Sanderxpander
I agree in principle but not entirely. Sometimes there are subtle but profound differences in the suggested "solution" and I totally get people complaining about it. Saying they are a pro in my mind means that they have to work with it for 8 hours a day and depend on it to make a living. You simply care a lot more about little annoyances when in that position.

DAW operation is a side job for me, but as a professional keyboard player I definitely recognize this from that field.

Hey as a session singer I get it to a degree. I have stitched bits and pieces together like you wouldn't believe! And not because I can't sing those notes individually, but because doing all the notes in sequence and back ups, are physically impossible for one person.
 
I do not pretend there was no studio magic involved, in these cases !
 
I just feel that there has to be a point where we have to say, "You don't actually understand the process that you are invoking and therefor are just a regular schmo, so admit it!!!"
 
Complaining seems to only prove that you do not understand...
 
 

Beepster
People have paid me to yell, stomp around, make various unholy noises and smash completely innocent inanimate objects.
 
People have bought little slices of plastic that seem to reproduce some of that racket when inserted into bizarre machines that could only have been invented by wizards.
 
People have not paid me to manually squish noises into those little discs of plastic to play in the scary wizard boxes.
 
Perhaps someday but if there is one thing I know it's this.
 
Never trust a wizard.

 
It's their damned sleaves!!!
 
No one knows what is kept up there?!!

CakeAlexS
When someone attempts to use credentials to win an argument, it's a sign that their argument itself is flawed, and/or that they don't understand what they are talking about well enough to be able to argue about it.
 
I've been seeing too much of this lately over the last few weeks in these forums, which has put me into a foul mood with a couple of posters (well 2.5 posters to be precise) .
 
Nowadays "professional" seems to be a dirty word as nobody seems to know what it means any more. Programmes like "X-Factor" and "Pop Idol" are to blame in the sense that if you give it a go, you must be as good or better than professionals. The public just suck it in, the term "professional" ends up being watered down. There are real qualified professionals out there who have to compete with this lot, bands that have been playing for years in bars end up playing for free because quality no longer matters and other people will play any old crap for nothing. This is not just happening with the "music industry" (whatever that is), it's happening with professions across the board. People are now claiming they are software developers when clearly they don't even understand how a bug is defined for instance. They remind me of first year university/college students.
 
BTW my opinions are valid because I've decided to be a professional psychologist today, so all other counter arguments are invalid especially those who disprove my theories who aren't as important as me .

Temporary or not, it's valid!!!
 
Far too many claim professionalism as a shield, when their comments reveal that sometimes... They are less than beginners...

Ah yes, in that sense, I agree completely.

I wonder where the idea came from that pronouncing oneself as a "professional what ever" as in professional plumber somehow came into being? There is no such thing as a professional plumber. Its plumber only.
 
When someone works within an industry there are no professional unless they are lawyers or accountants in that industry otherwise they are all tradesmen. Even the CEO is a tradesmen. 
 
A person working as a mixer is a tradesmen not a professional.
 
With that I agree with Royal and what he wrote in the OP. I really liked DrewFX1's post too.    

Can We Define, "Professional," once and for all?

No. That definition is going to vary depending on person using it. For most coversations here itis pretty pointless and ties to marketing gibberish or people trying to make their opion sound more valid. I doubt anything we say in this thread will become official amd binding.

appropriate

dubdisciple
Can We Define, "Professional," once and for all?

No. That definition is going to vary depending on person using it. For most coversations here itis pretty pointless and ties to marketing gibberish or people trying to make their opion sound more valid. I doubt anything we say in this thread will become official amd binding.

Oxford dictionary definition:
"Worthy of or appropriate to a professional person; competent, skilful, or assured".

Worthy = Done it for a while (not sure exactly how long that would be though, at least 3 years), and has a lot of experience.

Appropriate= Relevant. I might be a professional guitarist. That may make me a professional musician, but just because I'm a professional musician does not mean I can play drums professionally.

Skilful = Qualified academically or has something substantial to show for it.
 
Now you could be good at something, that doesn't necessarily mean you are a professional.
 
Please sign the dotted line :).

I know a little about a lot of things but not enough to consider myself a "pro". That is unless "pro" anything other than professional. Just call me jack.

i think when people come on here and start spouting about being professional v's amateur , its cuz they are getting paid, or run a commercial studio, compared to someone who is trying to make it, but not getting paid, or run their studio as a business!!!

A professional is someone who gets paid for doing the work that an amateur dose for nothing. There is an unfounded assumption that someone who gets paid spends more time at the job and hence becomes more proficient. Clearly that has never been the case, as the most accomplished amateurs are clearly more competent than the worst professionals.
 
Where there may be an issue in this distinction as regards the OP, I can see how someone who is intent on getting work product out on a tight deadline, may be less interested in mastering new and even possibly more efficient (for someone at least) methods or tools, than someone who more or less is filling his free time exploring all the technical goodies.
 
It is certainly understandable that someone who has mastered a process to the extent that he can reliably get the job done would not welcome a new process that gets to the same result if it means he must give up the old one. I see no reason to sanction anyone who expresses an opinion that the new methods imposed upon him without choice are less to his liking than an old reliable way of doing things. If he gets paid for his work, he is still undoubtedly a professional. I do not get paid for anything  so I have the luxury of pontificating at tedious length on issues like this that do not much matter to anyone of significance.