Do you think its necessary to put your experience after your answer?

Question

I agree very much with most of the answers, and feel the same way about people having the ability to lie making it fruitless to post experience. Although, through reading many of the responses of you regulars, I have found the little listings in the source to be helpful and cause me to want to look up your profile at your experience and who you are. I also believe that if you have taken the time to fill that section out, that you are honestly here to help.

I used to put my experience when I felt relevant and not, at the beginning so people would know who I am. Unfortunately as mentioned there's just too much BS to weed through so I just put my answers and hope people know they are good intentioned. I also had the pleasure of correcting a bit of a pompus EMS guy on a medical issue that I actually learned through my study of physiology through the martial arts, further cementing the need for, and lack of credential posting and believability.

Answer 1

Phil said it right:  Credibility

When i answer questions in buying and selling, if I'm am well versed in the the question, i will state my position, so people know I'm not talking out of my ***.

Answer 2

alot of times i see someone throw a simple answer and then they list there credentials that take 3X as much space. it's kinda dumb if you ask me.

Answer 3

its up to you.

Answer 4

Hi there

No not at all. I think a good answer will always reflect the persons knowledge and ability. Its down to the eyes of the reader to be able to distinguish which answer contains the facts their after.

Best wishes

idai

Answer 5

Risking redundancy, I will add my thoughts here.

Adding sources to an answer tends to lend a BIT of credibility to an answer, particularly one that is specific enough to warrant it; but as has already been said here, there is so much out there that is questionable that sources can be as bad as the answer sometimes. In many cases answers are simply opinions, and sources simply solidify the fact that the answerer is VERY opinionated about their response. It does help, I think, to allow contributors to "check out" the knowledge of those answering questions, but with the vast amount of knowledge that is spread out among the TC's, this can be a herculean task. And, quite honestly, purely subjective. I think sources serve more to validate the ANSWERER'S reasoning and justification for answering as they do, than to placate the asker.

Answer 6

No I don't think it's necessary. People are either going to see through the bull**it and know a legit answer when they see it or they aren't.

Answer 7

Nessesary...probably not. As has been stated on here it is very easy to lie about credentials. I really think that most true martial artists can spot whether somebody actually has training or are totally out in left feild.

I would hope that my answers back up the fact that I have actually trained for a while. I generally just put my time training as force of habit. I see some answers and the person says I studied such and such and think to myself if that is true, you really studied at a school that sucks.

My favorites though are all the people that slam other arts, with the big ones being Muay Thai and BJJ is the only thing going. If you really look at the people who actually answer questions about specific techniques and how to do them, it is very few, on both sides of the fence (Traditional/MMA). A question about what style should I take or what is the best style will generate a lot of answers, while a question like "How do I keep a triangle choke from being applied" will get maybe 3 if it is lucky, and generally it is the same people answering the actual technique question. Suprisingly the questions about stand up seem to get more responses then grappling, which I don't understand since there are so many BJJ nuts on here. Makes me think they are more wanna be's then anything else.

This tells me that 95% of the people on here who answer have either little or no training, but d**n if there ain't a lot of people who swear that BJJ/Muay Thai are the best, yet you never see them actually answer the questions about how to do something techniqual. Some of the ones who do answer really shouldn't bother because their answers are worthless.

There are maybe 15-17 people who answer questions on here that I put any stock in what they say. Makes me sick all the people on here that can't answer the specific questions about technique, which shows me they have no training or very little, yet they feel free to slam other arts. many of these same people have no concept of the difference between street fighting and self defense.

the really sad part is that somebody who doesn't know any better, and is genuinly seeking help, may not realize that they have no idea what they are talking about, except what they see on tv. The 95% of fights go to the ground thing is the funniest. I had one time I had to use what i know for self defense against a attacker with a knife, and yes it did go to the ground in the sense that my throw dropped him on his head, but there was not much needed after that.

Maybe that many self defense situations do go to the ground if you include everything, but I bet no more then 20% are where both parties are still able to continue. I am sure far more street fights go there if you go by you tube, but I don't street fight.

Answer 8

No. most people are full of it anyway.

Answer 9

Sometimes it is

Answer 10

Good question...

It is not necessary for me. I began to at first but as Idai pointed out, your expertise is apparent in the quality of your answers.

If someone asks a question of Goju Ryu, White Crane, Qigong, Hsing I -  stuff that I have first hand experience in, I include it.

Although I incorporate Shorin Ryu kata in my teachings, I actually never learned from a teacher. So I don't include it as "experience".

I can watch someone and learn what they do. I have a knack for it... An eye for detail.

Ok... yeah, I did create Superkarate! I admit it!

(I'd really love to put my foot up that "superkarate judochop" kids a s s!)

Answer 11

Necessary? Nothing internet wise is necessary, h**l answering on here is hardly necessary.

I think sometimes it is good when it is relevant. For example if I ask "Law Enforcement officers, what takedown do you use the most?" I think someone putting their relevant experience in Law Enforcement is helpful.

Personally I put all kinds of stuff in the source space, but that is mainly because I hate leaving any field blank on something... I have no idea why that is. If you saw my posts on other such boards and forums, you would see I always have a signature, if you saw my old livejournal you would see I always had a mood, if you look at my myspace you would see all my blogs always have the mood...

My own personal edification is the reason I put anything in the source field, though most times I try to put my experience as it relates to a question.

Answer 12

Seeing as you can't really prove that you actually have the experience I think that it is pointless to list it as a source for your answer because without proof of your source, such as a link to an article or something, it isn't credible. Of course, if you want to go ahead, but I just ignore any source without any proof to back it up.

Answer 13

It helps establish some level of credibility.  

But it's like a work resume.  People can lie or stretch the truth, and who's going to check their credentials?  Especially here on the internet.

Here in Seoul, there was a professor here at one of the major universities who was fired from her position as an art history lecturer.  It turned out she had lied about both her masters degree and her doctorate.  Nobody bothered to check her credentials *before* she was hired.

Answer 14

I don't think it is necessary, but then again.   I like to know who the answers are coming from.  I was asked to attend a few tournaments to act as a head judge.  Although the sport aspect of the martial arts is not my thing, I would go.  The thing that really bugged me was the guys that would claim to be a black belt and would be used as judges. If they were in street cloths, no one knew who was judging them.  I felt that all judges should at least be in full uniform. The competitors should know something about the guys giving out the scores.  Same thing applies here.  What does bug me here is those that put down their complete resume of MA ranks/titles.   I think that is a little much. Those of you that are familiar with me know that I do not mention the exact styles, ranks, titles I hold.  It is not important anyway.  You will see that I put down how long I've trained and taught.   Even so to compare ones persons time in the MA, ranks, ...etc. to another is like comparing apples to oranges. When someone says "trained 15 years", I wonder how much training they did during those 15 years.  I don't feel that my background is comparable to most that have studied as long as I have. The reason is that most people train a few times a week. I spent most of my life training 5-6 days a week.  So yes I think that it is proper to list your experience, but not a detailed account of every rank you hold. Sounds to much like bragging at times.   Just my opinion

EDIT: I agree with those that said that it is not necessary because the quality of the answer speaks of the experience. That is true, but there are new people that don't know the regulars and don't have the experience to tell a good answer from a goofy one.  Seeing some of the questions that are asked I need not say more. For them it might be nice to put something reasonable down as experience.  Lot of good answers here!

Answer 15

Usually when the question requires that you explain how you came up with your answer, I usually just state my experience and background in the answer itself if necessary. I kinda cringe at the thought of advertising my experience after every post, since in real life I don't let people except close friends know that I have any background or experience in the MA anyway(I hate it when people ask you to perform a trick after finding out you know MA, reminds me of childhood years when Uncles and Aunts demand you sing a song or dance for them like a trick pony during reunions). Although I don't  mind advertising the fact that I can do the Macarena decently : )