I’m a relatively new member here, I lurked both forums briefly a few months before joining this one. On the other forum people were telling this one guy if you can’t afford $75 for a light you need to find a new hobby. I joined here and its been the most friendly place I’ve seen. Warm welcome, lots of help people offering to mod my lights for parts and shipping. Some people here know my situation I’m in and have helped.
I see a few heated debates on some subjects that could be seen as argumentive. But to me being fairly new the overall atmosphere is still welcoming and full of people willing to help. Whether its finding out why your light won’t turn on, to how to build one from scratch.
2. Yep, we can kinda try to each monitor ourselves
3. I think you are speaking of the World at large… I totally agree!
4. Again, total agreement! . We are on a roll “J”…. 4 for 4!!
5. *WHAT* You have got to be kidding!! I have never ever noticed that out of you? “”Moody”“?? No way at all my friend.
NOW…… IF you had used one of the words I might well use to describe ‘myself’, (on somewhat rare ocassions at this point I might add ); then I might well have agreed with you J. But ”moody”…. no way buddy.
Well……… 4 out of 5 ain’t bad.
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I think you know I am just kidding around with you “Jeromel”. There is nothing wrong with what you do.
“To me” you are a person who thinks ‘outside the box’ a lot of the time AND…… you are Passionate about your ideas.
I think that is great, that is how new stuff comes about.
Just because someone may not embrace your “vision” does not make it, or you; wrong. Maybe the time is just not right for it or whatever.
Just don’t take it personal and press on buddy.
Sure, you have come across as a royal A-hole a time or two. BUT…… so what, most of the people on this forum have also; whether they admit it or not. In one way or another, overtly or covertly; most all have.
Your a good guy with some good ideas, willing to help people with understandable answers no matter how basic or “dumb” the question.
Yet you are able & capable of conversing with the “brainiacs” also so as to understand & be understood. :+1:
At least…. that is what “I see” !!
Keep it up “BLF Brother”, it’s family; we’ll let you know if you cross over into “A-hole Mode” and you should feel free to do the same. (not that you would ever need to tell me…… :person_facepalming: … … )
None of us are perfect, and none of us has the complete inside track as to what is acceptable behavior. Unless it is of course just outright awful or against forum rules of course.
For better or worse, things change…… in any venue. To me, it is better here since I joined a good bit over a year ago. I think, what I fondly call; the “Cometa War” had lot to do with that change: what I see as positive change.
The “RUDE” button came out of that. The playing field was then leveled between the long time member & the newer member………
BUT…. that is for another post. I am typing this on a phone & to me that is a pita.
I joined in July. A friendly and active forum that offers something for everyone. Like work or a club or other organizations there will be some adversity at times. It’s bound to happen with a growing forum that offers so many projects and group buys and reviews. The knowledge shared here is priceless.
Things are bound to change over time as the cast changes. We have lost some members (such as Foy and Justin, to name just two) who really helped establish the character of this place as it got going. New members have stepped forward, and people like HKJ and others really help to establish a sense of continuity. This is a nice place and I believe most new members sense that and treat others with respect, but there will always be some who are more interested in expressing their personal agenda than playing well with others. Just like in real life. Mostly, I still really like the feeling of this virtual hangout.
And please don’t be afraid to use the Rude! button as described here , and definitely please do send me a PM if you feel somebody is establishing a pattern of rude or nasty behavior.
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. I’d 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?
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)
Hehe, another aussie responds to my post. I think that highlights some cultural differences.
I can add my point of view but I’ll really just be re-hashing what others have already said.
Yes there are more members now and as a result more traffic. It’s 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 etc…), 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 I’m starting to age.
We don’t 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 don’t 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 ‘What did you mod today’ 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 I’ve 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 one’s 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 “coming from that other site”. As if CPF is the source of all the community’s bad members. As if BLF couldn’t 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 “other side”. 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 “classes” of light than they prefer to indulge in.
Another thought. When I first started reading the talk about drivers & building, then “flashing” them…. I was totally & completely lost. I had no idea what any of it meant. I mean nothing. I did not even know what “language” 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 “language”… it was Greek. Greek to me anyway.
I was amazed, and still am; that these “people” had the knowledge to actually make these “driver things” and then were able to program them to do what they wanted them to do!! Wow……
But now… even though I still do not understand “Greek” as a whole; I am beginning to recognize & understand a few words.
In other words…. 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 “brainiacs”…. the ones that really know; has been answered in a way I could understand. (In other words… they dumbed it down. ).
Not in a condescending way mind you… but in a way I could understand.
To me… 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 me… to finally really understand it.
And that is but one example… Dale, KawiBoy, J-Dub and many others have always been extremely helpful.
So if they “talk” 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. That’s been a turnoff and I’ve drifted away. For me the most important measure of person’s maturity is the humbleness regardless of person’s status.
. We are on a roll “J”…. 4 for 4!! 
); then I might well have agreed with you J. But ”moody”…. no way buddy. 
:sunglasses: