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Re: Thoughts on private messages

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 3:21 pm
by davec43
I believe there are a lot more than just a few of us that hope you stick around.

Thanks for all you help Harold.

David
I agree strongly. You have been a big help in my education here, Harold. Thank you for all the time you spend in making this a great forum for machining, and for sharing so freely the wealth of experience you have acquired over many years.

I look forward to many more years of reading your posts on this board.

Re: Thoughts on private messages

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 7:12 pm
by spro
Harold. When you said "there's no shortage of those who would gladly see me leave.." It's "those" I am concerned about.

Re: Thoughts on private messages

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 12:13 am
by Harold_V
spro wrote:Harold. When you said "there's no shortage of those who would gladly see me leave.." It's "those" I am concerned about.
Heh! Not a big deal, spro, my friend. It's simple. In life, we often encounter others who tend to rub us the wrong direction. I'm outspoken and heavily opinionated, a quality they tend to dislike in others (albeit one they tend to share with me). No matter what you try to say or do, it is often interpreted by them in ways that were not intended. Any attempt to pacify them simply bolsters their attitude. I've seen it time and again. I also witnessed, (with great pleasure, I might add) a select number of them leaving the forum some time ago when their attempt to have me dismissed blew up in their face. It was a shocking experience for me to witness what one would hope to be adults behaving much like junior high school children.

All a person can do is carry on in the hopes that what they try to do to help others will be beneficial.

For those who have found my posts helpful, I'm grateful. I get as much out of trying to help as those who inquire. It keeps my mind sharp, as well as providing a degree of satisfaction knowing I've done my best to be of assistance.

Unlike some I know in the trade, I willingly share what little I know. They consider providing assistance in ways by which they make a living as being foolish---as if---somehow---the person that may gain some knowledge will threaten their ability to do so. I've never felt that way---primarily because I'm not insecure about my abilities (although I am not a well rounded machinist), but secure in the knowledge that without experience, knowledge, alone, is not a threat. If that wasn't the case, anyone could read a book and become an accomplished machinist. Nothing could be farther from reality.

Bottom line is, I'm grateful for those of you who find my posts informative and useful, and, health permitting, I fully expect to be around for some time yet.

Harold

Re: Thoughts on private messages

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 1:24 am
by WJH
I would have to say that this board is very well ran, my moderator button is covered by cob webs and rust!

Re: Thoughts on private messages

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 3:11 am
by Harold_V
RB211 wrote:I would have to say that this board is very well ran, my moderator button is covered by cob webs and rust!
A great deal of the credit goes to the readers, who are very mannerly here. Hard to say why---perhaps it's because of the mindset that board has about being polite, whereby those who don't prefer to behave don't hang around. I know from personal experience that it's not true of all venues. I (co)moderate a forum that revolves around refining precious metals, and am known, more or less, as a hatchet man. We ban readers with reckless abandon there, due in part to open registration (our administrator screens applicants here, and has done an outstanding job of limiting those with an attitude), plus the board tends to operate in a mannerly fashion. Seems readers figure it out quickly, when they don't see flaming and other troublesome behavior here. For that, we can thank Marty, who, long ago, set policy in that regard.

Harold

Re: Thoughts on private messages

Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 7:38 pm
by John_S
It could also be that pretty much durn near everyone in the live steam hobby is very kind, respectful, and open to sharing ideas and practices. I honestly don't know any other group that is like this. A lot of groups are like cliques and want to keep all their secrets, well, secret.

In fact, there's some people in this hobby that maybe share their thoughts too often!

Re: Thoughts on private messages

Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 7:42 pm
by Harold_V
Today I was educated in the ways of the board software.

A post that was made and has died a natural death can be Bumped by the responsible party. The button appears at the top left portion of the page on which the post is displayed. A very nice feature for those who are not familiar. The button appears ONLY for the person responsible for the post. No others have that capability.

This thread was bumped for that reason, so I could explore the feature.

Harold

Re: Thoughts on private messages

Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 1:53 am
by J. Randall
Harold, I have waited 5 days, and no one else asked, so I am going to. This thread is always at the top when I come here, I assumed it was a sticky, how do you bump a sticky? Unless I am misunderstanding something, shouldn't you have experimented on a regular thread that moves down over time?
Thanks
James

Re: Thoughts on private messages

Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 2:22 am
by Harold_V
J. Randall wrote:Harold, I have waited 5 days, and no one else asked, so I am going to. This thread is always at the top when I come here, I assumed it was a sticky, how do you bump a sticky? Unless I am misunderstanding something, shouldn't you have experimented on a regular thread that moves down over time?
Thanks
James
James,
It took a little thinking for me to realize what I'd done. It makes sense if you realize that when I posted my comments, the thread was already global, and at the top. However, by bumping, it then behaved as if a new post had been added. Had I not responded with my comments, it would have made more sense. However, I wanted readers to understand WHY it was bumped, thus the post explaining my actions.

I chose a thread that I had posted globally, so I didn't have to repeat my actions for every sub-forum. I hoped to have it where readers who don't read all of the sub fora will still get notice.

Hope this answers your question to your satisfaction.

Harold

Re: Thoughts on private messages

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 2:40 am
by J. Randall
Harold, I presume by globally you are referring to the post appearing in multiple forums, but since this thread is always at the top for me, it is not one that I would consider dying a natural death and moving on down the page. If you had not added your explanation I don't believe any change would have been apparent to me. Is there something I am just not seeing, or does the forum appear different to a moderator than it does a reader?
James

Edit: to try to make my question clearer, other than moving back to the top is there something else I should notice from the bump?

Re: Thoughts on private messages

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 3:12 am
by Harold_V
James,
Yes, there is something you'd have noticed. When you go to the main menu, the little bell that notifies you that there is a new post would be orange, so you'd understand that something has changed. It's much the same as if a reader had posted new comments. Sadly, in my case, because I also posted a new comment, you wouldn't necessarily understand that the thread had, indeed, been bumped. Had I not, you'd have seen the bell turned orange, but no other changes.

The issue that brought this topic to my attention was a chuck that was advertised for sale. If you'll follow this link
http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/vie ... le#p210855 you'll see that the date on the sole response is dated 4-3-12. It (the response) was actually posted almost a year earlier. When the thread was bumped by R.Motz, the date was changed, and the thread was moved to the top of the list in the Lathe forum. Please note that there is a notation at the bottom of Glenn's response, which is placed by the board software, dating when the thread was bumped, and by whom.

I can see how my example might not answer your questions. Since the recent update of the of the software, when I edit, there is no notation that I have done so, just as there is no notice on the last post that I had bumped the thread in question. Likely it's not a great example, but with the explanation I have offered, plus this example, I hope readers can understand that the bump feature has merit, and is a good choice when appropriate.

Harold

Re: Thoughts on private messages

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 11:55 pm
by J. Randall
Thanks Harold, that example is perfectly clear, now I understand what you were trying to convey.
James