My feelings about helpful posting, which is what this board is all about.  It's the only one like it on this whole forum, and it's up to us to keep it useful for those who need or ask for help.

I allowed the thread started by Gregolsen147 to stay active, or rather, Admin is leaving it alone at my request.  Some of you repliers, especially perfectstorm, have done a good job of explaining how misleading many of the OP's statements are, and offered some good advice yourselves, for that I thank you.  

The purpose of the newbie board is to educate and provide guidance to new hobbyists and providers entering this arena on how to play safely.  All opinions are welcomed, but make sure you have all your facts and information straight before putting it out there for others to read.  This thread is a prime example of what I do not want to see happening here.  While Gregolsen147 did have some good points, much of what he said was, as others have said along with myself, not very good information and IMHO, not very well thought out.

So please, if you want to help here, your comments are welcome, but in the future, is I see something like this post, I may ask Admin to remove it.  Since I am no longer a moderator, I do not have that capability, but if I ask them to do it with good reason, they will remove it.

To my highly unpaid assistants, keep your comments coming.  Often times, you point out something that I overlooked.  Thanks guys and gals.

Swim

If I am reading you correctly, I came to the conclusion that you think G147's original post was inappropriate.  With all due respect, I disagree with your assessment.  Personally, I feel that this posting, even with inaccurate information, allows for others with more knowledge to correct serious inaccuracies and promotes discussion of serious flaws in the "recipe" to avoid LE.  Second, I feel that we are all entitled to voice our opinions, even if they are wrong or go against prevailing wisdom.  Finally, I thought the responses to his posts provided good opposing views and served to further educate "newbies" in a way that we rarely see in other posts.  Of course, these are only my opinions!

The OP has over generalized.  I disagree or would qualify nearly everything.   The one thing the OP got right is there are no guarentees.  There are always going to be risks.  

The good part is that newbies SHOULD be thinking about staying safe...  learning how this game is played.  After reading the self help section (link by the life saver) I recommend reading back several pages on this board.  It's FREE.  It only costs you your time.  There are a lot of really good tips about how this hobby works & mistakes that can be avoided.  Admittedly the questions can get repetitive...  so read back until you can answer every question yourself.  No one can do it for you & some things must be evaluated in light of your circumstances.  

When I started this hobby, I promised myself I'd not do anything "Stupid".  As a read & learned here on TER, I found that I was not as careful as I should have been.  In short, I was lucky.  (Not everyone is!)  Luck is not a plan.   Through thinking through of the issues can help to minimize the risks & truely avoid doing something "stupid".
skb

a thread like this is important to stay up...if for no other reason than to allow newbies to realize that there are bizarre folks in the hobby.  And that a newbie should do his/her homework and try and make sure that when seeking "advice", that there are indeed some very distinguished and knowledgeable folks on this board, as well as others.

Frankly, the comments posted were benign (IMHO) compared to the thrashing this fella should indeed be getting.  And most newbies tend to pose "questions" on this board vs "telling us" how to play this game.  That is not a typical "newbie" approach.  And in this guys case, he tried that same crap on the legal board and was indeed "read the riot act"...and now he's moved his "dog and pony" show over to the GD board.

Hopefully any readers of olsens posts realize that this fellas entire "philosophy" is predicated on the shows "Two and a half men" and "Law and Order".  Not really a good combination to be dishing out the worldly advice this guy bellows.

just referring to posts in general when I said that.  His post was informative, but in much of it, did not have very good or even accurate advice.  The more knowledgeable  folks were able to point out the flaws in what he said as you mentioned.  

Yes, we are all entitled to our opinions, but we do not need to be flooded with inaccurate statements or advice, especially in the venue we are pursuing here.  Safety is of critical importance, and I'm sure the OP had good intentions, but a lot it was just plain wrong.  Since the followup posters were quick to point out many errors in the OP, when Admin asked if I wanted the post pulled, I asked them not to do so.

I have been corrected here before and don't mind a bit.  I want those who come here for help to get the best information possible, and if I don't have it, I hope someone who does will come to the rescue.

Swim

Heather...  you made my day!!  "TDTF"  
skb

Love that, To Dumb to Fuk, priceless Heather......

Swim

Besides the fact the OP had some very sketchy advice, the problem is the post simply tried to do too much.  It's just my opinion, but I think a thread here should be on a single issue, or a few related issues.  If you want to cover more than one subject, start a different thread.  Responding to the many different opinions voiced in the OP creates a meandering and incoherent thread that may not be helpful.  I agree it's fine to post opinions here and try to be helpful.  If you're wrong, opposing views will respectfully surface and readers can judge for themselves.  But long, meandering posts that cover an overly broad number of issues are not as helpful as they could be.