There you go! :sunglasses:
Bully Light Forum
:+1: 
:sunglasses:
Great idea!! <span class=ā
anymore. ānewā not Iām gladā>
My catās breathe smells like cat foodā¦
Having been fortunate enough to be an onlooker at what goes on behind the scenes on some of the lights being developed on BLF, l have a bit of an incite to the work that actually goes on for us all here.
The non paid for work is phenomenal. Iād suggest that some members are putting 100% of there spare time into what is at times very frustrating work with little thanks.
We all in some way or another benefit from all this free work of theirs.
As the old saying goes, patience is a virtue.
Thanks to some members here I can now flash an MCU which I thought at one stage I would never be able to do.
I can now build basic drivers thanks again to the help from members here.
Yes the forum has changed immensely due to the dedication and abilities of members here.
Your input into the forum DBSAR has also added to my enjoyment here and I wonder if you thought you would ever build or create what you have when you first joined up?
Enough waffle, carry on all. 
My breath smells like your cats breath.
Like many of us i have learned a lot from others here too, and enjoyed offering my own info on builds i have done, (though they are only small and insignificant compared to many other members awesome work here)
+1
And sorry for just say ā+1ā
Hehe, another aussie responds to my post. I think that highlights some cultural differences.
I can add my point of view but Iāll really just be re-hashing what others have already said.
Yes there are more members now and as a result more traffic. Itās hard to get to know new individual members when there is so many. So there is somewhat of a lack of connection.
Yes it is more cliquish. Those that are into producing and/or programming drivers, those that have some machinery to use on hosts, those that use a few hand tools (e.g. soldering iron etcā¦), and those that enjoy collecting lights without having to do anything to them. This separation is inevitable as IMO as everyone has different interests and things usually get more specialized.
Cultural and personal differences. What is perceived as rude to one person may not be rude to another. I try to keep my oka humour out of forums as they do not translate well. Where I come from we try our best to offend our buddies and best mates and then hold our tongue and are polite around people we dislike. Things are slowly changing on that point though, maybe Iām starting to age.
We donāt get a lot of flaming on this forum which is great. I do think this was a good thread to start just to be mindful that we donāt go in that direction.
I also do not read everything as it just seems too much. A lot of interesting threads seemed to have bundled up into the āWhat did you mod todayā thread and there are one or two others as well. The forum does have a different vibe for various reasons.
Nowadays I dont feel the need to post a lot as Iāve been lurking. Other than several PMs with certain members for collabs, I think everyth here is okai
Sigh. I remember discussions like this long ago on CPF. It too was a place of genuine people with a kind and jovial atmosphere. It too changed over time. As much as the original crews would like it to never change there is just no getting around the fact that size in and of itself will change the dynamics and interrelationships. As this place continues to grow it will change. The larger the group grows the harder it becomes to oversee. To administrate. CPF became more rigid in many areas in response to the changing dynamic. It is what it is. You simply cannot operate with a small cadre of people as you can with thousands and thousands. I believe they call this being a victim of oneās success.
I remember in the early days of this site I would pop on over to look around and was disconcerted by the amount of disgruntled exCPF folk. So much negativity. It was a big turn off to me so I stayed away. I like positive people. I encountered even more negativity towards the fruits of my labors of love because of the cost of the products I produced. So I stayed away. In fact I know quite a few of the CPF cognoscenti have stayed away because of the negativity here. I would say that it probably started with a seed of disdain at CPF itself against budget lights. It was this that fractured our shared community. It saddens me to see this continued by members here who speak of all the ill mannered people showing up here as people ācoming from that other siteā. As if CPF is the source of all the communityās bad members. As if BLF couldnāt possibly have some ill mannered individuals who first found home here.
It should be kept in mind that a great many of the amazing members here today came from there. It was there they learned the deep knowledge they did. It was there their love of lights grew. It is with blinders, lack of historical context and understanding of human relationships one demonizes the āother sideā. I am genuinely amazed at what the BLF community has been able to accomplish. My hope is that everyone will rally around our shared passion not denigrate those who like other āclassesā of light than they prefer to indulge in.
Another thought. When I first started reading the talk about drivers & building, then āflashingā themā¦. I was totally & completely lost. I had no idea what any of it meant. I mean nothing. I did not even know what ālanguageā these people were using. I figured it was some secret code they were using to converse with each other.
After a while however I started to recognize the ālanguageāā¦ it was Greek. Greek to me anyway.
I was amazed, and still am; that these āpeopleā had the knowledge to actually make these ādriver thingsā and then were able to program them to do what they wanted them to do!! Wowā¦ā¦
But nowā¦ even though I still do not understand āGreekā as a whole; I am beginning to recognize & understand a few words.
In other wordsā¦. flashing or reflashing a driver might not be totally out of the realm of possibility for me afterall. Just maybe I could actually learn to do it.
So far, to date; any dumb question I have asked one of the ābrainiacsāā¦. the ones that really know; has been answered in a way I could understand. (In other wordsā¦ they dumbed it down. 
).
Not in a condescending way mind youā¦ but in a way I could understand.
To meā¦ that says a lot. :+1:
One example is when I had a question about mode power percentages. Tom E explained it very well and then TK stepped in HERE and just explained it in a manner that made it crystal clear.
That was priceless to meā¦ to finally really understand it.
And that is but one exampleā¦ Dale, KawiBoy, J-Dub and many others have always been extremely helpful.
So if they ātalkā their own language in threads sometimes, it is OK with me. Cause each time I read it a little more rubs off on me & I understand just a tiny bit more.
Been here for few years, found it to be friendly until I got into situation that some older members imposed their views as unquestionable and got even offended by my views being different. Thatās been a turnoff and Iāve drifted away. For me the most important measure of personās maturity is the humbleness regardless of personās status.
A big problem with forums is people who think that they should be treated with special respect or privilege just because they joined at an earlier date or have a high post count.
These are just pretentious people who think they are better than ānewerā people because of some irrelevant number on their profile page.
Typing more words on a website does not make someone superior to another person who could possibly know more or just have a different opinion.
True, but Iām also on forums with hundreds of thousands of users and through not-too-strict moderation as well as a good reporting system the atmosphere is still really nice.
Arguments happen, as in any community, but instead of having a dislike/thumbs down/rude button there is just a report button, and a moderator will either let the argument fizzle out or remove posts as necessary or sometimes lock a thread.
IMO a dislike/thumbs down button can turn any community toxic, just like reddit or several other places.
Youāve probably noticed a downward trend in the level of quality in the humour on this forum in the last year and I have a sneaking feeling the shift downwards happened as soon as I joined ā¦. So for my part, I apologize
Gearbestās classic I WANT IT giveaway - now THAT was hilarious
This topic comes up from time to timeā¦ I have only been here officially for 1 year and 11 months, but I had lurked for many years before that. I actually have been a member at the other forum since 2009. But, I was not active over thereā¦ mainly I looked at the eye candy I could not afford and would not carry. I did not learn much over there, and was put in my place a couple of times for asking rookie questions. Another indication of the difference between the 2 sitesā¦ I owned 2 decent lights during my time spent thereā¦ In my 2 years here, I have purchased 50 or so lights and only maybe 10 of them are stock! This forum always looked so inviting and full of information on ābasicā lights, so I finally signed up. I found out that this site is much more than ābasicā lights, there are innovators, movers and shakers and all around good people here. This site has helped me learn a lot over the last 2 years that I would not have learned elsewhere. I have gotten to the point that I reflow some of my own drivers, I am not really worried about taking any light apart and improving it and I have even managed an ok OshPark contact board for the D01! Once I acquire tools, I may even try a couple of complete machined builds, with confidence!
What has changed? Let me try to sum it up from my perspectiveā¦
I think many of our core users are up to their eyeballs in stuff here, likely it takes most of their spare time. I hope we do not use them up and spit them out. I think this level of production with personal drive has lead to some short answers, maybe they seem a little gruff sometimes. Hope we do not loose some to burnout.
Modern technology causes problems as well, I think. I know that getting time in front of the PC can be difficult with a wife and kids. So, many times I reply to questions that I can answer from my phone. These answers can seem brief and very direct since I hate typing on it. But, I do want to help when i can.
Failure to search the site before asking basic questionsā¦. we have all done it, but it seems that it happens often and seems to frustrate some folks. Maybe it is best not to reply until you cool down. Trust me, there will be many of us that can and will reply! But, I am not at the level of some of our members.
Lastly, general crustinessā¦ is that a word? I am 51 and I know there are many active members well over that age. I do think that as we age, we get a little crusty. Sometimes that may translate to a gruff replyā¦ Crap happens!
I really do not see the perceived change here as a big problem, but I do see change. I think it really is a result of the breakneck pace of things here, after all we do influence the LED lighting industry! That is a good thing and would hate to see that aspect of BLF falter. But, we do still have a responsibility to nurture when we can, teach when we should and treat others with respect at all times!
Of my soapbox now!
Matt
Thanks Matt! Itās true. The only thing that doesnāt change is the fact that everything changes. BLF is growing up! If we want to keep it friendly, we have to keep ourselves friendly, and have the patience to teach the new-comers how to keep it friendly. And, I canāt remember who said it above, but the point about āknowingā each other is worth repeating. Over time, we figure each other out until we know what not to be offended by. With so many new members flooding in, it can be a little uncomfortable when we find ourselves surrounded by people we donāt know, saying things weāre not sure how to interpret.
As said above, it was the willingness to help, even after such āobvious dumb questionsā that I kept coming up with. I think I alone pestered Comfychair into leaving. What made me stay here initially though was not only peopleās willingness to help and how they posted links to the answers so I could find out on my own, but that they could, ya know? When I left CPF you couldnāt post a link to the outside without getting it deleted or getting reprimanded by moderators. The heavy hand of the moderators drove me away. As much as the helpful nature of BLF made me stay. This forum seems to suck you in, make you want to learn more, and before you know it, youāre not only cracking open a $10 budget light but youāre also modding $200 - $300 lights with reckless abandon!
I once only āfixedā a light that was not working, now I order a light with the sheer intent of modifying it, many times taking it apart straight from the box without ever seeing what it could do natively. And because so many were willing to show how to do what they did, I got in the habit of showing pics, telling the details, so any newcomer could read it, look at the pics, and get the feeling that they too could have a better light than the factory was willing to produce.
And now, I believe largely due to BLF, manufacturers are beginning to step over the Cree data sheets, the max listed current draws, and follow us into the realm of Mega Blasters and Massive Throwers! Sweeeeet!
Pretty easy to see who joined up on BLF strictly for the giveaways and group buys, they seldom post anywhere else. Thatās ok, I guess, sort of denigrates the family feel by sheer effort of greed, but theyāre still being plunged into the addictive realm of the flashaholic, theyāll be back, and want to learn more, and soon enough they too will have flat wallets and boxes of bits and pieces to play with, as well as shelves full of a new committment to their hobbyā¦ lots and lots of high powered flashlights.
DB, well said! I know that feelingā¦ buying a light and knowing you may never even turn it on stock! I do mods for a few folks that just really are not comfortable with the idea of a soldering iron, vice or heat gun and I love doing them. I have been thinking about making videos of most of them and posting to my youtube channel. Maybe it would help someone over the edge of using a stock light with a crappy led or bad UI get into modding on their own.
Sometimes I wish I was better at teaching. I enjoy helping someone work thru a problem or upgrade, personal satisfaction I guess. I wish I had time to dive into firmware like Tom and TK or into driver design like others here. But, I just do not have that kind of time. Right now I am in a mod for other lull and am lacking some key leds and a quad board for my own modsā¦ never fails, time an no parts or parts and no time.
Looking at the driver development going on, the LED limit testing and the custom machine work that is showing up hereā¦ BLF has a long future established from humble beginnings!
Letās all keep up the good works that we can do and keep the goal post moving further out. We must remember that our crop of newbs may lead into someone special that may make the next leap for our family! Even if only 2 or 3 out of 10 new members becomes a regular contributorā¦ we have gained as a whole.
Matt