(no subject)

[ewt]

What makes someone an expert on something? What distinguishes an expert from an amateur? I'm not just talking about careers here, but areas of interest as well. When is knowledge the only indicator of expertise, and when to skill and good judgement come in?

[Poll #838240]

Comments

[caradea.livejournal.com]

I don't like saying i'm an expert because there's too much stuff out there I don't know.
I'm quite versed in hamster care and knowledgable about common illnesses/diseases/treatments for them but I have no formal training for this so I feel almost illegal in saying that I'm an expert on that.
I'm good at breadmaking by hand and have many hours of handson experience and worked hard to get good at it but there's still many others out there with better knowledge and skills in that area.

I'm quite good at speaking common sense too. Sometimes good at crochet and sewing.

The hamster care stuff is an insane amount of time every week because I run a hamster forum and I'm a member of several other forums where we all discuss important topics daily. I've seen huge developments of trains of thoughts on various subjects and there's always something new out there even on something as inane as keeping hamsters as pets. The breadmaking is a few hours a few times a week, probably in the 8-12hours range as some things are complex and take up most of the day. Crochet and sewing are playing a very minor role at the moment but used to be several hours a day of crocheting, usually freehand/no pattern making up things.