This newsgroup is not ruined, kinda long

On 18 Jan 2003 16:40:18 GMT in
,
licated (Larry Calder) said:

Despite claims to the contrary by a known troll or two and despite a
plethora of inappropriate cross posts and despite cliques, claques and
sock puppets, this is a damned good newsgroup.

It is basically informative, amusing and insightful. It is also quite
comedic at times.

We have people who will post at the drop of a hat and some (like me) who
will drop the hat themselves. We have newbies who wander in from gosh
knows where and then end up being members of our little community. We
also have some who wander in, throw their hands up in disgust and then
leave.

Then we have a very few snipers, those who lie in the ditches and wait for
targets of opportunity in order to show what they think is their
intellectual prowess. Their prowess is generally overblown inasmuch as
they are merely "legends in their own minds'." Worse than that are the
snipers who suffer from a paranoia believing that every other poster is
"out to get them".

The largest percentage of our population is the lurkers. These people
come in on a regular basis, read, absorb and rate the postings/posters and
then slip away quietly. Generally the only time a person hears from the
lurker category is when something is offered for nothing...... like in the
myriad contests or giveaways. And, this is cool too.

Some newbies/lurkers are afraid of posting, thinking they will immediately
be subjected to ridicule and other harassment. If you have a question or
comment germane to our group and, for whatever reason, are loathe to post,
heck, just send your question to one of our regulars and we will (or at
least I will) post it to the group on your behalf without specific
attribution, except items patently or latently troll-like.

Better than that, use this thread as your prime opportunity to jump in.

We (collectively) have a modicum of knowledge second to none in the coin
industry. In that I mean no one person really knows all there is about
everything (exception being the Legends in their own Minds) but
collectively we have the answer.

I have said all that to say this specifically to the lurkers......"Crawl
down off the fence, go put on some old clothes and jump down in the middle
of this mess we call the "newsgroup."

Heck, you may even like it. Like that learned Mississippian Delmar
O'Donnell once opined "Come on in boys, the waters fine."


PORCOS NON ABLOCAMUS, Y'all
Larry
http://texascoinstuff.com
Take the above opinion, add two bucks and get a cuppa joe at most places
not named Starbucks.

Sorry for the very late reply, Larry, but this was an EXCELLENT post!

Nick

On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 20:12:48 -0400, "Nick Knight"
wrote:

Sorry for the very late reply, Larry, but this was an EXCELLENT post!

Except he took 10 paragraphs to say, "There are no dumb questions.
Feel free to jump in." g

But, in reality, it's not as simplistic as Larry makes it out. The
fact is, there "are* dumb questions, or more accurately, lazy
questions, which is why some questions don't get answered. It's not
that people are mean and don't want to answer or want to make the
questioner feel foolish. It's just that some of the same questions are
asked over and over and over when the answer could be found in 30
seconds with a Google or Google Groups search or by consulting the FAQ
or periodic posts that are left here, and people get tired of
responding to the same questions with the same information over and
over. This in fact is why FAQs and periodic posts came into being.

Doing a Google or Google Groups search isn't difficult, even for
beginners. Most people gain experience with the Web before they learn
about Usenet. Larry also overstates the case, I believe, when he says
that newcomers are afraid of posting because they may be harassed. Has
anybody ever seen a newcomer harassed here because of a question he
asked? I've seen them, infrequently, poked fun of, never harassed.

But the attitude to welcome newcomers is a good one, and for the most
part it's one that is shown repeatedly to newcomers here, as it should
be. It's the old farts who are the ones who tend to get blasted. g

--

Coin Collecting: Consumer Guide: http://rg.ancients.info/guide
Glomming: Coin Connoisseurship: http://rg.ancients.info/glom
Bogos: Counterfeit Coins: http://rg.ancients.info/bogos

"Nick Knight" adds.....

Sorry for the very late reply, Larry, but this was an EXCELLENT post!

Is it me or does LC think Nick is as big a wingnut as Reid and it hasn't sunk
in with Nick?

He's had that or something of LCs posted on his site as a "model" letter
forever now and I always thought that was kinda funny.

Though it would fit right in with that clueless Phib attribution thingy....

Always here for my fellow syngraphist or oenophile.
--=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=--

Reid Goldsborough wrote:

On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 20:12:48 -0400, "Nick Knight"
wrote:

Sorry for the very late reply, Larry, but this was an EXCELLENT post!

Except he took 10 paragraphs to say, "There are no dumb questions.
Feel free to jump in." g

But, in reality, it's not as simplistic as Larry makes it out. The
fact is, there "are* dumb questions, or more accurately, lazy
questions, which is why some questions don't get answered. It's not
that people are mean and don't want to answer or want to make the
questioner feel foolish. It's just that some of the same questions are
asked over and over and over when the answer could be found in 30
seconds with a Google or Google Groups search or by consulting the FAQ
or periodic posts that are left here, and people get tired of
responding to the same questions with the same information over and
over. This in fact is why FAQs and periodic posts came into being.

Some people just enjoy the contact with others in the group, rather than
doing Google searches to find answers to all questions. If some others
get tired of responding to the same questions, they certainly shouldn't
feel obligated to. Newbies will jump at the chance to participate and
fill the void. Newsgroup readers will come and go, and the same
questions are inevitable, but the answers aren't always the same.


Doing a Google or Google Groups search isn't difficult, even for
beginners. Most people gain experience with the Web before they learn
about Usenet. Larry also overstates the case, I believe, when he says
that newcomers are afraid of posting because they may be harassed. Has
anybody ever seen a newcomer harassed here because of a question he
asked? I've seen them, infrequently, poked fun of, never harassed.

But the attitude to welcome newcomers is a good one, and for the most
part it's one that is shown repeatedly to newcomers here, as it should
be. It's the old farts who are the ones who tend to get blasted. g


Tolerance would seem to be the key. When newcomers ask the same
question that gets asked every week, or oldcomers provide links to
overgraded coins in Ebay auctions ("Hey, check this one out") for the
umpteenth time, there will always be readers who like to respond and
others who will roll their eyes in boredom. I would encourage any
newcomer to post a question or comment here and would expect him/her to
be treated kindly, as always, regardless of how mundane the post may
seem to those of us blessed with experience.

Bruce

In , on 07/15/2003
at 09:17 PM, Reid Goldsborough said:

Sorry for the very late reply, Larry, but this was an EXCELLENT post!

Except he took 10 paragraphs to say, "There are no dumb questions. Feel
free to jump in." g

That's ok, I just thought it was a good post, as hard as it is for you to
say that

But there was a purpose to replying to that post, albeit 6 months
after-the-fact. Not that it hurt to rethink the post, but my reasons were
not as pure as that . Not much of a dark-side, either ... just creating a
persistent record.

Nick

On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 20:12:48 -0400, "Nick Knight" is
alleged to have written:

On 18 Jan 2003 16:40:18 GMT in
,
licated (Larry Calder) said:

*snip* Great post from Larry

..

Sorry for the very late reply, Larry, but this was an EXCELLENT post!

Nick

Don't you think it belongs on your webpage, as kind of an alternate viewpoint?
:-)

Bruce

If you post more than once in this NG your a glutten for abuse. The few
the proud the PLONKED!!

"Bruce Remick" wrote in message
...
Reid Goldsborough wrote:

On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 20:12:48 -0400, "Nick Knight"
wrote:

Sorry for the very late reply, Larry, but this was an EXCELLENT post!

Except he took 10 paragraphs to say, "There are no dumb questions.
Feel free to jump in." g

But, in reality, it's not as simplistic as Larry makes it out. The
fact is, there "are* dumb questions, or more accurately, lazy
questions, which is why some questions don't get answered. It's not
that people are mean and don't want to answer or want to make the
questioner feel foolish. It's just that some of the same questions are
asked over and over and over when the answer could be found in 30
seconds with a Google or Google Groups search or by consulting the FAQ
or periodic posts that are left here, and people get tired of
responding to the same questions with the same information over and
over. This in fact is why FAQs and periodic posts came into being.

Some people just enjoy the contact with others in the group, rather than
doing Google searches to find answers to all questions. If some others
get tired of responding to the same questions, they certainly shouldn't
feel obligated to. Newbies will jump at the chance to participate and
fill the void. Newsgroup readers will come and go, and the same
questions are inevitable, but the answers aren't always the same.


Doing a Google or Google Groups search isn't difficult, even for
beginners. Most people gain experience with the Web before they learn
about Usenet. Larry also overstates the case, I believe, when he says
that newcomers are afraid of posting because they may be harassed. Has
anybody ever seen a newcomer harassed here because of a question he
asked? I've seen them, infrequently, poked fun of, never harassed.

But the attitude to welcome newcomers is a good one, and for the most
part it's one that is shown repeatedly to newcomers here, as it should
be. It's the old farts who are the ones who tend to get blasted. g


Tolerance would seem to be the key. When newcomers ask the same
question that gets asked every week, or oldcomers provide links to
overgraded coins in Ebay auctions ("Hey, check this one out") for the
umpteenth time, there will always be readers who like to respond and
others who will roll their eyes in boredom. I would encourage any
newcomer to post a question or comment here and would expect him/her to
be treated kindly, as always, regardless of how mundane the post may
seem to those of us blessed with experience.

Bruce

I like it when someone posts about an over-graded coin, I get to learn from
the comments. I've also posted auctions that *I* thought were over-graded
coins and said what *I* thought the grade should be. Later to have some of
the more experienced graders agree with my grade is very satisfying, so I
guess I'm learnin'

Ed

In 3f1546fe.53022151@newshost, on 07/16/2003
at 12:38 PM, (Bruce Hickmott) said:

Sorry for the very late reply, Larry, but this was an EXCELLENT post!

Don't you think it belongs on your webpage, as kind of an alternate
viewpoint?

You bet! That's why it's been there since day #1, with permission, of
course. But since the author is having second thoughts about the
permission, and I'm considering honoring his request as best I can, I needed
a permanent record that I can control. Now I have that.

But then, I did say in my own words in conjunction with that, that "this" is
a positive place. If you discount the handful of folks I poke fun at, and
who deserve so much more, there's a "mostly positive" air to the whole
place.

Nick