Been here about 9 years with this account, and was a lurker before. To be honest, I've seen some things here and I've read some threads that have caused me to walk away for a while. No one to blame, but at some point I would think people would understand it is just the internet, post counts don't mean anything, and acting like they do only shows your true character.

Years ago, I would honestly say this was the one and only forum that continued to amaze me. Something has changed, and I think that is mostly on us.

Sometimes you need to just step back and stop living life on a forum for a bit. Do some living and come back with some new perspectives.

All social media will have it's ups and downs. It's up to each of us to maintain the standards for ourselves that we wish to see on such outlets.

This is the best place on the net. Period. We are like a family, or close friends. We argue. We annoy others. Sometimes accidentally, sometimes not. There are many diverse opinions and backgrounds here. I know I can be a smart ass, and I am positive at some point or another I have upset some. For those times, I'm sorry.

But we also come together like a family, I have seen incredible generosity here for total strangers. I have met members, and even hired some. People sharing info, goods, and help. I know one member here who drove an hour to help another member work on his car. For free, just to help out. I've seen people open their homes, their wallets, and their time.

So the occasional raucous thread aside, (and sometimes they are fun or funny, or needed) this place is awesome.

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
All social media will have it's ups and downs. It's up to each of us to maintain the standards for ourselves that we wish to see on such outlets.

I think this sums it up nicely. I'm not a prolific poster but I follow quite a few threads. There seems to be a cyclic nature to some of this for who knows what reason. I recall a few years ago when it seemed someone went completely off the rails and got banned about every week. Then it calmed back down and things moved along "smoothly" with only an occasional dust-up that the mods took care of handily. The current "tense" cycle will probably calm back down and things will be back to normal. Tax season never seems to help either.

Ken

Every group is going to attract a certain percentage of attention whores and idiots. SigForum is no different and Para does a great job reining in the worst offenders when things get out of hand.

To my knowledge he's requested neither input on how to run his forum nor assistance with any other aspects, other than cooperation as he does as he sees fit.

That's enough for me. When I don't care for something I move on to something else. Sure, some things get old but there's always new stuff too. You have to decide for youself whether the glass is half full or empty, and take it from there.

quote:

Case and point: I started a thread a while back about shooting bullets underwater.

Case in point.

quote:

Originally posted by P210:
Every group is going to attract a certain percentage of attention whores and idiots. SigForum is no different and Para does a great job reining in the worst offenders when things get out of hand.

To my knowledge he's requested neither input on how to run his forum nor assistance with any other aspects, other than cooperation as he does as he sees fit.

That's enough for me. When I don't care for something I move on to something else. Sure, some things get old but there's always new stuff too. You have to decide for yourself whether the glass is half full or empty, and take it from there.

Couldn't agree more.

I've noticed a change in the short (compared to others) time I've been here, but as I've started posting more and more I'm learning what I can and can't say/do/ask.

When I got my Toughbook, I had a fresh install of Windows put on it. Apparently when the guy installed it for me it messed up several drivers. I was in a rush to get it fixed so I could take it on my deployment. I started a thread here looking for advice, and when the recommendations didn't work (I didn't know there were drivers missing at the time) I took it to a PC repair place.

The thread then started filling with replies that "the OP fucked up and knows it" and the like. Completely unnecessary, and frankly completely wrong.

Threads will rarely, if ever, have only replies you want to here or feel are relevant. Another example, I posted a vent a few days ago about a shoulder brace I ordered and wanted in time for my next drill not being true to size. One of the replies was nothing but "Why do you think you need a shoulder brace for drill?"

Had absolutely nothing to do with the point of the thread, which was purely about things being true to size. At first, I was actually pretty irritated that someone wanted to dig into my medical problems in a thread about ordering online...but I realized I was being a bit overly-sensitive and just answered the question.

It happens. I don't think I've had any arguments here that didn't end at least somewhat civilly (and I've been involved in a couple). It's what makes this place great, that you can have those disagreements, or overreactions, and you're still welcome at the table afterwards.

Nothing has changed here.

The moderation has remained the same.

The Internet has changed us around here. But nothing changes here or in the waiver to participate here.

Lightning rod threads come and go. It's what makes life on the interwebz fun outside cat pichurz. The scammers and grifters were present when I joined. That game morphs. The Bennyboatshoes pulled bullshit in the mid-aughties here and elsewhere but internet norms caught up with them. We avoided here the direct links to Facespace, MyBook, and Twatter. Unfortunately, we are subject to smartphone "three grunts and an action verb".

Ok. So. Yeah. What are we talking about? My screen scrolled. tl;dr

Imagine how bad the responses are on auto forums in classifieds. Car ads usually have a lot of pictures. Someone responds by quoting all 30 pictures with the only addition being "nice ride, GLWS!"

I can't say that I've noticed and big changes here myself. Based on my ratio of posts to time here, I'm not one of the most frequent posters but I read quite often.

When you are around people a lot, but not so engaged, you may see them differently than you do when you start to interact more and get to know them. Same here as in a face to face situation. The closer you look, the more you will notice the good and the bad.

Most forums use the quotation method, as here, to comment on a specific prior comment. That way if you want to comment on a post from ten pages before, you can show the relevance.

On Facebook you can comment right below a specific post and that can become a sort of sub-post and doesn't require quotes to show the relationship. And if you want to see some internet incivility, look no further then some of the less moderated conversations there.

Based on the attendance here I would have to say they are doing something right and that would include the members in general. I would ask if maybe the Op's perspective has changed now due to becoming more engaged.

This kind of reminds me of the old saying attributed to Yogi Berra, "Nobody goes there anymore it's gotten so crowded."

I don't mean to hi-jack your thread but maybe this is where to enlighten about something I shake my head at;
Today is...(insert event)
Tomorrow ...(insert event)
When I open the thread thinking 'today is' the day of whatever, I see it was posted days or weeks ago. Maybe we could post a date in the 'Today is' thread title so it is more relevant to the thread.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: urbanwarrior238,

I don't understand the o. post, but I sense that some thing is amiss .

I am wondering if what you are addressing applies to me ? and how I post ,or when I post.

am I fouling up the works some how?

What i have noticed in my short time is that threads are evolving more into like the comment section in a news article or twitter. Everyone wants thier one liner, few read the remaimder of posts so we get repeats.

I am not saying that this is good or bad or that i am not guilty, i am. Just my observation.

One thing which hasn't changed is the amount of weight I give to complaints from people who have a handful of posts in this forum. I don't know you, nor does the rest of the forum, so why should we pay attention to such critiques?

quote:

I mention it because I do read every post in a thread and when I constantly re-read opinions that doesn't warrant a second reading, let alone a third or fourth, it's frustrating

I am a casual participant in the forum, sometimes I check it everyday, when work heats up I don't check it all for a month or two

anyway, to your point of reading every post before commenting
----on really long threads I will go back several pages before I post, because the subject has often changed over the course of time from what the first 3 or 4 hundred posts conveyed. I generally have read a goodly portion of these threads and find I needs come back for more
----often times I will not even open a long thread because I will not have the time to read all the posts, to see if the point I would like to interject has already been said
---and, even on some of the shorter posts, I have my thoughts in order to post a comment and then right before the end of the thread, someone had the same thoughts - most times I nod my head and move on (most times...)

whether Im gone a month or 2 - or check it everyday - this is the best controlled and friendliest forum I have sat in on ( about the only one I go to anymore)

thanks

Mr. P

quote:

Originally posted by urbanwarrior238:
I don't mean to hi-jack your thread but maybe this is where to enlighten about something I shake my head at;
Today is...(insert event)
Tomorrow ...(insert event)
And then when I read the thread thinking 'today is' the day of whatever, I see it was posted days or weeks ago. Maybe we could post a date in the 'Today is' thread so it is more relevant to the thread.

I am not sure how your browser renders the pages, but on chrome I can see a datestamp on every post. I use this datestamp to make assumptions in threads like you describe. hope it helps.

No one asked me, but here's my 2 cents prior to coffee.

This forum has become family to me. I've been through some of the highest highs, and the lowest lows of my life during the time span of my membership here. The members have been more than friends. I've received support and supported others. Financially, spiritually, in business, in tragedy, and in joy. Many times, I've only posted when I simply couldn't contain myself not to post. There have been some posts over the years, and situations within the sigforum family where NOT posting or participating simply wouldn't feel right.

That's why I don't understand lurkers.

I'll tell you a semi-short story.

During one of time periods in my life where I was crawling out of a devastating time period, I was employed as a shop foreman of sorts (DOM) at a maintenance facility. One of the larger ones in the state of Oregon. In the aviation world there is a crowd we call, "the experimental crowd". They're hard to explain fully, but basically they build their own airplanes. Not all of them because of their fascination with the process...some because they're cheap. For a time it was the cheapest way to get into the air as a pilot. So on one hot summer day, I was under an airplane with a distraught owner. I had just flown his pride and joy back from california on a ferry flight following an "incident" where his "friend" had landed the plane without lowering the landing gear. The "friend" was a flight instructor, a commercial pilot who flew for a major airline, and a know-it-all. The owner had a lot of trust in the "friend", and he was in the process of having that trust shattered, as I was explaining all the evidence that showed that his "friend" had simply not put the gear lever down. I showed him how the gear worked perfectly normal, along with all the horns and warning systems. The "friend" had been claiming a maintenance issue as the cause, basically blaming me and my shop as it had just rolled out of annual prior to the flight. There's more details to the story, but the point is...the owner was emotional, and pretty devastated.

At some point I became aware that a person was standing nearby in the shop. I didn't recognize the person, and I was beginning to become annoyed that one of my employees was not running him off, out of the shop. He was rifling through hardware and parts laying around benches and toolboxes around the the shop floor. It was obvious that at least two of my mechanics saw him, and didn't have a problem with him. I was engrossed in not just a conversation, but a near counseling level conversation with the aircraft owner. After about 10-15 minutes of the stranger rifling through my shop, he walked over and intruded himself into the conversation. He literally placed himself between me and the customer interrupting. He stammered about some AN-fitting he NEEDED for his experimental project. He just HAD to have it NOW! I don't remember exactly what I said to him, but I remember it was not kind...and I may have threatened his physical well being. I'm pretty sure I snapped dysfunctional veteran style at him, as he marched straight up to the corporate office to complain.

I finished up with my customer and then went over and closed the hangar doors, and confronted my mechanics. They explained that the guy was one of the local "experimental cheapskates" on the field, a well off business owner in town who was building some project for the previous ten years on a shoestring budget. Apparently prior to my employment he used to come around a lot. A litigious sort... I headed up to the president's office at the next break in my day.

To wrap the story, the president backed me. The guy was famous for scrounging through the shop's used parts bins and begging for handouts. He'd never actually paid for anything. Once I explained what I had witnessed, and what he'd done to one of our best customers...the president called the freeloading experimental pilot and barred him from the property.

There were other owners and experimental guys who came in frequently. Drank a cup or two of coffee, talked friendly with the employees and staff, and generally brightened our day. They actually solicited our services and made occasional purchases from time to time. Over the years, they became friends of the shop. Some of the older guys would offer life advice and support for my younger employees and apprentices. They became a part of the encouragement process for struggling student pilots and mechanics working their way into the business, from the bottom. I can tell you that when I worked on their planes, they always got extra. I'd spend an extra hour or two personally (off the books) cleaning or adding nice touches to their planes. They always noticed, and they always said thank you.

I think I know what you're saying AKS, and I agree. If you are getting something of value for free, and you aren't contributing yourself, then do you have any standing to complain even if you are correct (maybe)?
I guess that's a good topic for discussion.

BTW AKS, I understand exactly what your saying about the guy digging through your stuff and then complaining that you don't have what he was looking for. One of the few times it's nice to be self-employed, you tell him whats on your mind and kick him in the ass to the street.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 220-9er,

I dunno about the issues OP is talking about, maybe true....

But Thank God we don't have to contend with ad-clogged, ad-covering-the-page, ad-sneaking up on you to cover the page, and other infuriating bullshit that I see on some car forums and frankly most other sites. Slow loading, cluttered up, under-moderated, immature and not worth my time.

This place is light years ahead of most anyplace on the net, and that's thanks to Para. And I for one appreciate that.