Do you have to be qualified to respond to discussions?

I would imagine that if someone were to expect professional advise from someone with a degree that they would not come to mylot looking for advice!

Let me tell you one thing that I know for sure, if you have not personally gone through something yourself your knowledge of that situation is going to be limited. I don't care how long you have studied it or how many degrees you have behind your name. I had a situation like this. My therapist was trying to tell me how I should feel and react. I told her, you have study this in a class, I have lived this, you can not tell me how this should affect me. She finally agreed that I was right.

For most of the topics, personal experience, common sense and general knowledge is more than sufficient. For some technical topics, technical knowledge is essential to make discussion more interesting.

Personally I'm more likely to take advice from people who have been in a situation personally, or has a close friend or family member in that situation. In fact, a lot of the reason I spend so much time online is because it gives me a chance to meet people with similar experiences to my own, who understand the things I am going through at the moment. It's nice to be able to touch base with people who have been there. If I wanted a professional opinion, I would go to a professional! And I can't imagine expecting someone online to explain their credentials or feel they have to justify their answers every time they say something. That would defeat the whole purpose for me.

You don't have to be qualified..Personal experiences are the best...maybe, and I am just guessing, that they wanted responses from people that actually experienced what it was they wanted to know about...not sure...I think you did the right thing..You can respond to any dicussion and if they don't like it then so be it...

There is no qualification on the responding to any discussions as long as it fits to it. And besides you should always consider the discussion, you should not respond that is far-out from it. :0

Of course all mylotters speak from personal experience. That experience may come with age or education or a strong reading habit on a particular subject. None on us are experts in anything. If I were a qualified expert I would be able to bill you just for reading this.

I think that it really depends on the particular situation or question asked. For some personal experience really is all that is necessary. For others common sense will work and still others that are best left to qualified professionals. Generally speaking, if it needs a professional it doesn't belong here. Anyone can claim to have a PhD in a forum like this but it could prove dangerous to actually believe them. As an example let's say someone posted a picture of a mole and a supposed professional told them it didn't look cancerous. That kind of thing could put that person's life in jeopardy. There are probably issues that can be asked here that would be better answered by someone that has personally experienced it but that doesn't mean others CAN'T give their opinions too. Like a person who has never had a troubled marriage wouldn't be the BEST to ask for advice about a bad marriage but they could probably contribute at least a few helpful things. Some things only need common sense though. That's when everyone and anyone who has any can answer and shouldn't have to worry about being given a hard time about it. I have no "qualified" or "personal" experience with the problem you are asking about but I still thought I could give a good answer based on common sense. Any time you see a discussion that you want to answer ask yourself what kind of answer they are looking for. If you feel confident that you have enough information to answer it then by all means answer. If it looks to be a discussion that is outside your area of "expertise", meaning degree, work, life in general, common sense, etc., then of course you should avoid it. We shouldn't answer questions we know nothing at all about but I don't think there is anything that makes your knowledge "less qualified" than any one else's here.

In my opinion, I do not think the person has to be "qualified" to respond to a discussion. It certainly helps if one is qualified but an "unqualifed" person might have come across such cases. He may also have his own views about the matter. It is wiser to receive a spectrum of responses from both qualified and unqualified.

My only issue in this area is when people who do not live in my country start telling me how to vote or that I shouldn't have voted for such and such. Or that So and so leader is an idiot. Or that I should feel this way about a particular thing in my government. They don't live here. I don't tell people in brittan to vote or not for tony blair, or any other country for that matter.

Hello Maddysmom! This is an interesting discussion! I feel that Mylot is not the proper place to seek professional advice, rather advice from members who have experience first hand. At times we might be lucky to have a PHD join our community, that’s if we are lucky! Why anyone would comment so rudely, astounds me! Personally I would rather get advice from individuals who have been through the situation I am struggling with. Don’t get me wrong, it is always wise to seek a professional on matters that pertain to your health and what not but then again that basically all you receive informative advice! I appreciate and cherish the responses I get from other Mylot members because they are genuine and show support! A professional delivers opinions from their professional stand point, which most times lack the support we often seek, which can be well provided by Mylot members who have been there, done that and who speak in terms that we average individuals can relate to!

I think you should just reply whatever you wish or have to say based onyour personal experience or what you have seen from other people's experience. I mean, if people want qualified advice they would go toa shrink or something. Isn't mylot all about sharing experiences?

This forum is about the diverse group of people and the differing opinions everyone has. I don't think you need to be qualified to get your opinion on any subject, because it's just that -- an opinion. It's always nice if you have a personal story that you can relate but I don't think it's completely necessary. I, myself, only respond to topics that I have personal experience in but I can see why some people want to add their opinions to things they haven't actually done. If that makes any sense at all. :)

wt i personally think abt ur situation is the same wt otherswill or wud hv thought ,so a persons qualifications are not just the education but it can either be in the form of personal experience or in the form of observation so you are quallified if you think you have those things so never hesitate to give an openion on the right time to a right person, if u have moved on without replying then you have made a mistake but now if you replied you did right!

Hi Maddysmommy, I would think that if they're throwing the question out there, there just hopeing for anybody to anwser it. I'm not sure what kind of qualifications they were looking for but I doubt there are any licensed therapist here in Mylot. Do what I do, if you think that you have an anwser that would help the situation, then give them the anwser and then tell them why you think it may help. Thats all you can really do. Take care, Terry

Hello,maddysmommy,i do not really care whether someone had similar experiences before,if they had,it will be fine,if they did not,they can still reply based on the general situations and make a guess,there are no qualifications for my discussions,i am happy if someone reply to me.

I totally agree with you here maddysmommy - this is a discussion forum , not a discussion forum for those qualified to do so or have had this particular experience - that just does not make sense at all! I will listen to all the advice but not necessarily follow it unless I think it is right for me! We are all here to share our thoughts, feelings and beliefs not to tell everyone what our qualifications are - that was just plain rude! Well done to you for highlighting this honey! xxx

Whoever told you that was out of line...this forum is designed for the average person.. I am sorry that you were treated so rudely, my friend...

Hey there! I see where you're coming from. It's true that some discussions even have warnings where if you do not know the answer, they would rate you -ve. But then, how would you know that your answer wouldn't be satisfactory to these people. It's not wrong to share your personal views, especially when, as you said, close friends or family have been in that situation before. No.. you don't need to be qualified to be in mylot and respond to a discussion.. These people need to be in a different forum then. :)

I am happy I could use some time for some writing^^ Iam an internet adduct and I didn't like the idea or just making my eyes tired...hehehe I enjoy what I am doing, responding and posting and possibly meet good people and encounter opportuinities. I just signed in 2 hours ago and have not left the site since hehehe