I think the last year's W2 thread was a big eye-opener and a great source of information for many people. How often do you run into threads here or other forums asking the same old tired question of "how much can I realistically make the first year/second year/as a captain/as a senior FO/as a widebody FO/reserve..." etc?

Every pilot group out there has its overachievers, the lazies, the chronically fatigued, the forever disgruntled, etc. It's nice to see information from various sources and angles, and threads like that deliver answers to:

- anyone looking in wondering if they can make it the first year, whether it's worth it, or what financial sacrifices they may have to make to make it through the first x-years starting over. This applies to any level.

- current pilots wondering just how good or bad they have it and whether the grass is greener elsewhere, and getting a realistic compensation range.

For all you people who think that throwing out W-2's is measuring junk, what are your thoughts on Glassdoor? NBAA Salary Surveys? Pro Pilot Surveys? IBM/Stanton/Gallagher surveys? Is that measuring junk too?

Seeing W-2 information when compared to running numbers on APC calculators and seeing days worked/nights away from home actually highlights the importance of the combination of rates/work rules/rigs, etc.

Why do you guys consider sharing that kind of information to be "measuring junk"? I'd call it being educated, but that's just me.