore" bin. There is too little time to correct disingenuous queries.
The remaining dialogue is still very good for two reasons:
1) It is good for those who are starting out and who need to read and hear from those who have done it for a while, and,
2) It is good for those who have done it for years to disagree on all aspects of the profession and industry, and to support such disagreements with facts and references from professional sources, partly so that those just starting out don't get the idea that they know it all off the bat, especially when they see those who have done it for decades disagreeing both courteously and professionally. The strongest ego is quiet and sure of itself while being mindful of its weaknesses; the loudest ones are incertain.
The sign of someone who knows aviation and is a professional airman (man or woman), is being up-to-date with a thorough knowledge of their SOPs and as much as they can get about their airplane from the FCOM. The other sign is someone who reads the accident reports and reads some of the flight safety conference proceedings, just like other professions do.
How to disagree is as important as asking the right questions.