This is an awesome group

Scott,

Glad you are enjoying this group, you may also want to try out rec.crafts.metalworking. Most of the people here also participate in RCM, it is almost like a twin of this group. It does have a few more OT postings, some of them political, but even the OT posts are usually good questions loosely related to metalworking.

Regards, Jim C Roberts

Hey Scott! i happen to agree with you on this one. I started welding in April last year with a campbell hausfeld flux core welder and a chop saw. Since i hadn't welded since high school (24 years ago) i didn't have much of a clue but i knew i loved the feeling of making something with my own two hands. I asked tons of questions and always received useful info from this NG and rec.metalworking as well. (i read posts everyday and do alot of google searches as well) Since that time i have turned my garage into a nice little metalworkshop (through the guidence of this group i also purchased better equipment) and i have become more skilled. As time goes by, you will learn more and become better as well. I still have alot to learn, but this group is awesome. Good luck, walt

my first project (5/2003):

A man truly after my own heart! Beer ALWAYS comes before transportation, unless ALL of your friends think likewise (someone has to drive) and then that's the time one should get married.

The thing I think I like most about this group is that even the people who seem to know everything don't act like it. There are some people here who are enormously knowledgeable, yet still answer the same newbie questions time after time. They don't just say, "Go to Google, that question was asked a few weeks ago," or some other smartalecky answer. And those who don't know it all don't want to work up to that slot. Everyone is willing to help another with a problem/question.

And I like it that there are few here who will go on and on about things political. I guess we have a large number of people here who are smart enough NOT to feed the trolls, so we have few, and those who come out from under the bridge don't stay out long.

Whatever it is, I agree that this is an awesome group. Made up of people who get things done. Join things together. Create things. Build things. Solve problems. Arrive at solutions. The can do type instead of the whiny types. Welders.

Steve

I plead guilty to recently ignoring a lot of the newbie questions.

After 8 years, and 1 month, of answering welding questions online I do get a bit tired of anwering the same questions over and over.

Instead of posting anything that might discourage a newbie I just slide on to the questions I can get some energy up for.

I will leave it up to the rest of you guys to fill them in

I liked the idea of the Welding FAQ page to help skip the basic stuff and help people jump ahead to the challenging questions, like how to roast a hot dog on a stick electrode or how to make your TIG water cooler double as a beer cooler.

There used to be a few more know-it-alls around, but with Mike Graham lying low and some of the others just getting tuckered out, I am beginning to feel like the old fart at the corner bar.

So just to make sure people understand, if I don't answer a question, don't take it personally.

If you really want my opinion email me directly.

Damn I wish Mike would come back.

damn it! i've been eating frozen hotdogs with warm beer all this time for nothing! ; )

walt

"Ernie Leimkuhler" wrote

You have infinitely more patience than most guys in other groups I visit. And there are enough people here who will answer newbie FAQs that someone will do it. All questions seem to get answered.

I, personally, like to ask direct questions. Sometimes I need the answer right now, or only have time to just ask a question. I don't have time to sit down and spend 2 hours sifting through 1,398,322 hits on Google to find the one that has my answer. Some people get peeved at that and think that everyone has nothing to do in their life but park in front of a computer.

You are doing a bang up job, and I, for one, appreciate the hell out of it. If you have any shortcomings, I fail to see them.

Steve

If putting up with a fart is the price to pay for a great newsgroup, I would gladly pay... for the fart... I mean... you know what I mean.

Stephen R.