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Should I make a list of all the active members who regularly post things implying they are piano teachers, but don't actually identify themselves in their signature? Are their posts not taken seriously because of this?

Just my personal thoughts on the matter. Obviously, there may be legit reasons not to divulge identity on an open internet forum. However, many of us do, and other than pesky spam, we haven't suffered ill from it. If you have time to read through some of the posts on the Tech forum or main piano forum, you'll note that dealers, venders, techs all identify themselves. It does tend to lend credence to your posts, at least in my opinion. For example, you know my name. You can read through Guild publications and verify that I am certified and see pictures of my students and their awards. Ditto for teachers holding MTNA certifications. Even though my postings tend to be short and direct, and many times not carefully worded, you know I'm trying to offer suggestions based on experience. Hope this answers some of your questions.

So any troll could simply write "piano teacher" as their signature, and then magically be taken seriously? Um, ok.

Anyhow, my question is-
Why am *I* being called out for this? I've been reading this forum for several months and NEVER seen anyone questioned due to not having the "proper signature," even though plenty of other people give advice and experience without saying in their signature precisely who they are.

As far as I know, no one is "calling you out." I didn't realize you were a piano teacher, because it wasn't in your signature block. You could be a classroom teacher, art teacher, etc.

ok, let me rephrase my question since apparently it was difficult to understand.
Why is no one else ever QUESTIONED when they write a post that clearly seems to indicate they are a piano teacher, and yet they have no signature that states that?

This has come up before. The big problem actually involved people selling (expensive) products like pianos and being sneaky about it. For example, somebody can be "asking opinions" about a product or a store, when in fact they want people to look at their own product and they are posing. To prevent this kind of advertisement, that section has been written up. It is less likely that teachers would do this, from the very fact that teaching tends to happen locally. However, with the Internet, electronic courses as sold packages, Skype lessons and similar, this is also changing.

The teacher forum presents some different problems. Someone may write in asking about some matter of playing, music, interpretation, technique etc. If a student, one kind of answer is needed, if a teacher, another. Some teachers only want to help fellow-teachers and not students. It becomes more confusing as some people write in, sounding expert as they make broad statements as though fact, but it's conjecture as they have never taught a student in their entire lives. But people will follow this "advice" or base themselves on these "facts" in good faith that it's from an experienced teacher.

That is how all this arose. Thing is - how is teacher defined, and what is the cut-off point? If it's defined as someone who teaches piano for an exchange of money, there are people who don't know what they are doing who do so anyway - and there are others who know a great deal. You'd take the one seriously due to the title of "teacher", and not the other. Anyone can call himself a teacher. It remains a problem.

https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubb...1/topic/009462/Number/0/site_id/1#import

this is what he was talking about red-rose.

its hardly a "rule" tho, its an encouragement. it's also not blatant to find this rule, I had to search it via google. No need to be condescending. She was simply offering her personal experience and thoughts about this topic. There are others who aren't identified as well, but because they agreed with you, you ignored them.

I can see both sides to this argument. On one hand, it has the potential to jeopardize a current valued friendship. On the other, you can have the mindset that if something ruins the friendship like not being paid on time or not practicing etc etc, you can also thank them for showing that side of them in a way that in the grand scheme of things, is a minor price to pay!

That sounds simple, and maybe for some people it is.

But for most it is a bit more difficult.

For one thing, the piano teacher/student relationship is a bit hard to keep purely professional anyway. People get to know each other, lines get blurred, it becomes personal. Some teachers, especially young ones, have trouble seeing themselves as professionals performing a service and entitled to their compensation - you can see this in the uncomfortableness of some of the discussions about collecting payment, etc. You can see this in the angst involved when students move on, or teachers poach - it's not just a change of business accounts, it's loss of a relationship.

Adding preexisting friendships to the mix isn't going to make it easier.

In some professions, psychology and social work, for example, almost any dual relationship is a violation of professional ethics. In other professions it is less strictly forbidden and in still other fields, there is no problem at all. I gather that piano teachers are free to make up their own minds about the issue and I believe it is wise to consider the situation carefully before proceeding.

Interesting signature! But I think it's not quite true. Really terrible students can make teachers feel like good teachers because these students require more teaching skills to teach, and the simple fact that they can be taught is quite an accomplishment in and of itself.