friendly atmosphere changing on BLF?

I think most folks on BLF are very friendly, well-behaved, and show de-escalating behaviour.

People who are not like that can at times dominate a discussion, and it happens that I stop visiting a thread with a good subject because of that. This happens more often than 5 years ago.

Sometimes those people catch more of the BLF-spirit over time as they learn and get more enthousiastic about flashlights, some leave BLF, some keep showing IMO unfriendly or rude behaviour at times.

But all the cool stuff happening on BLF and the many people who are immensely dedicated to the flashlight hobby, for me more than compensates for an unfriendly athmosphere every now and then.

Glad someone agrees with me.

Born in 61, I think I fit right in here with most. LOL!!

CRX, you'll get there eventually. The old and grumpy. LOL ;)

Old and grumpy.., hm..,could be what my daughter is trying to tell me lately , in a very subtle way...?

I have to admit that sometimes I act less friendly , but only like a response to the lack of respect or arrogance of a newbie, that claims he knows everything , and we should bow , and be grateful that he noticed us...!!!

Also , I had to point out that more and more incomers are out of the genuine scope of this forum.., with threads and posts that has nothing to do with it , I'll call them " stalkers for no reason"..., but ,as a general atmosphere , is no big difference .

As Jerromel said , we are living hard times , and the tolerance is not what it was...Maybe is time for reflection...

Robert, I just had to walk on your beautiful lawn barefooted. It made feel like a youngster again.

I’ll play the devil’s advocate -> years ago when I was a new member with under 10 posts I was PM’d by a so called established/respected member with a few thousand posts -> in a nutshell that member requested that I stop posting in threads where I had thought outloud & mentioned some harmless mods I had planned (something trivial & non-offensive like that & it was only 1 or 2 posts.) Apparently just reading my harmless posts was offensive to HIM. Geeh, what a classy guy.
In any case I just PM’d back to that member that he needn’t write me any further as I would just delete any messages with his name on it unread.
Afterall, this IS just flashlights we’re talking about & here for. At the end of the day I just say that it’s nothing worth letting anyone get under our skin for.
But yeah after all that -> Yes, I agree with you. I do feel a little change on the forum. But so far I feel it is minor & cyclic.

Seems to be a lot more “professionals” . By that, I mean designers, EEs and the such who are actually designing and creating lights.

I had also seen a few threads with “professionals”. By that, I mean people who think they know the best of everyone for a specific topic.

As time goes on the forum has gotten HUGE. Way more people, the usual people have moved on, new members move in and take the place. I used to like to sign in and keep up to date on whats going on in the forums, but its become overwhelming and I seem to cherry pick a few threads and keep up on them… not so much because of the members, but the overwhelming amount of content now

Well, I’ve been here a couple years now. The general atmosphere hasn’t changed a lot in the time I’ve been a member, as far as I can tell. Yes, we get an occasional upset. But, from what I’ve seen, that’s always been the case. Even some of the long-standing members have been a little rude at times. I can tell you, as a person who is seen as rude sometimes myself, I think the analogy that sedstar used of the car driver and pedestrian is spot on. We’re supposed to be self-moderating here. For the most part, it seems to be working very well.

But maybe sometimes we do need to stand up to people who are being disruptive and tell them so. We need to not be afraid to tell new people ‘the way it is’ here, so that it can stay that way, and NOT end up like ‘the other place’ or worse. And maybe that happens more often now than it used to. I think it’s because the newbies are starting to outnumber the old timers. We have a higher concentration of members that are less connected. I don’t think it’s any more cliquish than it was when I joined. Take that as you will. But there are definitely different classes of members - those who are integrated well into BLF and those who are not (yet). Over the past couple years, that second class has been growing. It has always been there, but it was a smaller, more manageable group in the past. This explosion of new memberships is due largely to the BLF specials, IMO.

We need a bigger middle class. People like me, who aren’t the old timers, and maybe don’t know as much, and maybe aren’t completely integrated ourselves, but we can be the glue that holds the other groups together. We can answer some of the questions. We can facilitate some of the cultural integration of new members. And we can point back to the rules when needed, so the older members don’t have to get grumpy, or pining for ‘the good ole days’ when BLF was smaller and everyone knew each other.

In short, I believe that we’re not less friendly overall, we’re just seeing less friendly behavior more often because we’re a larger, more diverse group than the BLF of a few years ago. As for being helpful, I see that hasn’t changed much either. But, since we have been seeing a lot of new memberships in the past couple years, the ratio has shifted between people that can be helpful and those who need them to be. As more of the newer guys start to gain confidence themselves, this can shift back the other way. It just might take a little time. I’ve been here this long, and I’m still a newbie!

I remember when it was a bunch of us guys/gals into flashlights discussing our latest purchase. Now it’s gotten to the point where if you don’t know how to program and design drivers, you’re out of the loop. That’s how I feel the last couple of years. Not a good feeling to be honest.

good point, though most of the ones who i know who have been here for many years are still very welcoming & friendly. Its some of the new-comers that seem to have a bit of a bad negative attitude, maybe influenced from the other forum we know of unfortunately.

Like Pulsar i only monitor a handfull of threads lately so i haven’t noticed any unfriendliness but noticed a LOT of new members.

1. New members might come from less friendly forums and need time to absorb the atmosphere and adjust

2. For years i have known the posting style and online personnality of 95% of BLF members and knew when not to be offended by certain things that i knew the member didn’t intend to be offensive, knew who had a good heart but short temper, or knew when someone was joking or being serious, that is not true anymore with all theses new members as i feel i know a very small minority of members now.

3.Some longstanding members (like the OP) earned a great deal of respect from other members for their knowledge and achievments over time, the afflux of new members brings a ton of people who haven’t had the opportunity to witness this and build deserved respect, this could be perceived as rude from loved gurus here.

I love this forum, i’m sure the friendly state of mind will be passed on newcomers by the great people here

+ 1

Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, when the flashohol kicked in, i might forget everything on social aspects and tend to ask things on a less friendly tone, then possible.
.
Sorry about that on forehand.
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Im member for just half a year and i really like the atmosphere, most people are really willing to help, so lets keep up the good work!
:+1:

+ 1000000 !!!! Well said... couldn't be better !!! By chance , are you a sociologist ?

well said.

No no no, please don’t feel that!
I am in several mass PMs and have been for the special projects.
The people are designing drivers, writing software and at times it is like a different language to me.
Yet it is all friendly and if needed patiently explained.

New members get several welcomes
All questions are normally answered in a friendly manner

I have not been here long so can’t compare to 2011 but it seems more then nice here all the time, only minor less friendly flow was put down by the crackdown on rudeness :wink:

If somebody seems a bit arrogant I think of a movie quote that goes something like this: “the Italian word arrogance means to claim what is rightfully yours and does not have the negative connotation as the English word” idk if this is true but assume somebody knows what they are taking about and if not I trust others to give the correct info.
And attitude, well I am kind of thick skinned so it doesn’t really get me I hope, if it does I try to write a semi funny reply and can have great joy doing that (despite sometimes deleting most and posting much less, writing is done with a big smile :wink: )

i like it here and there will always be folks who are less social than others but still, this is my favorite forum . i for one appreciate the high quality of members (flashlight speaking) and do not want to change a thing. it would be nice if everyone realizes that not all of us are as knowledgeable and proficient as others (that would be me) and take time to help educate and respond. keep smiling and maintain a good attitude.

A friendly reminder every once in a while of the basic forum rules and concepts probably is not a bad idea. all in all i believe we have something unique here and would not like to see it spoiled

ken

Maybe we need to talk SB into making it a rule that new members have to host a giveaway right off the top, then we can all critique their choice of what would make a good giveaway flashlight and help them mod it into something respectable. :stuck_out_tongue:

All kidding aside, the forum has indeed changed some since I came in and I think a lot of that is just the eb and tide of some people leaving while others come in. Some of those that are no longer here to lead us have left for life reasons, simple boredom, or like with Old-Lumens, he has moved on to where the Proton’s Originate so he can shape them from the get go.

Probably time for me to host a giveaway, I’ve gotten so involved with talking too much I haven’t noticed my own post count! :stuck_out_tongue: So, I’ll be doing a giveaway soon, will have to look through my small arsenal and see what might be worthy…

I think this spirit, the giveaway, is something we can all do to bring back that warm fuzzy feeling of being a BLF member. So, Old Timers dive in! :smiley:

Good points DB. I am over due too to offer a giveaway or two.

Holy smokes!
And i thought i didn’t have a life… :stuck_out_tongue: