Well said Bob. It's a shame that these people inhabit our world and that they may put off many beginners from becoming involved.

+1 I'm a recent new member and will probably be an irregular visitor as I am not a model maker either. I have a Boxford partly just for the hell of it and partly for just fiddling and making small items along the way.

I have had some great, friendly help and advice here in the short time I have been a member and have not yet come across the sort of thing Bob writes about but I know it will exist. 'Sneering detractors' inhabit all forums and TBH I have visited much worse ones than this (usually no more than twice…..) but the premise "if you can't say something nice than don't say anything at all" is a good one to follow. I'm fairly thick skinned but anybody posting should consider those who are, maybe, more fragile, especially in these strange times when even the most robust personality is likely to be feeling some self-doubt.

I never really notice much negative in here, it's very civilised and tolerant in this place

Out on the netty it's a jungle, I ceased all contact with any human in any manner or form on the world of tanks site within 24 hours of joining and starting to play

That was well over a year ago, I still play every day though

omg they're horrible to each other, it's like primary three stuff meets lord of the flies

Little boys are made of frogs and snails and puppy dogs tails

Edited By Ady1 on 21/05/2020 14:19:26

This is a tricky one!

Surely we know that the Internet has serious quality problems? A fair percentage of material published on the web is unbalanced. Well-meaning or not, it's littered with mistakes, misunderstandings, naiveties, incompetence, Payola, faulty logic, safety hazards, and fake news. Some youtube videos containing good advice are unwatchable due to poor presentation, whilst others are convincingly slick but plain wrong. It's often hard to tell the difference between beginners blundering along as they learn from whizz-kids who really knows their stuff.

So what should forum members do about flawed information on the web? Personally I think it wrong to pretend all is well. An engineering hobby is about best practice and truth, not covering up because we like people, or admire their enthusiasm. No reason not to be polite though.

In that spirit I try to be clear it's the engineering I criticise, not the individuals! Personally I positively welcome being corrected because I get stuff wrong and misspeak rather more than I like. An important advantage of the forum is peer review. If I stick a carp video on the web, innocents will fall for it. If I post poor stuff here, there are several capable of putting me right and willing to do so. Well done them, because forum quality is all the better for it! Sad my ego is so badly bruised I often cry myself to sleep, but the end justifies the means.

Can't comment on Steve Jordan's work – never watched any of his videos.

Dave

All valid points Dave, and I agree. 'Quality control' (which nobody is going to be offended by if worded well) is I think a different matter. I suspect the people Bob is concerned about are not concerned with QC…..

S.O.D. I’ve been involved with local history for some years + as an offshoot connection with many into Family History tho that’s not my thing – one thing that became apparent as the web became democratised was the ability to neophytes to jump in with both left feet and put incorrect research into places where it became accepted as true by those too quick to accept it as valid – more careful researchers tended to include significant caveats where any ‘guesswork’ was concerned – trying to correct the posting of these enthusiastic newcomers was always difficult

All very well, but I would not do that because no matter how snide and sneering people are because of their 'greater experience' and 'superior knowledge' they may well be more experienced (hard not to be) and finer engineers than me so I can hopefully learn from some of what they are saying, while trying to ignore the manner in which they say it.

I genuinely find such comments distasteful in the extreme, but I hope I always remain keen to pick out the good bits behind them.

Nick

I believe that it is your duty to point out bad or dangerous practices, especially on Youtube. Some people believe that content at any cost is the way to go. That's fine for funny cat videos but not so good when the uninitiated watch popular content providers using practices that make sense to them not realising that they are entirely unsuitable.

How you go about it is another matter.

Greetings, I think Sam Spoons has it right, "if you cann't say any thing nice about someone, donn't say any thing at all".

Brian

University of Youtube

You are not alone

Hi all

I like this forum for the range of threads, questions and discussions which come up. There seem to be less idiots, personal detractors and ego trippers on here than most forums, and most users seem to be trying to learn or trying to assist or inform.

I am sometimes amused or amazed by the specialist expertise of some of the contributors. I can't think of an example at the moment but sometimes there is a question or situation which is a little unusual and various contributors have a go at answering or guessing from general engineering knowledge – and then someone comes along and really spells it out from what is clearly a deep and expert knowledge of just that particular field. It's like a sporting event where a "dark horse" just appears and laps the field. And we all learn a lot more about the subject.

And the ego trippers and general grousers, the thin-skinned and the (think they) know-it-alls just have to be ignored. If we don't rise to them perhaps thay will go away and play elsewhere.

Rod

… except every time they are quoted.

Edited By Bandersnatch on 22/05/2020 01:15:53