Well I, for one, will be sorry to see you go.  I admit to having myself downsized to a bench lathe (a mini one, at that) but that has more to do with old age and a willingness not to leave my executors with disposal problems.  I’m not so sure whether it’s possible to just “close” your account.  When it happened before to another subscriber when we still had the “old” software, all their posts disappeared and made a lot of threads a total nonsense.  Perhaps the new forum software will handle it differently.

Could you not just drift away and refrain from posting?  That way, we can keep your (often valuable and enlightening) contributions.

Best of luck with the traction engine builds,

John

Sorry to hear that Andrew but it does seem to be getting a bit narrow minded from that point of view, hope to have a chat with you at forncett and most probably Noel as well.

Sorry to hear that Andrew.
I always though that input from the users of larger machines brought some useful perspective to the forum.

All the best,

Robert.

Sorry to hear that Andrew. Your input is always of interest to me. Maybe as suggested just refrain from using the forum for a while. This will as said leave all your previous valuable input intact.  Best regards

Hi Andrew, I agree with what others have said above. During my old day job that I had many years ago, I encountered many back-stabbers   of those that would criticise, but I simply ignored them, as I knew my work was appreciated by those that paid me. We can all give good tips and advice, whether we have big or small machines. My Boxford was used in industry before I bought it, and if some don’t like what I’ve shown of the things that I’ve done on it here, then tuff, they are not forced to read it. I like many others, have gained some tips from you, which can be applied to smaller machines in many cases.

Regards Nick.

Well As I’m one of those B******s I’ll put it from my side.

As the others have said your knowledge and experience is a useful asset to the site. However when given as blanket advice it is in my opinion not always the best for that thread. Many a time I have commented that suggested cuts and feed rates are simply not possible to the OP with a hobby machine or if they are then that machine will soon smoke the motor or board.

I’d rather not see another thread about a damaged machine due to people overloading them so that is why I speak up. As you say yourself you have no experience with these less powerful and less rigid machines just like I would not try to suggest feeds and speeds for someone with a hefty horizontal mill as I only used one once .

If you felt my comment the other day about your photo was a dig at you then it was not I just mentioned it was “Your” photo” as I did not look back to see if there were more photos on the previous page.

If my not agreeing with you on some things is any different to you not agreeing with wrapping string around a lead screw in yesterdays thread then what is? Can’t give it with one hand but not take it with another.

A couple of posts above have said it does not matter what you use or what size items you make which I agree with but when appling what works on a big industrial machine without taking into consideration the capabilities of a hobby machine that is where our opinions differ.

As to the practicalities the new forum did have the option to delete your own account but that seems to have gone AWOL. Like others have said the best option is to simply turn off any notifications and then either just visit and don’t post or don’t even visit. This method has the advantage that you can easily return if you wish just like you have previously done a couple of times in the past.

That may be so, Bernard, but sometimes posts can be hurtful even if making a valid point, merely by poor wording.

That is perhaps the biggest trap with any remote text-message, be it a personal one on a ‘phone or an entry on a forum.  It can be very hard for the sender to see it as the reader might, especially on an open chat-site with lots of readers.

I don’t know if that is the case here, though I would hope the offending posts were so by style rather than intent.

.

It is not limited to Internet things of course. I’m sure we have all met people of either category in face-to-face situations. Indeed three members of my own club were driven away from it by a very unpleasant reception by just one member with a reputation for thinking himself always right, when the trio arrived to help operate one event.

It is though sharpened on-line by the impersonal nature of simple text-messages, because the writer cannot judge how the reader – especially a complete stranger – will react. Many people will shrug off a gaffe, perhaps realising a one-off slight was unintentional but regarding repeated denigration as the author having the problem (often so!); but others may take it very much to heart.

When as I mentioned above, I laid low for several months, I was defending myself after rather unpleasant responses to just one post I had made in good faith. Why would I want to risk opprobrium simply by my suggested solution to a technical problem? Eventually I decided most of us on here do manage to rub along together in a reasonably civilised manner – but if my attacker was out to silence me then my eventual return showed he was wrong to do that.

In the end though, whether it’s unwarrantedly negative responses on a forum or arrogant remarks making people feel unwelcome at a club event, it can risk harming the host’s reputation.

On 3 September 2024 at 07:25 JasonB Said:

Well As I’m one of those B******s I’ll put it from my side.

As the others have said your knowledge and experience is a useful asset to the site. However when given as blanket advice it is in my opinion not always the best for that thread. Many a time I have commented that suggested cuts and feed rates are simply not possible to the OP with a hobby machine or if they are then that machine will soon smoke the motor or board.

I’d rather not see another thread about a damaged machine due to people overloading them so that is why I speak up. As you say yourself you have no experience with these less powerful and less rigid machines just like I would not try to suggest feeds and speeds for someone with a hefty horizontal mill as I only used one once .

If you felt my comment the other day about your photo was a dig at you then it was not I just mentioned it was “Your” photo” as I did not look back to see if there were more photos on the previous page.

If my not agreeing with you on some things is any different to you not agreeing with wrapping string around a lead screw in yesterdays thread then what is? Can’t give it with one hand but not take it with another.

A couple of posts above have said it does not matter what you use or what size items you make which I agree with but when appling what works on a big industrial machine without taking into consideration the capabilities of a hobby machine that is where our opinions differ.

As to the practicalities the new forum did have the option to delete your own account but that seems to have gone AWOL. Like others have said the best option is to simply turn off any notifications and then either just visit and don’t post or don’t even visit. This method has the advantage that you can easily return if you wish just like you have previously done a couple of times in the past.

We’ve been here before Jason. This is at least the third time that Andrew has said he’s wants to delete his account on here. Disagreement is always going to happen. I don’t see the need for anything dramatic though. It’s quite easy to just ignore the forum for a few weeks or months and come back later. In fact that may have happened before?

Edit: I appreciated the Ignore Member feature on the old forum. It’s a shame it’s missing on here. So much easier to put someone on ignore rather than argue.

Andrew,

I agree with your comments and am sad to see you go, good luck with your traction engine and your other pursuits.

Alan

Andrew,

I am another who will miss your inputs to the Forum, I have also enjoyed and learnt from your occasional articles in MEW; I hope those may still be forthcoming.

I wish you well for the future.

Brian

The forum does seem to have had some unnecessary attitudes and posts recently – some are actually nasty.

A guy has recently been talking about rewiring a Singer sewing machine, and stated that they had 50 years electronics experience, and were qualified for PAT testing. A reply appeared that in one sentence basically implied that all that experience and knowledge was worthless, and towards the end included the word ‘negligent’, which was clearly not the case.

I have suffered some – instead of answering my beginner’s questions, I am asked “who gives a toss” or told “I am effectively telling people to sod off”.

And “I am not going to tell you how to do it, you will have to work it out for yourself”.

Charming ! Absolutely charming.

(And all my engineering experience was apparently worthless too).

What is a person to make of replies like these, and how are they going to feel about the world of model engineering and model engineering workshops ? And why are membership and magazine sales falling away ? Hmmmmmmmmm.

Personally; I ask questions on this forum to benefit from the experience and knowledge of people like the OP Andrew, and those former industry engineers who have ‘been there, done that’, and who actually know how to do things.

Let’s be nice and encouraging to each other. If we can’t do that, let’s save electrons by not posting.

On 3 September 2024 at 11:05 John Doe 2 Said:

…

A guy has recently been talking about rewiring a Singer sewing machine, and stated that they had 50 years electronics experience, and were qualified for PAT testing. A reply appeared that in one sentence basically implied that all that experience and knowledge was worthless, and towards the end included the word ‘negligent’, which was clearly not the case.

…

Sigh, that was me! It’s in #750681

However, I fear John looks to take offence rather than understand the point.

Let me draw a parallel.   Does passing the driving test and having 50 years road experience mean that a motorist is a competent driver?   I say not.   The Driving Test has changed since 1970, the chap’s road experience may be entirely on quiet back-roads, and he might have 12 points on his licence, and gone blind!

Part of my job was recruiting technical staff with relevant experience.   As it’s common for applicants to sex up their experiences, it’s essential to verify their claims by asking searching questions. Alarm bells ring when candidates can’t provide any convincing examples.    Experience can also be honest but irrelevant, out-of-date, too specialised, too shallow, or wrong!  Either way, it’s negligent to take bare assertions of experience  at face-value.

John then takes my use of the word ‘negligent’ in #750681 out of context in a very misleading way.   I said:

‘Barrack Room Lawyers are harmless, it’s real lawyers you need to worry about! No joke being held accountable by a court if someone is injured by a negligent repair.‘    Is it not a fact that negligent repairs cause legal problems?  

Please don’t twist what I say.

Dave