Originally Posted by
David DeCristoforo
This thread has got me thinking. There have been so many times when someone has asked a similar question and my first thought is to smack myself in the head and think how easy it would be for the poster to find the needed information by performing a simple internet search. And then I do so myself and immediately come up with the answer. Then I am tempted to "dis" the OP because he or she did not think to do this themselves. In fact, this posting seemed so "unworthy" of my time that I didn't even bother to reply to it. But then, after reading Jim's comment, pointing out that Phil's reply, while possibly not as gracious as it could have been, did in fact answer the OP's question. With that in mind, here are a few of my thoughts FWIW:
1) No one is asking anyone to give their time, energy or advice. Those who respond to posts are doing so of their own volition. There is no prerequisite to being a member of this or any other online community that obligates one to ever reply to a post.
2) I'll bet everyone on this forum has, at one time or another, asked a question that at least one other member has thought to be trivial, silly or downright dumb. And I'll also bet that everyone on this forum has, at one time or another, offered less than perfect advice.
3) I am hard pressed to find a single post to which there are not "conflicting" opinions in the replies. It would behove all of us to remember that there is rarely one "right way" to accomplish a given task. There may be "better" ways or "more efficient" ways, but even these are subjective because what is well within one person's comfort zone might easily be completely out of another's.
4) I always used to tell my employees that the one thing they could not bring into the workplace was their ego. It was OK for them to have one but they needed to "leave it at the door" when they entered the shop. I always wanted to leave room for ideas to be exchanged and ego simply interfered with that process. Many times the "old hands" were surprised by the occasional stroke of brilliance displayed by an employee of much lesser "stature". In the context of this forum, the fact that one person's suggested method is different from another's should not be seen as a challenge but simply as an alternative.
5) There is no better application of "thought #4" than in discussions about which tool is "the best". We have all heard that one man's #$%^ is another man's shoe polish and that goes double here. We tend to become "wedded" to certain brands or specific tools and human nature often discourages any willingness to hear bad words spoken about things we have already invested in. One guy loves Brand XYZ for whatever reasons. But the next guy's experience with that brand may be completely different and so will his opinion. We need to remember that these are not "axioms", they are "opinions" and opinions are always subjective. I think it is important for someone to be able to say "I think such and such a tool is a piece of crap." without having to worry about someone else hammering him even though they may completely disagree.
6) I have really enjoyed being a member of this community. Woodworking can be a isolating occupation and it is really nice to have somewhere to go to "talk shop". I think the moderators do an admirable job of keeping things civil. But even so, it's easy to get on a "high horse" without even realizing it.
7) We all need to remember that communicating by the written word alone can be extremely difficult. A comment may be read as blunt or aggressive when the writer had a smile on his face the whole time and assumed that the humor would telegraph through. This is often not the case. Trust me... I know about this one!
Peace....
Wherever the pronouns he, him or his are used, feel free to substitute her, she or hers. The lack of non-gender singular pronouns are a serious shortcoming of the English language.