Mastery

[Darth Nater]

A waste of space question here. Does "Necroposting" cost anyone any money? I realize the concept is what it is, but in the end, who cares. Go past it and on to the next. I have a login here to learn about stuff and for no other reason, yet this is the oddest forum I have ever been in ever. Weird rules about miniscule things that normally nobody should even care about one way or another, and contradicting ideals (such as don't waste space by adding posts, edit your original - while at the same time those individuals that enforce/comment about such things have dozens of one line flames or no value comments added to threads that contributed nothing besides wasting space themselves). Also, a lot of negativity from several "Senior Members" it seems towards what looks like people just looking for help/advice. I could be wrong, but from the outside looking in, it always seemed to me that the forum was supposed to be some type of support/information source for the store. You would think the atmosphere would be a little more friendly, but about 35-40% of the time it doesn't seem to be the case. I've done many searches and spent several hours just lurking and reading, its almost tiring how many snippy remarks get made to innocents just asking questions. And not always the most basic self explanatory ones either. I wonder how much business Tim has lost from a noob getting frustrated by being flamed for asking about something completely new to them, and just got mad and left? Nearly lost me last year when I first looked into building sabers for my kids over the exact thing. Jerks for no reason. I've likely spent around $800 in the store over the last year, and I'm not done. Thats a mere drop in the bucket of course, but regardless, business is business and revenue is revenue. Thats my perspective and I'll return to lurking.

So to add to the necropost, I put the name I have on here because it required me to have one, one of my kids is named Nate, Nater rhymes with Vader, its marginally humorous to me. Not a whole lot of thought went into it, I came up with it on the spot when required to create an ID to login. It might as well have been potato casserole, it was not a big deal to me.

[Kevin Starwaster]

A waste of space question here. Does "Necroposting" cost anyone any money? I realize the concept is what it is, but in the end, who cares. Go past it and on to the next. I have a login here to learn about stuff and for no other reason, yet this is the oddest forum I have ever been in ever. Weird rules about miniscule things that normally nobody should even care about one way or another, and contradicting ideals (such as don't waste space by adding posts, edit your original - while at the same time those individuals that enforce/comment about such things have dozens of one line flames or no value comments added to threads that contributed nothing besides wasting space themselves). Also, a lot of negativity from several "Senior Members" it seems towards what looks like people just looking for help/advice. I could be wrong, but from the outside looking in, it always seemed to me that the forum was supposed to be some type of support/information source for the store. You would think the atmosphere would be a little more friendly, but about 35-40% of the time it doesn't seem to be the case. I've done many searches and spent several hours just lurking and reading, its almost tiring how many snippy remarks get made to innocents just asking questions. And not always the most basic self explanatory ones either. I wonder how much business Tim has lost from a noob getting frustrated by being flamed for asking about something completely new to them, and just got mad and left? Nearly lost me last year when I first looked into building sabers for my kids over the exact thing. Jerks for no reason. I've likely spent around $800 in the store over the last year, and I'm not done. Thats a mere drop in the bucket of course, but regardless, business is business and revenue is revenue. Thats my perspective and I'll return to lurking.

So to add to the necropost, I put the name I have on here because it required me to have one, one of my kids is named Nate, Nater rhymes with Vader, its marginally humorous to me. Not a whole lot of thought went into it, I came up with it on the spot when required to create an ID to login. It might as well have been potato casserole, it was not a big deal to me.

Let me provide a real world example of when 'necroposting' is good. I used to be quite active in the Crysis modding community and posted a few mods and sample code/shader files on the crymod forum. Any thread I created I was subscribed to automagically. So when someone posted a critical question on some source code I'd posted I was notified via email and could respond. Except that some forum members took it upon themselves to chastise that person for necroposting. Their advice was to either PM me or start another thread. Except that at that time I was somewhat less active so there was risk of my inbox filling up as it occasionally did. And starting another thread wouldn't have been noticed by me.

It likewise wouldn't be a terrible stretch to envision situations in which editing a post becomes counter productive compared to adding a new post.

[TuxedoCartman]

I have a login here to learn about stuff and for no other reason, yet this is the oddest forum I have ever been in ever. Weird rules about miniscule things that normally nobody should even care about one way or another, and contradicting ideals (such as don't waste space by adding posts, edit your original - while at the same time those individuals that enforce/comment about such things have dozens of one line flames or no value comments added to threads that contributed nothing besides wasting space themselves). Also, a lot of negativity from several "Senior Members" it seems towards what looks like people just looking for help/advice. I could be wrong, but from the outside looking in, it always seemed to me that the forum was supposed to be some type of support/information source for the store. You would think the atmosphere would be a little more friendly, but about 35-40% of the time it doesn't seem to be the case. I've done many searches and spent several hours just lurking and reading, its almost tiring how many snippy remarks get made to innocents just asking questions. And not always the most basic self explanatory ones either. I wonder how much business Tim has lost from a noob getting frustrated by being flamed for asking about something completely new to them, and just got mad and left? Nearly lost me last year when I first looked into building sabers for my kids over the exact thing. Jerks for no reason. I've likely spent around $800 in the store over the last year, and I'm not done. Thats a mere drop in the bucket of course, but regardless, business is business and revenue is revenue. Thats my perspective and I'll return to lurking.

Darth Nater, you're seeing the trees, but not the forest. You're so close, but not quite grasping why it is the senior members tend to get so upset with noobs on here.

Look at it this way: you're right, this forum does exist to educate viewers on saber-building techniques. But whereas the senior members view this forum as a place to exchange new ideas and to use as a database for existing techniques, a lot of noobs prefer to treat this forum as a chat-room, with no thought to the overall community.

For example: noob shows up, and decides he's going to be the next Dark Lord of Suburbia, and wants him a kickin' lightsaber yo. He knows nothing about electronics, and has no desire to learn (a trait which, I'm sorry, describes about 75% of the new people I've seen on here). If he were to go into the TCSS Chat area, and ask, "I need to know what resistor to use on my main blade. I've got the Crystal Focuses yo", then his request would either be answered, ridiculed (which is the correct answer), or ignored... and within a few hours, will fade into history, never to be seen or heard from again (till the next noob, about 30 seconds later).

Now, that same scenario, only posted onto the forums. "Yo! What resistor do I need? I've got some batteries and an led... tell me!" Do you know what happens then? It goes into the archives. Every... single... time... a newbie asks the same old question, the same question that has been answered a million times throughout the forums history, and is even stickied in two or three places at the top of different sections, under big bold letters that say "HERE'S ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW TO MAKE A SABER!!!"... then those questions go right into the archive, along with all of the others.

You may be asking, "So what? More info is better, right?" Here's why that's bad. Let's say now you've got a Padawan level smith looking to build a new saber. He's already made a stunt, and his last one had the Petit Crouton in it. Now, he's looking to go all out and put in an LED Engin, with FoC. However, he has zero experience with the SMD-type resistors needed on the Power Extender. So what's he do? He researches, liked a responsible saber-smith should. Does a search for "resistor" on the board, and... comes up with 5,302,405,234 results, all the same. Sure, somewhere in all of that there may be one thread that deals with exactly what he wants to know... maybe. Or maybe he'll go crazy trying to find it, and will snap at the next noob who signs up just so they can ask what a blade retention screw is. Do you see my point?

The senior members on here, whom you think are so negative, actually pioneered a lot of the techniques we use without question on our first saber builds now. Several of them have been around since before LEDs were used in saber-replicas. They learned a lot of these techniques by trial and error, and learned of electronics on their own from either school or reading. They didn't have ready-made wiring schematics and do-it-yourself diagrams labeled for easy builds. So when someone shows up and EXPECTS them to help them out with questions that are so very easily obtained on one's own... yeah, I can understand why they'd get indignant. Especially since so many of us are leaning on their expertise, and the only thing they get from it are accusations of not doing enough for the newbies.

Okay, rant over.

[FenderBender]

Darth Nater, you're seeing the trees, but not the forest. You're so close, but not quite grasping why it is the senior members tend to get so upset with noobs on here.

"words"

Okay, rant over.

Wow....that was....REALLY well said......

Yes, though we have tried to get better at at least 'ignoring' the annoying questions...sometimes we still get the "grumpy old men" syndrome. I am guilty of it too. I just look at it as I read the forums for over a year before I even joined. I'm sure I asked a noob question or two, but the rest, I learned by watching, reading, and...wait for it.....DOING!

[Boj-Vaati Mau]

Omedeto! Very well said TuxedoCartman-san!

[pvcpo]

you guys are too much!!

[Darth Nater]

Darth Nater, you're seeing the trees, but not the forest. You're so close, but not quite grasping why it is the senior members tend to get so upset with noobs on here.

Oh make no mistake, I understand it completely. I'm not stupid. I just notice that many have a snippy demeaning way of going about it. If you see a black blade or a blade retention screw question, why even bother replying. And don't make me out as if I said all Senior members are this way. I didnt. But I did say several. Its very 14yr old girlish. Like they get some feeling of satisfaction or prestige from it. Regardless, its a waste of time to discuss, and I shouldn't have even let myself go into a rant. Arguing on the internet is one of the most pointless things anyway.

[pvcpo]

agree with DARTH nater i do! just ridiculous.

[Jedi Master Taka]

Going back to the question of using the honorifics of Master or Darth…
I have built around 35 sabers now. A mere drop in the bucket compared to most of the old guard on the boards. I can do pretty much what ever I want to with a lux or P4 set up, but I am still trying to work my head around the 10w setups. I do not now nor will I ever consider my self a Master Sabersmith. In point of fact I don’t even really consider my self a Sabersmith period. The old Guard and a few talented new guys are the Sabersmiths on this forum. They have EARNED that title. They can do things with saber electronics that MAY actually require the force from my point of reference. Me? I’m just a guy who likes to build sabers, and then use them in combat. I try to read the forums to learn rather than ask a lot of questions. Occasionally when I get confused, I will ask a question, and do my best not to sound to stupid. The real Sabersmiths around here have always been awesome at helping me out and for that they have my gratitude.

Now having said that… In Star Wars being a Master or Lord is not all about who builds the best light sabers. You can be a Master for you skill at combat, negotiation, even research. Any one remembers the Jedi Librarian? Did she even carry a saber? If someone has real life skills other than saber building that they feel qualifies them for the title, then great let them use it. Are you going to tell the brain surgeon that he hasn’t built enough sabers to call him self “Jedi Master Medic”? Somehow I don’t thinks so… And if you are, please take a moment to stop…think…and go get a damn life.
And if some kid decides to register calling him self a Jedi or Darth because it puts him in the mood to build sabers, who cares? As long as he’s not calling him self a Sabersmith and giving out bad info, who cares what he calls himself? Lets all call him Master Darth so that he will build a saber and give Tim his money so that Tim will build us more cool stuff. And who knows… Maybe just Maybe, Master Darth will learn and grow to be part of the next generation of real Sabersmiths.

[pvcpo]

well, out of curiousity- how many even use their sabers for any kind of duelling?? probaly not a lot, i imagine most are still running and hiding their saber when the wifey gets home, or are to affraid to get a smack with a blade, oh i dont duel with my crstal foc- whatever!, if you want to claim master or darth it does not matter how many builds you have under your belt- the idea was construct your own saber and move on, but most had to know how to use it also!! so suck in the guts, get off the couch and earn it! in the military you advance by showing you are capable to do what needs to be done and your ability to lead others not put them down! not saying correcting some one on here who is new is wrong, but in the time it took to ridicule that person they could have pointed the way with one of their little " its right here" posts like they do to so often, but instead mister "senior" member is having a bad day and takes it out on new member, so as far as respect- please, its earned not given- bottom line, so when new guy reads seniors post putting others down- well guess what!! then they cry about no respect!! wow, really??? and especially those with the jedi word in the sig- try acting it!! you guys get your respect in the comments that come from members who like your work! what more do you need??? seriously its the older members who act the most childish on here towards others and its apparently o.k for them to act that way, but i know im not the only one who thinks this way, so big dogs- lead by example!!