My momma always told me you get more flies with honey than with vinegar.  But she never explained why I would want more flies

I re-read the threads and didn't think the responses were all that mean.  There is nothing wrong with having questions.  But someone should bother to try to answer them for themself, before bothering others. Especially, when the answers are so easy to find, and especially when we have had to answer those same questions time and time again.  

"Nobody should be mean to anyone.  If you ain't a happy person,  you oughta keep it to yourself."  

good advice.  can you heed it as well as offer it?

meow

DECAFF

Hey Sailil, I get your point but have to say you weren't being any nicer in your protest than the other posters you were protesting have been.  First up, let's not take this whole board and posting thing too seriously. I mean, it's basically about getting laid, not changing the world. Although, I confess that if you're not getting laid, it's hardly worth saving anyway, but that's another whole subject.  Second, I don't think Answer -- and I certainly don't think Star -- intended any insult to the basic worthiness of any uninformed, time-wasting poster who caught them on a bad day -- anybody not had one of those? -- when they came here to find what was "new" to discuss and found only the same old 411's and naive inqueries that more properly belonged on another forum (if anywhere). But, then, how was the foolish newbie to know his question didn't properly belong here? Not every decent person is tech savvy or even well-educated. So, my suggestion is a FAQ. Perhaps Answer could establish a simple FAQ -- specific to this particular board -- with a few 'rules of the road' (the purpose of the board vs review 'search', etc) and 'basic information' on the TS world (as it pertains to hobbying at least!) so the newbie can avoid appearing too stupid and the regular posters can be a bit less disappointed in the quality of the discourse. I try to occasionally post something worthy of response, but looking back, I'm sure I have appeared as dumb as the next guy on occasion, and third -- that's okay too. I agree with Sailil that we need to be allowed to appear dumb without being slapped down (I hope I'm not misinterpreting you here, Mr. S). That is how new posters are nurtured and that is how deeper truths emerge.  Slowly, a bit more trust, a bit more truth, a bit more insight, and before you know it (okay maybe a little longer than that!) we have a board with some vivid perspicacity to which we can all turn for an occasional insight into what the hell we're doing here in the first place.  I look forward to greater depth here and personally feel Answer has done a good job of encouraging proper discourse, weeding out a bit of the bullshit and trying to take the moderate middle course. But in doing so -- in engendering this freedom of speech -- there are going to be some dumb questions and some impatient responses left to be read. That's the way it is. Just like cars cut in front of you on the freeway or the helper at Home Depot stares right thru you -- it doesn't mean they're bad people. They just have bad manners.  Or they're in the middle of a bad day/week/year/lifetime!  If you're still reading this, think for a moment, and post a response. Without yelling at anyone. A reasoned reaction with at least a kernel of truth/insight/personal interpretation. Disagree all you want, but do so -- as sailil suggested -- decently. Personally, I like to find practically anything new here rather than return to find the same posts dying without response. What do YOU think, fellow board readers?

First off, how did I make the top ten of evil people??

Anyway, I haven't had my coffee yet, so here are just some random, uh, ramblings.

I read my last two posts and one was no where NEAR being mean.  I just asked a question about the boards.  (Which went unanswered.)  The second post(from my perspective) was more that I was in shock and awe at the lack of effort he put into his questions.  Some of what he said bordered on insults, but I even let that slide.

If I walked into a Ferarri dealer and asked "I'm naive about  cars but I'm interested in getting a Ferarri (possibly).  Do they all come with 4 wheels?  Can they go faster than 55 mph? Do they come with brakes?   Are they made in Japan?  Do they run on gas?  Do I have to have a driver's licence?"  Do you think that dealership would sit him down and calmly discuss all of those very BASIC questions?  Unless his name was Bill Gates, I don't think so.  At best they'd hand him a couple flyers, tell him to come back after he did a little research and send him out the door.

If a guy can make it to TER, he can certainly find GOOGLE and do just the most basic research.  He came off as some guy that was kinda bored, and just typed the first things that came into his mind.  If he got an answer, fine.  If he didn't, fine.  Most likely, he won't ever act on his curiosity.

That being said, I think a FAQ would be an excellent idea.  I noticed that on the NEWBIE boards, they have a FAQ that tells them what all the (YMMV, GFE, etc) terms mean since they get asked those questions 24/7.  That way, when someone asks, "Are all TS men?" then we can just politely refer them to the FAQ.

I used to put a lot of thought, time and effort into my posts but then I realized, as latenfour said, this board is basically just about getting laid and who's the cheapest, biggest, whatever.

If some interesting thoughts appear, or if someone has something of interest to talk about, then I will respond.  But I'm not going to waste my time with the 411's and "what's a TS?".  I'll let someone else take care of that stuff.

Hope I didn't sound mean in this post.
Peace,
Bright Star

 

Sailil;
    Your point is valid but I don't think The Answer is the culprit.  In fact, The Answer was quite generous.  Neither are TS Star, LATenFour or wantats at fault.  They, as a rule seem to be among the most civil people that participate on this board.  Don't get me wrong, as there are a few meab spirited people that bring their garbage here.
    On the other hand, it's the poster's resposibilty to do some research.  It wastes other's time.  Of course we could just skip the post as wantats mentioned, but I think posts like this also increase bandwidth use(I'm no expert, so correct me if I'm wrong)) thereby costs for TER, and ultimately, us.
    That being said, feeling the way you do, do as I sometimes do:  reply in a civil manner, offering suggestions, etc., before the poor poster is attacked.
    I'm sorry for the long post, but I think your directing this at the wrong people.  There are many instances of what you're upset about, but I don't think this is one.  
    You're a decent guy who cares about others and I'm glad you and The Answer, LATenFour, TS Star and wantats are here.