Things the Mechanics Manual Doesn't Tell You

[SC Official]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

I agree with your logic...

You're going to have to learn to be a lot more independent if you want to succeed in this business. For some reason you need everything spelled out for you, and if other officials aren't doing it the "approved" way, you ask loaded questions like "Why do officials deviate from the manual?" rather than inquiring about more meaningful information that will actually advance your career. And when experienced officials on this forum give you answers, you keep responding with "yeah, but" rebuttals and opining about your unrealistic utopia. That is going to be the downfall of your career if you try that at a camp or with an assigner. Officiating is not the military; we are not all going to do things that same way because we are not robots. Heck, just look at Rich: he's an assigner for >20 schools and doesn't care what signals his staff uses. He cares if his guys are good at calling plays and game management (i.e. exactly what everyone on here has been telling you).

You mentioned that you will go to your local groups: that is a good start, and quite frankly you will be best served taking all these repetitive inquiries there.

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

The reason why I mentioned the 1 finger for 1 minute and point at the shot clock at 10 second signals as communication signals is because I believe that is their purpose: to make oneself aware and inform the other officials. If there is another, hidden, purpose, let me know. I can't read between the lines because I don't have X-ray vision.

That is all well and good and you are not wrong, but many officials/crews are completely capable of being aware of the situation without having to use all these signals that you think are sacrosanct and complain about when you see them not being used.