No Offence Intended

[knothead]

To all first time posters and Lurkers: Welcome, glad to have you aboard.
If you have been lurking for awhile you may have noticed that sometimes, not all the time, but once in a while, one or two of the regulars here will be a little sarcastic in response to your first question.
It may seem to you like we are unsympathetic or snobby. Let me assure you. That’s not the case.
I would venture to guess that we have all been in similarly frustrating situations when working on a boat.
The truth is, often, in fact usually, a question has been asked many times before and the answers or help can be discovered with a quick search of the forums or articles.
Speaking for myself, I only have a certain amount of time available for playing around on my computer in my day and I would rather spend it learning or doing something new than restating something that has been addressed already.

Having said that, when I read the post about the teak plugs last night, I went to the Sailboat Design and Construction forum and searched unsuccessfully for information. I am sure that it has been talked about here before but either I don’t know how to access it or I don’t know the proper terminology for Keywords. Maybe someone with more savvy could explain what I did wrong.

Maybe there should be a “First time post”, Forum, where people could post a question and get help researching it from someone.

Most people here have pretty thick skins and can take whatever they dish out. And we are all just normal people who get frustrated or snippy once in a while. We would be the same way in person. We're Just real people.
Please don’t take offense if someone makes you feel like they don’t think your question or problem is important enough to address. We know that it is. We’re just trying to save time and typing.

Know that the vast majority of regulars on this site welcome you and want you to stick around and contribute.

That way we can really pour it on later.


P.S. I hope I'm not out of line for posting this and I do not presume to speak for anyone but myself. The opinions stated above are the author's (Writer's??), and do not represent the opinions of SailNet or it's affiliates...

[artbyjody]

While your sentiments may be in the right place, one has to remember there are a variety of people with different knowledge levels of both the internet usage (specifically forums and searching) and of sailboats in general. I for one - if I remember a previous post, will try and pull it up but the search feature of the forums is not all that robust. Googling sometimes works better but even that is a crap shot sometimes, as the older the post is the more likely it will be ranked even lower.

Hence why sometimes, the same questions come up or often in my case, having done the research, just didn't grasp what the original posts were talking about. Sometimes, people respond but the thoughts in their head run faster than what they can type and in the end a very abbreviated response.

It all runs the gambut, and personally - whether a long time poster, lurker, or whatnot - we all have to remember the lowest common denominator, we all read, write, and get influenced by tones in posts differently.

Besides, considering that if you would think the big picture, practically every subject has been covered to some detail - and if we assumed every answer was in the forums was already covered (which is most likely the case) we'd never have posts But for searching the posts - its a roll of the dice and one has to contemplate - read posts for 6 hours trying to dig the info or just ask the question - I suggest the latter

[Freesail99]

Another point to remember, if we all said "it has been answered before, go search for it". This forum sailnet would soon die. Going back over things, often brings a new point of view.

PAUL

[teshannon]

Originally Posted by Freesail99

Another point to remember, if we all said "it has been answered before, go search for it". This forum sailnet would soon die. Going back over things, often brings a new point of view.

PAUL

That's true and I got dinged once for telling someone to do a search after trying to answer his question. What was intended was not to put him off but to direct him to a wealth of info in a previous thread that might not show up in response to his question.

[retclt]

Originally Posted by Freesail99

Another point to remember, if we all said "it has been answered before, go search for it". This forum sailnet would soon die. Going back over things, often brings a new point of view.

PAUL

I'll "Third" that!


I remember the first question I ever posted. It was piggy backed not new but I sure didn't know the ropes . . . sorry . . . I mean lines.

SD . . . if you're out there . . . you answered my question. Worried about waking up to no anchor at the end of the rode. You said seizing wire on a one size larger shackle. I've done it . . . thanks. Sounds like a newbie irritating question to an old salt doesn't it? I appreciated the simple answer to a simple question. By the way SD, I walked the largest marina on Galveston Bay specifically for the purpose of counting who seized the shackle and who didn't. I saw hundreds of boats and only 1 in 10 were wired. I was a bit surprised.

Alex PM'd a couple of answers to questions I felt were too embarrassing to ask online. Thanks Alex . . . you're all class!!!

I try not keep my own personal "Stupid" level down by posting as few Carpenter songs as possible on the Song Chain. It's probably why the soggy one spends less time here.

[Freesail99]

I try not keep my own personal "Stupid" level down by posting as few Carpenter songs as possible on the Song Chain. It's probably why the soggy one spends less time here

Ha, I hear ya, I got bad rep for posting some song someone didn't like. It pissed me off, I mean a song ......

[sailingdog]

Retclt-

Glad to help. You really should seize the pins on all shackles for safety's sake. The reason for the one-size larger shackle is due to the difference in strength of a solid chain link versus that of shackle made of two parts.

[retclt]

Originally Posted by Freesail99

Ha, I hear ya, I got bad rep for posting some song someone didn't like. It pissed me off, I mean a song ......

I've never given a negative and never plan to. I should have given my self one once for getting so steamed at Fast in a political thread I nearly broke a blood vessel in the brain! A negative for the Song Chain? That was a sorry SOB!!! . . . . . . . so . . . what was the song?


SD, a lot of the pins I saw were seized with rust.

[sailingdog]

Considering how long it can take for that to happen, do you really want to wait or would using $0.25 of monel/stainless seizing wire make more sense.

Originally Posted by retclt

I've never given a negative and never plan to. I should have given my self one once for getting so steamed at Fast in a political thread I nearly broke a blood vessel in the brain! A negative for the Song Chain? That was a sorry SOB!!! . . . . . . . so . . . what was the song?


SD, a lot of the pins I saw were seized with rust.

[Freesail99]

so . . . what was the song?

Keeping true to this thread, I am to lazy to search,lol.