My 2¢ worth after being here a short time, or what can I tell a Brand Newbie.

[jusval]

Well, this probably fits in with the "List of how Not to start a thread on CPF", but I just figured, since I'm giving up on mods, that I'd put in my 2¢ worth about what I've learned so far...... Oh, by the way, I just learned that if you hold down the "Alt" key while typing "0162" on the Side Number pad, you get the ¢ sign....... That's Way Cool to me.........

Anyhow, I have learned that there's a group of real die hards here, who are knowledgeable modders and builders. They seem to take it very seriously. I'm glad for their knowledge. I see how hard it is to share it with every dufus like me, who never will be very good, nor will we really ever be that interested, so maybe it's good, in a way, that they do keep silent. At least they are there.

Then there's some who do interject their comments in many threads. Ones who still answer questions even if it's the 10,000 time. My hat is off to you who do that.:bow:

Of course there's the ones who post on every thread, for some reason, thinking that post count wins some type of prize or award.... Hey there isn't any prize.........

Then there's the tons of noobs like me, who shouldn't be touching a flashlight at all, for any reason........

I've learned a lot, I've enjoyed some of it and I've gotten very pissed off at some of it. I've never been in a forum atmosphere before, so it's been different. It's also been frustrating and really after all is said and done, I wish I had never posted a lot of things here. I certainly learned that I should never sell off something I made myself and I really didn't need to make it, since I have learned that there is No brightest light. It never stops, unless you just let go of it.

Well, I have made a couple of unusual lights and it's been a learning experience, but it's out of my league and too high priced for me. What I've done is to find a way to make things the cheap route, out of necessity, but that's Not the Right Way. It's the wrong way.

What can I tell a newbie? If you don't have a clue of what you want, Don't post first! Read the stickies, search for things, skulk around here till you have an idea of what you are doing. If you're not experienced or knowledgeable in DC, electronics and making things, Don't Bother doing it yourself. Just leave it to experienced people.

If you don't have the bucks to pay for the well made "good stuff", Don't bother, forget it, walk away, let it Go. YES, the old saying is TRUE, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. You pay five bucks, you get five bucks worth of Crap.

It's simple, if you go buy that P7 thrower from China for $37, you just Wasted $37. If you buy the stuff from reputable vendors, like Malkoff and others here, you get something good, that lasts for a while.

Okay, enough about that......

In the long run, I just want to thank all the members here who have educated (or tried to educate) me and to those who have taken the time to help me, even when I didn't want the help. I appreciate all you do.:twothumbs

I won't be modding lights any more, since I can't do justice to the hobby with simple hand tools. Maybe someday (just for myself), but not for now and not for anyone else...... Besides after doing a HID, there's nothing brighter that I'll ever make or afford (Except for that One Mod I didn't do Yet) and it's Still Not Bright Enough......

I will be doing something, I have to. In fact I'm going to try my hand at finishing knife blanks with handles, guards, sheaths, etc... I can do that. I can do wood finishing and leather work with hand tools, so I'm going to do a couple.

I'm not out of the forums (until Greta wises up and kicks me out :devil, but I have to back off lights for a while and try something else. I can't keep my big mouth shut long enough to stay away totally....

Y'all be good and keep on keepin on.........

 

[geepondy]

Well CPF certainly has "evolved" through the years and although I might miss the small town atmosphere it used to have, there's a tremendous amount of wealth and knowledge that wasn't as widespread in the older days. Whether you want to find the smallest brightest flashlight available regardless of cost or you just want to know whether the $15 special at Target is better then the $15 special at Walmart, chances are it's been discussed.

I also am appreciative of the fact that the CPF uptime reliability seems to be consistently improved over the past few months.

 

[PetaBread]

What can I tell a newbie? If you don't have a clue of what you want, Don't post first! Read the stickies, search for things, skulk around here till you have an idea of what you are doing. If you're not experienced or knowledgeable in DC, electronics and making things, Don't Bother doing it yourself. Just leave it to experienced people.

If you don't have the bucks to pay for the well made "good stuff", Don't bother, forget it, walk away, let it Go. YES, the old saying is TRUE, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. You pay five bucks, you get five bucks worth of Crap.

I agree 100%. Everyone needs realize this, but of course, some just don't.

And I hate when a newbie is given advice on a recommendation, then

goes out and makes the purchase 1 hr later because they think it's

absolutely 100% correct.

 

[lumafist]

Oh, seriously....

I`m all the way across the pond and people hassle me ALL the time about just that one thing...

We are all grown up and this IS a forum for flashaholics and a few more missfits...

Lighten up, this IS after all the INTERNET......

Not you`r neighbour...:duh2:



You are actualy ONE of those "noobs" that has come across me as a knowledgable guy and not just "another dude looking for the cheapest DX/KD light..."



So, stick with us!
Bare the pain...

And for gods sake, don`t fu#% up.........

 

[lumafist]

I agree 100%. Everyone needs realize this, but of course, some just don't.

And I hate when a newbie is given advice on a recommendation, then

goes out and makes the purchase 1 hr later because they think it's

absolutely 100% correct.

Dude, YOU are a NEWB..
Live with it....

So am I....
You singlehandedly kill noobs in that thread....

YOU should ease up.....

 

[ypsifly]

As websites grow, all kinds of people walk through the door and bring all kinds of baggage with them. The key is ignoring the annoying. If a new person is obsessed with lumen counts and wastes their $$ on cheapness...its on them. No money out of my pocket but I'm glad to learn from their mistakes when they come back and complain that the light failed to meet expectations and/or lived a short life.

Treat any website like a buffet. Get what you want out of it and pass on that which doesn't interest you or is annoying.

 

[kitelights]

What can I tell a newbie?

Frankly, I had a bit of difficulty understanding which of your comments are serious and which are sarcastic.

Do you feel discouraged about your light making/modding abilities yourself or have others made you feel trashed?

I remember a newbie here a few years ago that knew nothing, but was eager to learn and did. He took the boards out of the infamous Walmart Dorcy AAAs and changed out LEDs and put them in other lights to start with. He now has quite a collection and is a moderator here on the forums.

If you're interested, do different things and learn on your own. If you ask for the advice of others and they give it to you, don't complain about it. If that's the case, why ask?

As websites grow, all kinds of people walk through the door and bring all kinds of baggage with them. The key is ignoring the annoying. If a new person is obsessed with lumen counts and wastes their $$ on cheapness...its on them. No money out of my pocket but I'm glad to learn from their mistakes when they come back and complain that the light failed to meet expectations and/or lived a short life.

Treat any website like a buffet. Get what you want out of it and pass on that which doesn't interest you or is annoying.

Some very good advice with one exception. You pay for your buffet, you don't get to walk in and take all that you want for nothing.

What makes CPF so great is the sense of community which involves giving back, not just taking.

 

[Oddjob]

I remember a while back a member lost their McLux III PD and posted about it to get some condolences. After someone suggested it, about 20 members myself included contributed $10.00 to $20.00 each to buy him a new one. I was amazed at the generosity and I felt good about what I did. This is but one example of some of the generosity and fellowship that exists here. In light of how the forum is growing I wonder if that same sense of community will be adopted my new members.

I do post replies to certain inquiries even if I have done so in the past because there is a lot of information here and if it is safety related I especially don't mind.

The forum does not exist to simply be a repository of information. With so many different people from all walks of life, there is an opportunity to share so much more.

 

[jtr1962]

Compared to other forums I've been on, this one is pretty civil despite the high membership. It's true that as any forum grows eventually you'll lose the exclusive atmosphere. It's impossible to be familiar with every member in a forum with tens of thousands. It's fair to say the majority of members here I've never crossed paths with in a thread. And larger numbers always mean more potential for trouble. It really doesn't take very many members to disrupt any forum. I've been on forums with thousands of members and have seen perhaps a dozen people disrupt things to the point where many long-time members just gave up and left. Moderation can help to some extent but in the end the viability of any forum depends solely upon the quality of its membership. Here for the most part we have a group genuinely interested in discussing a wide variety of lighting and non-lighting topics rather than just coming here to troll.

I personally think in this or any other forum all members, not just newbies, should remember a few things:

1) Search before starting another thread. Chances are it's been discussed already. If so, don't start another thread unless the existing ones are either fairly old (meaning the information is potentially out of date), or they don't address all of your question. Dozens of new, mostly meaningless, repetitive threads is beyond annoying.

2) Don't post a thread asking for advice if all you're going to do is contradict everything said to you. If you've already made up your mind, just do whatever you were going to do instead of seeking affirmation.

3) Don't post a thread where you test lights or anything else unless you're prepared to have your experimentation methodology and results questioned. There are lots of highly educated people here who will offer their suggestions to improve your experiments. This is constructive criticism. It's not trolling or thread hijacking. It's not done with the intention of making you look stupid. It's done in order to advance the state of the art. So if you're thin-skinned and react poorly to any type of criticism best just not to bother posting about your light tests. In the rare event someone does post in your thread solely for purposes of tearing you down, without offering anything positive, either the mods or other members will usually step in for your defense. But usually any criticism is done with the intention to help you, not hurt you.

4) #3 probably goes for posting in general. Don't post if you have a thin skin. Others will often disagree with you. Usually this results in friendly debate. On rare occasions it degrades into a nuclear war. Usually the latter occurs because people react poorly when others disagree with them. Try to see both sides of the coin in any debate. Even if you agree to disagree, at least it'll keep things civil.

5) On occasion I've seen people just snap or otherwise start acting hostile for no reason I could see. If you're in a bad mood because things aren't going well, then maybe it's a good idea to stay away from the forums.

6) Don't insist on asking people for sources for everything they post, and then saying that what they wrote is meaningless without such sources. Sometimes things fall into the realm of common knowledge. Other times sources may be hard to find, if they even exist at all on the Internet. Besides all that, lots of "sources" are at best questionable. And there are indeed occasions where the poster themselves is the source, meaning that they are relating things they discovered themselves in the course of experimentation.

7) Don't assume because a poster has a low post count that they know nothing. They may be a professional in the field, and only recently stumbled upon this site. Conversely, people with high post counts aren't necessarily experts.

Well, that's all I can think of for now. If one follows these guidelines and some of the other suggestions in this thread, you'll do fine.