NEWCOMERS-To Get More Out of Sailnet

[DJEVANS]

We may not be keeping it on topic, Dawg, but at least we're letting the newbies in on what the crew here is really like...
Newbies, ye be warned, and welcome!

[Robby Barlow]

Is someone out there suggesting that Newbies have a lack of intelligence - sorry experience at posting and senior sailnet members are full of it, I mean posting experience of course.

[christyleigh]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Also, before asking a question on a piece of equipment, you should at least RTFM...

..... Whaaattt I always thought the "Reading of The Fine Manual" was the absolute Last Thing to do after I spent $$$$ doing it wrong 3 times, wasted friends time helping me fix those 3 mistakes, called the manufacturer #$%$# names over the phone and by email, and then crying to Sailnet about the problem that 'wasn't my fault'

[sailingdog]

Boy, does that explain a lot... Typical motorsailor owner...

Originally Posted by christyleigh

..... Whaaattt I always thought the "Reading of The Fine Manual" was the absolute Last Thing to do after I spent $$$$ doing it wrong 3 times, wasted friends time helping me fix those 3 mistakes, called the manufacturer #$%$# names over the phone and by email, and then crying to Sailnet about the problem that 'wasn't my fault'

[christyleigh]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Boy, does that explain a lot... Typical motorsailor owner...

.... Ahhh.... from a guy with training wheels.....

[sailingdog]

Heathen... they're hulls...since I'm too much of a sailor for a single hull to handle... ... even Dame Ellen uses them...

Originally Posted by christyleigh

.... Ahhh.... from a guy with training wheels.....

[sailaway21]

I'm going to take a contrarian view here. (no surprise,eh?)
Reviving old threads is an excellent idea. It just depends on which old thread you revive.
Reviving a thread on the purchase of a 27' boat in the Groton, Conn. area for the upcoming season, that's five years old, is pointless. Yet, it is exactly that practise which happens and frustrates us all the most.
On the other hand, if you're interested in a Seaswing or Force10 single burner gimballed stove for making coffee, it makes far more sense to read, and perhaps revive, the thread on those stoves. As with those stoves, most of what we discuss has really not changed that much in the time that sailnet has been extant. What's new in the world of knots, hitches, and bends that cannot reasonably be appended to an older thread on the same subject? Instead, what we end up with are twenty post threads on a subject over a one week period, only to see the same exact subject come up two weeks later in a brand new thread.

Newbies, and God bless the fresh air they bring, should search the articles and existing threads for answers first. They're much more likely to get better, more accurate information than by posting a new thread and relying on a two person response at 3 a.m.. Further questions, in an existing thread, serve to answer questions that others may have been unsure about as well. There is no baseline knowledge requirement for membership in sailnet, nor should there be, and continuity and development of threads is what makes knowledge most available to all levels of sailors.

[Dunlookn]

I heard about this site when I began looking for a boat in February 2007.

I did not post until recently.

Every time I had a question I went to a forum and read every post. I learned about things I never knew about. I was taught about costs, ideas, problems, and issues.

I balanced opinions against lessons. Fact from fiction. Preferences against knowledge.

This site was invaluable as I continued my search. I found out what I did not know, and learned what I needed to.

When I was asked about something that was new to me I would tell the person asking that I had a thousand people waiting to guide me and I would be an expert as soon as I could get to my computer and educate myself with thier experience.

I continue to be educated by this site and thank everyone who posted and added to my body of knowledge.

[Idiens]

The old threads would be even more useful, if the moderators froze them at the end of the useful stuff and deleted the spindrift.

Come to think of it, this thread could be truncated back to SD's OP, without loosing much for posterity.

[camaraderie]

Idiens...they'd have to find another moderator! I have enough to do just keeping up with Giu!! The name of the game is PAGE VIEWS and posts = advertising revenue.