PE Training: Eng-Tips Forum 7

[racookpe1978]

Would it be considered moral, ethical, and non-fattening to include portions of the

http://www.eng-tips.com

forum responding time and reading as professional development for continuing ed credits?

 

[TGS4]

I think that the difference here is that MainMan10 is thinking that folks would be claiming PDH's for coming here and reading. Maybe asking a question or two, getting the answers, and then thinking that, not only do they have an answer to their question, but they might claim some PDH to boot.

What I see from racookepe1978 and zdas4 is that they are the active sharers of technical information. Each technical question that they answer is based on experience, expertise, and (as is certainly my case) some research.

I agree David, that the peer review here is swift and vicious - just as it should be. I suppose that I could sit back, crack open a bottle of scotch, and read a Journal. I may even learn something, if I don't spill. But active participation in a "live" peer-review environment, such as this, is vastly better for both me as a professional, and for the public, for whom I have a sworn duty to protect.

 

[IRstuff]

"What I see from racookepe1978 and zdas4 is that they are the active sharers of technical information. Each technical question that they answer is based on experience, expertise, and (as is certainly my case) some research."

And that's precisely how you determine whose opinion is valid. You essentially are looking at an online resume, the number of pink stars awarded, the number of years, their ranking in the individual forum MVP listings, etc. Moreover, you'll find that those like racookepe1978 and zdas4 are mostly responders, as opposed to those who only post questions and replies within their own postings. Someone who is, or never has been, helpful, is an unknown quantity and ought to be viewed with suspicion. Their longevity is a testament to their contributions and being peer-reviewed themselves by other users on the site. Someone who routinely gives out false or misleading information will not get many "likes" and may get booted off the site altogether.

TTFN
faq731-376

Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529

 

[zdas04]

See? I don't know you. You don't know me. A casual reviewer would read my posts above, read your posts, and form an opinion without knowing either of us. None of what either of us says is in any way binding on anyone. Engineering in its finest form is the analysis of a range of information and reaching an appropriate risk/reward balance. A casual eng-tip.com user can do that. Sitting through a PDH class doesn't begin to do that. I've been to a significant number of classes that qualified for PDH, and I always read the bio of the instructor, but too many times I've gotten to the class and found that the instructor was less than stellar, some are downright worthless, but the class still counts for the PDH without any peer-review at all.

Spending an hour in the eng-tips.com "Professional Ethics" forum brings up cogent discussions of relevant topics that far exceed the quality of the 5 "official" ethics PDH classes I've taken. I don't claim that this forum satisfies all of the ethics PDH requirements for my state, but it should. It is way better than the sanctioned courses.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.
The plural of anecdote is not "data"

 

[Forensic74]

Sorry, as someone who doesn't frequent this site that much, it sounds like a stretch. Basing the quality off the number of pink stars that anonymous internet friends give to each other? WOW, it just doesn't seem like something that professionals should do.

As Kyle implied above, you could just as easily document technical discussions with your colleagues while sitting around the lunch-table. There's a reason why states have not allowed that as PDH's. Eng-tips is just a bigger table with a bunch of unknown colleagues; even the janitor can inject his opinion.

 

[zdas04]

If we were talking about ask.com or yahoo answers where the "best" answer floats to the top and no one ever reads past the second response, I'd say you have a point. Here the "best" answer is left to the reader to assess. All the answers stay (unless they violate the very liberal site rules) and someone looking for information must sort through the chaff to get to the wheat on their own. The purpose of PDH is cause Engineers to THINK about their profession. I can point to hundreds of specific threads on this site that have required me to think about my profession and often (like TGS4) do more than a bit of research to try to ensure that I don't look like a fool in front of my peers. This process has made me a better Engineer than I would be without eng-tips.com and I would hope that that is what the PDH is trying to accomplish.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.
The plural of anecdote is not "data"

 

[Longinthetooth]

I do a lot of work in the area of overpressure protection. My favorite area is the "Safety relief valve engineering (PSV)" forum. I have learned a lot from this, mostly because the questions that are asked are often not covered in formal training courses. Everyone knows how to size a bog standard PSV, but what happens when there is an unusual siuation where the answer (or design methodology) is not covered in the text books, or maybe there is an existing instalation that is not up to scratch, and it is difficult to find a workable solution that does not cost the earth. This is the kind of thing I am interested in and I know I will often get several different perspectives fom people who have "been there, done that" in the PSV forum. Although I dont claim any PDH I find that Eng-tips is one of the most worthwhile sites for engineers that there is. I follow other forums in here as well.
Mainman10 just doesent get it.

 

[Forensic74]

Although I dont claim any PDH I find that Eng-tips is one of the most worthwhile sites for engineers that there is.

You say I don't get it but you haven't apparently read the subject of this thread. This thread is about claiming PDH's. As I said, the info here is not necessarily wrong, but I dont think it counts toward the formal PDH system. I learn a lot by working under a senior engineer and consulting with fellow co-workers; however, such learning doesn't count for a PDH.

 

[TGS4]

There's an option in my province for claiming PDHs for "contributions to knowledge". That's where most of my PDHs would come from in the context of eng-tips (I have an over abundance of hours, so I don't bother, but I suppose that I could).

Really - what's the difference between near-real-time peer review from here and a Journal where you may have pal-review? I think that the responses in this thread alone are enough to convince me that the peer review system here works, probably even better than that of a Journal.

BTW - pathologizing users of a forum is certainly not the way to win friends and influence people.

 

[Longinthetooth]

Mainman10: Quote:
...and in most cases its responses from the same "core" of people who live on this site and quite possibly may have internet addiction problems.

Sounds like you are dissing the site to me.

 

[MacGyverS2000]

Sadly, I'd trust the opinion of "the mass" here more than the majority of engineers I've worked with.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[msquared48]

I was not aware I had an internet addiction problem. Hmmm.... I guess I'll have to check that our on Web MD.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[zdas04]

Yeah, my "addiction" to eng-tips.com has led to over $2 million in billing to companies that have found me through eng-tips.com. I'll take that kind of addiction every day.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.
The plural of anecdote is not "data"

 

[FlashSet]

Is everyone really hurting this badly for hours that you need to consider engtips? I am not arguing against this great resource, I am just curious.

I don't have my PE yet, but my colleagues and I go to professional meetings often enough, and get enough free drinks from the open bar that professional development hours are not an issue.

 

[Forensic74]

Quote: Yeah, my "addiction" to eng-tips.com has led to over $2 million in billing to companies that have found me through eng-tips.com. I'll take that kind of addiction every day.

Good for you; however with a homepage like your's, doing pretty much any sort of marking is going to generate revenue. That is not reason to credit this site with pdh's.

To normal people with average login counts of 0.5 times per day or less, seeing those with over 5 per day is really abnormal. It really questions the legitimacy of eng-tips to be a formal resource that will be accepted by engineering boards.

 

[MacGyverS2000]

with a homepage like your's, doing pretty much any sort of marking is going to generate revenue.

If that's the best counter-argument you can come up, pretty much an ad hominem attack, maybe it's time to consider other avenues. Personally, I think it's pretty sad that you attacked someone's website quality as proof their other arguments don't hold up to scrutiny. You're definitely not winning any friends here...

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[DRWeig]

I like your home page, Dan.

I don't have much of a problem with PDH accumulation -- a lot of my time is spent researching something relatively new to me and then preparing and delivering a short course on it.

That said, I still think eng-tips participation is valid for PDH consideration. Printing out a few threads and one's user profile should be ample documentation.


Best to you,

Goober Dave

Haven't see the forum policies? Do so now: Forum Policies

 

[TGS4]

mainman10 - let me fix that for you...

To normal people me with an average login counts of 0.5 times per day or less for barely two years and a grand total of 10 LPS, seeing those with over 5 per day, a longevity of more than 11 years and LPS counts of over 1000 is really abnormal. It really questions the legitimacy of my opinion on eng-tips to be a formal resource that will be accepted by engineering boards.

There, that's what I think that you meant to say.