Re: Credentials vs. Life or Job Experience

["d_rex_2002" <rich@xxxx>]

New Guidelines would be a whole new can of worms to open. 

I agree that the moderators have a difficult and often thankless job,
but I think there would be even more problems if posting was based
on credentials. Trying to figure out who has what "valid" or higher
level of credentials would be a difficult or impossible line to walk.

Case in point, the example of the underwater corrosion topic. While
I do not have a Chemical Engineering degree, I do have 15 years of
hands on experience with salt water filtration of 2 million plus
gallons of "man made" salt water, in a closed loop system. There
are many chemical processes that go on in salt water that will effect
metal corrosion, including salinity level, temperature, pressure,
movement (or lack of motion) nitrites, nitrates, bacterial load, 
barnacles, coral, sponges, algae and all other sorts of sea life.

Bottom line - 304 stainless does not hold up well in salt water when
compared to 316 stainless (and so on), learned from experience.
The body dies were not constructed with any stainless grade metals,
primarily since it would be cheaper to make it stronger without it.
5 years machine shop experience tells me that any die has a limited
life span and many things will effect the lifespan besides use.
The body panel dies were used in a 12 ton press and they worked well
when the dies were used, stored and handled properly. 

Although it is my belief that the body panel dies would not be of
much use, if recovered, I would not mind being a part of a search
and documentation expedition, just out of curiostity. If someone
or some group in the UK (or anywhere else) will organize such an
expedition, I will donate the use of my underwater camera system
to help in the search and documentation phase and will help with
any authorized advanced phase (such as recovering one or more dies).
I am a certified diver with nearly 20 years experience of underwater
construction and maintenance, both in free water and confined areas,
including extended periods of underwater work while inverted.

I guess if I'm ready to do this, that makes me certifiable.

Later,
Rich W.


> snip <
> 
> DMLers and moderators: Could this help the DML?
> 
> One guideline might be that when a post is received on a valid DML 
topic,
> the post is allowed if it is by a higher credentialed individual 
than has
> commented to date. Example: A Masters degreed Chemical Engineer
> estimating the current condition of the underwater steel dies. 
Such a post
> has been innocently cut in the past.
> 
> snip <