Well there are many reasons for joining INACHI now instead of waiting… The argument was made that it would be easier to do the extra courses online now instead of later, and I view that argument as legitimate.
The main alternative to INACHI is of course ASHI…in order to see the benefits page of ASHI membership, you have to actually be a member already so it isn’t overall clear what ASHI even offers to members, but it’s very clear that INACHI as an organization offers alot for me and for my business. And it turns out the school I went to offers a discount for INACHI.
As for the forum there are many people on the forum but only a handful of loud-mouthed, hypocritical, arrogant, disrespectful, annoying ego-maniacs. They are enough to make one not want to join INACHI at all but INACHI is more than just the forum, and afterall these people exist in real life too so we have to deal with them.
I think these kinds of people gravitate to online forums in general because in real life nobody wants anything to do with them. They finally get a chance to pretend to be better than everyone else…Where I’m from we have a name for these kinds of people… And that’s another thing to keep in mind, some people are from different areas where being annoying, full of yourself and disrespectful is normal and nothings ever done about it… The forum has an ignore feature I think thats the best thing to do with them…
So if you’re thinking about joining but not sure because of the very vocal minority of people here I think you should join INACHI is much more than just the forum and remember every time a new person joins you reduce the influence of that group.
This forum is for members that have questions. These questions are answered by other members with experience. Rants are best suited for Facebook. This is a very poor use of this forums resources.
That works for some. I have never ignored anyone, even the ones that come at me. Reason being, regardless of their disposition in life…many are smart as hell. I just want to learn.
I’m glad you decided to join Dustin. I lurked on the forum for awhile before making my first few posts. One of the benefits was getting a feel for the “ambiance” of the forum. Something I learned early on was that many of the best on here will push you a bit to determine answers on your own. They will also rib you some if you are a non-member and/or if your question is not clearly spelled out, including taking the time to fix grammatical and spelling errors. As a platform for learning new things pertaining to home inspections, there is not a better one out there. Once you have contributed some and shown that you are serious about it, they will let you get away with a few more errrors!
The forums are very useful when you have emergency questions on the job and how to gain more experience from other inspectors. There is a lot to be learned.
The people you are arguing with have some of the best contributions. You are not off to a good start with this association. It’s going to be hard for you to get help if you continue down the road you are heading.
