FreeSpirit
Expert Expediter
Is This Forum For Everyone, Or Just An Elite Few?
Hello again. It has been so long since I posted on this site, that I needed to rejoin. You know me better as the "silent" spouse of ATeam. Although I usually prefer to read posts and not reply, a recent trend on this board has made me decide a posting of my own was in order. I apologize in advance for the length of this post. Usually I am less verbose than my husband, but not this time.
Recently a few individuals have taken it upon themselves to declare who is or is not eligible or qualified to post responses to inquiries or to share information. This bothers me greatly. Excuse me, but for those of you who believe credentialing is in order, by whose authority are you acting? In my research of this Forum, I can find NOTHING that says individuals must be credentialed before they can post information, thoughts, beliefs or opinions.
As many of you know, truck driving is not my first career. I am currently licensed and in good standing in both of my prior professions as a Registered Nurse and as an attorney. Both of these professions taught me something about credentialing and qualifications.
As a nurse, most of the other health professionals I worked with were straightforward and did not consider themselves to be any better than anyone else. Two surgeons, one a cardiac surgeon and one a neurosurgeon belonged to what was known as the "God club." They seemed to believe that their training and experience made them "gods." The neurosurgeon was humbled when a patient threw him out of her room, after telling him he had the worst bedside manner of any person she had ever met. The second, thought he was too good to speak to nurses about anything other than the immediate medical question. But the day he learned that I was planning on going to law school, somehow I became "qualified" to speak to him about non-work related matters. Needless to say, neither my or my co-workers opinion of him changed.
My experience with the legal profession was different. As a law student, I had the opportunity to clerk for a judge one morning a week for 6 weeks. I observed him on "motion day." On those mornings he listened to motions from attorneys who had cases coming before him. Each motion would result in the judge issuing a ruling, usually after taking the matter under advisement (he would take time to research and write his opinion). On 4 occasions, the judge asked me to research and draft the opinion as I thought best. He would not tell me his thoughts on the case until I presented my results to him. The judge ultimately signed and issued 2 of my opinions without modification and the other 2 with minor modifications. He found the research and thoughts of a 2nd year law student to be worthy. Those "thoughts" became the law of the case for each case.
That judge was not unusual. Virtually every judge in this country has at least one law clerk assisting him or her. Most of the clerks are new attorneys with NO experience practicing law. It is common for the judges to ask the clerks to research and draft opinions. Those opinions may or may not be modified depending upon the judge and the skill of the law clerk in drafting the material to the style of the judge while incorporating both the relevant law and facts.
Even the U.S. Supreme Court justices use law clerks to research and draft opinions. The opinions that these lawyers who have NEVER practiced a day of law in their lives, may become the law of the case and of the land. These are NEWBIE attorneys.
If a U.S. Supreme Court justice can find worth in a newbie with no experience, why can't some people that post on this site find the thoughts, opinions and research of newbies to be at least worthy of open expression?
In each of my jobs as an attorney, the law firm would ask each of the attorneys to present educational seminars, either to the law firm itself, the clients, or to continuing education seminars for other attorneys practicing in the same field. A few months after joining my law firm as a new attorney, I found myself educating over a dozen attorneys on a small area of workers' compensation law.
These were attorneys that had been working in this field for 1 to 30+ years. Two were recognized as being amongst the top of the field for Minnesota. They did not take the attitude that I was an inexperienced newbie who should only ask questions but never volunteer information, or that I was someone who was incapable of researching an issue and responding with a credible answer. In other words, among distinguished and experienced professionals, I did NOT need to be credentialed to have something of worth to say.
I enjoyed my previous jobs. I was good at them, but I could never relate to some of my co-workers who talked about "loving their jobs" or how they couldn't wait to get up in the morning and go to work. As strange as it may seem, I have found that type of enthusiasm for expedited truck driving.
It saddens me to see a small group of individuals try to take this Forum and turn it into something that only a perceived elite few are qualified to use in its' full capacity. If this small group succeeded, I believe it would be the beginning of the end for this Forum as newbies and individuals who do not ascribe to elitism left to find or create a site that welcomed everyone.
I believe that there are many more individuals who simply read the postings on this Board than ever post. Most of these individuals have never become a member. They prefer to sit quietly, listen, learn and watch. Those individuals are wannabees, newbies, industry experts, drivers, owners, and simply interested persons.
Like my husband Phil (ATeam) and myself, many of these individuals have had careers prior to trucking. Instead of ridiculing those backgrounds, or dismissing the individuals as unqualified because they have not driven or owned a truck for X amount of time, how about embracing them and all the diversity, knowledge and interest they can bring?
If we take the credentialing idea to its logical steps, almost no one in this Forum would be qualified to speak about anything. For example, for questions regarding the rules or regs, including Hours of Service, only a attorney specializing in that field or a state or federal DOT/FMCSA official would be qualified to answer the question. Why? Because to answer it, you have to interpret the law. Anyone else doing so would be either practicing law without a license or would not have the years of expertise and training to answer.
If you have a question about selling a truck? Well, even the individuals who have been in trucking the longest have only sold a handful of trucks, so only a truck salesman with years of experience in the expediting industry can answer that question.
Do you have a question about solo versus team driving? Sorry, only someone who has been a solo driver for X years and also a team driver for X years would be qualified to respond. Because that person alone has the requisite experience. If you have only driven solo, you do not know enough about team driving to respond, similarly if you have only driven team, you do not know what the differences are for a solo driver so you are not qualified to respond.
My point is, this credentials and experience emphasis gets ridiculous very quickly.
The elite group that wants to credential individuals, have come up with criteria that are not the industry norm. I have yet to read on any other web site or in any industry document that a person is still considered to be a "newbie" after 1 year.
That is irrelevant though to my main point, the point is that everyone has something of worth to offer. The reader is the one who has to decide what that worth is.
Individuals posting on this site have a wealth of knowledge, experience, thoughts, opinions and ideas. Every one of them should be welcomed equally. The readers of the Forum can decide for themselves which postings are of worth and which hold no merit.
This site is not for the elite, it is for everyone. Let's keep it so.
Hello again. It has been so long since I posted on this site, that I needed to rejoin. You know me better as the "silent" spouse of ATeam. Although I usually prefer to read posts and not reply, a recent trend on this board has made me decide a posting of my own was in order. I apologize in advance for the length of this post. Usually I am less verbose than my husband, but not this time.
Recently a few individuals have taken it upon themselves to declare who is or is not eligible or qualified to post responses to inquiries or to share information. This bothers me greatly. Excuse me, but for those of you who believe credentialing is in order, by whose authority are you acting? In my research of this Forum, I can find NOTHING that says individuals must be credentialed before they can post information, thoughts, beliefs or opinions.
As many of you know, truck driving is not my first career. I am currently licensed and in good standing in both of my prior professions as a Registered Nurse and as an attorney. Both of these professions taught me something about credentialing and qualifications.
As a nurse, most of the other health professionals I worked with were straightforward and did not consider themselves to be any better than anyone else. Two surgeons, one a cardiac surgeon and one a neurosurgeon belonged to what was known as the "God club." They seemed to believe that their training and experience made them "gods." The neurosurgeon was humbled when a patient threw him out of her room, after telling him he had the worst bedside manner of any person she had ever met. The second, thought he was too good to speak to nurses about anything other than the immediate medical question. But the day he learned that I was planning on going to law school, somehow I became "qualified" to speak to him about non-work related matters. Needless to say, neither my or my co-workers opinion of him changed.
My experience with the legal profession was different. As a law student, I had the opportunity to clerk for a judge one morning a week for 6 weeks. I observed him on "motion day." On those mornings he listened to motions from attorneys who had cases coming before him. Each motion would result in the judge issuing a ruling, usually after taking the matter under advisement (he would take time to research and write his opinion). On 4 occasions, the judge asked me to research and draft the opinion as I thought best. He would not tell me his thoughts on the case until I presented my results to him. The judge ultimately signed and issued 2 of my opinions without modification and the other 2 with minor modifications. He found the research and thoughts of a 2nd year law student to be worthy. Those "thoughts" became the law of the case for each case.
That judge was not unusual. Virtually every judge in this country has at least one law clerk assisting him or her. Most of the clerks are new attorneys with NO experience practicing law. It is common for the judges to ask the clerks to research and draft opinions. Those opinions may or may not be modified depending upon the judge and the skill of the law clerk in drafting the material to the style of the judge while incorporating both the relevant law and facts.
Even the U.S. Supreme Court justices use law clerks to research and draft opinions. The opinions that these lawyers who have NEVER practiced a day of law in their lives, may become the law of the case and of the land. These are NEWBIE attorneys.
If a U.S. Supreme Court justice can find worth in a newbie with no experience, why can't some people that post on this site find the thoughts, opinions and research of newbies to be at least worthy of open expression?
In each of my jobs as an attorney, the law firm would ask each of the attorneys to present educational seminars, either to the law firm itself, the clients, or to continuing education seminars for other attorneys practicing in the same field. A few months after joining my law firm as a new attorney, I found myself educating over a dozen attorneys on a small area of workers' compensation law.
These were attorneys that had been working in this field for 1 to 30+ years. Two were recognized as being amongst the top of the field for Minnesota. They did not take the attitude that I was an inexperienced newbie who should only ask questions but never volunteer information, or that I was someone who was incapable of researching an issue and responding with a credible answer. In other words, among distinguished and experienced professionals, I did NOT need to be credentialed to have something of worth to say.
I enjoyed my previous jobs. I was good at them, but I could never relate to some of my co-workers who talked about "loving their jobs" or how they couldn't wait to get up in the morning and go to work. As strange as it may seem, I have found that type of enthusiasm for expedited truck driving.
It saddens me to see a small group of individuals try to take this Forum and turn it into something that only a perceived elite few are qualified to use in its' full capacity. If this small group succeeded, I believe it would be the beginning of the end for this Forum as newbies and individuals who do not ascribe to elitism left to find or create a site that welcomed everyone.
I believe that there are many more individuals who simply read the postings on this Board than ever post. Most of these individuals have never become a member. They prefer to sit quietly, listen, learn and watch. Those individuals are wannabees, newbies, industry experts, drivers, owners, and simply interested persons.
Like my husband Phil (ATeam) and myself, many of these individuals have had careers prior to trucking. Instead of ridiculing those backgrounds, or dismissing the individuals as unqualified because they have not driven or owned a truck for X amount of time, how about embracing them and all the diversity, knowledge and interest they can bring?
If we take the credentialing idea to its logical steps, almost no one in this Forum would be qualified to speak about anything. For example, for questions regarding the rules or regs, including Hours of Service, only a attorney specializing in that field or a state or federal DOT/FMCSA official would be qualified to answer the question. Why? Because to answer it, you have to interpret the law. Anyone else doing so would be either practicing law without a license or would not have the years of expertise and training to answer.
If you have a question about selling a truck? Well, even the individuals who have been in trucking the longest have only sold a handful of trucks, so only a truck salesman with years of experience in the expediting industry can answer that question.
Do you have a question about solo versus team driving? Sorry, only someone who has been a solo driver for X years and also a team driver for X years would be qualified to respond. Because that person alone has the requisite experience. If you have only driven solo, you do not know enough about team driving to respond, similarly if you have only driven team, you do not know what the differences are for a solo driver so you are not qualified to respond.
My point is, this credentials and experience emphasis gets ridiculous very quickly.
The elite group that wants to credential individuals, have come up with criteria that are not the industry norm. I have yet to read on any other web site or in any industry document that a person is still considered to be a "newbie" after 1 year.
That is irrelevant though to my main point, the point is that everyone has something of worth to offer. The reader is the one who has to decide what that worth is.
Individuals posting on this site have a wealth of knowledge, experience, thoughts, opinions and ideas. Every one of them should be welcomed equally. The readers of the Forum can decide for themselves which postings are of worth and which hold no merit.
This site is not for the elite, it is for everyone. Let's keep it so.
) but I've had a couple of expediters come through here and that's how I became aware of this industry. My research led me to this sight where I have lurked in the weeds for awhile reading posts ..I'm not sure how long I have been officially a member but I surely have learned a lot here and am most grateful for the time that the members have spent and to Lawrence and all for providing everything on this sight. I have beeen to 2 expediter expos and so far 2 seminars that EO has put on. I will be at MATS at the end of March and if you're not too busy I would surely enjoy meeting you. My experience on this sight has been nothing less than outstanding...Thanks to All..and with your suggestion I will sign off as follows:
