great insight! I mean it goes without saying that the rise in popularity of internet chat rooms and then forums lead to a super slingshotting of vast and available information, compiled mostly by actual hobbyists and their own trials and tribulations.
I think this is one of the most lucid posts I’ve read. Back when I got into reefkeeping (some 20+ years ago), the greats like Paletta, Joshi, Borneman, Calfo, Fenner, Sprung and a slue of others (who I’m sure I’ve forgotten unintentionally) not only made huge strides in progressing the hobby exponentially, but also were a wealth of knowledge in disseminating that information and having the wherewithal and patience to share it with the rest of us. Aside from the exponential strides made by these “titans” in our hobby, they didn’t simply tell us what they felt or witnessed, but spoke from a position of the science paramount in what we take for granted today. I feel like many of the people getting into the hobby today are having a harder time for two reasons:In life whatever your experiences have amounted to, in any aspect, there is always someone who did it before you. Whatever "it" may be. Whether they did it better may be debatable but there is no doubt that hobby seniority is a real thing. Personally, I see anyone who was involved with reefing before me as being just that much farther ahead in the game, and someone I respect and generally look up to. And that does not mean that those who got involved after are looked at with any less favor, but I very much believe that once you have decided to take on a new hobby, from that moment on you are building experience. And as a hobbyist myself implanted somewhere along this hypothetical timeline, I can’t help but view those who made that decision to become hobbyists before me to hold kind of an unspoken understanding of a stronger and more learned status among the rest of us. Regardless of their individual experiences or actual wealth of knowledge. For me guys like Mike Paletta, Anthony Calfo, Eric Borneman just to name a few, and more locally guys like Phil and Dave stick out as fellow refers that I will always have this higher regard for. Role models in every sense. But I ponder that the chain is continuous, and just as I had people I could learn from and look up to, so too did those people before me, and those before them and so on. Like who was Mike P's "Mike"? And further, will my knowledge and experiences perhaps become an example for some people that come in after me then? Will I be someones "Mike P", and will they carry the flag for those that come after them? I know, deep stuff lol.
Anyway, here's where I am going with all of this. There will always exist a point where “remember when” does not apply to me. And those who came before me that can share in the camaraderie of those memories share something only they can, and they will always maintain some higher level of “superiority”, in this hierarchy. Not necessarily elitist but definitely owning a sort of “cool factor” that those of us not involved at or before that particular time will never realize nor revel in. At least in that previous time line. I think the closest I've ever come was when Mike Paletta himself emailed me about placing an order. I mean it when I say I was literally Starstruck. Or, many years earlier when I got a call from Eric Borneman who was researching flatworms at the time. I really felt a tease of a hint of that "cool factor" then, just being only one degree of separation away from my proverbial Idols. But I still wasn't "in" so to speak. And never would be. My timeline began way after these old schoolers.
I can definitely remember a time where I was pretty sure I had it all figured out and just about knew it all. I was excited and perhaps over enthusiastic to share my "expertise" and newfound stronghold of knowledge with anyone willing to listen. But as time progresses, the more I know and absorb about the very delicate intricacies of reef keeping, the more humble my conscious gets and the eagerness to exploit that wisdom shrinks exponentially. Demonstrating almost to a tee the Dunning-Kruger effect, that states basically, the less we know about something (in this case its reefing) and the many different aspects of it, the more we think we know, and the more we are willing and eager to offer advice and share our “expertise” with people we feel don’t know as much as we do.
The contrast to this is that in reality, as our knowledge base actually grows we become more reluctant to share that expertise as our confidence in that wisdom is fleeting, the more knowledgeable we become. And by that I mean the more we know there is out there to learn, the less we feel, we ourselves have actually learned. Humbled by what we know we still don't know. So almost in spite of a massive amount of useful information we may have in our heads after 15-20+ years or more of reefing, the less likely our willingness to to use this information to guide others becomes, compared to early on when we were learning and absorbing most of this stuff. And to this end I think that the people who are most eager to share and teach others are those who are in fact actively learning this stuff as well.
Is that a good thing? I really don't know. Obviously there's a ton of mediocre information getting handed out and passed around by people who's enthusiasm and confidence outpaces their actual knowledge base. But I don't know that it's really a detriment. What do you think? I know this thing is kind of all over the place and more a stream than polished write up. But I'll conclude by asking, when you consider your own role models and where you are on that timeline in this hobby, do you find yourself second guessing advice you'd like to share? Or are you at the high point of the first curve, sharing and advising like you'd expect a would be seasoned expert might...
