[TheForge] Long rambley YAK Effectively filtering the offensive.

[Jerry Frost]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Andy Vida" <osan@netlabs.net>

Subject: Re: [TheForge] Effectively filtering the offensive.


>
>
> xlch58@swbell.net wrote:
> >
> > I have found that every list has certain roles that just seem to always
> > get filled, ( kind of like families).   There always seems the be the
> > wise sage, the feckles youth, the voice of reason, the sanctimonious
> > prig, the peacemaker and of course the a**hole.    Compared to what I
> > have to deal with on other lists, I feel blessed to have Andy holding
> > this job down.
>
> I guess I'll take that as a compliment, backhanded as it may
> be. :)
>


Yeah, I've often felt getting backhanded would be good for you Bro. <grin>

The way I keep my sanity is to remind myself E-mail lists are more like
cocktail parties than subject oriented discussion groups. There are around
300-500 people subbed to the list at a given time. (no, I haven't checked)
Most are lurkers with perhaps 30 regular posters and perhaps another 20-30
occasional posters. Then there are the heavy posters, perhaps 6-10 folk who
post almost continuously, I sometimes fall into this catagory but am usually
just a regular.

Visualize a really large gathering on a dark or foggy evening. You know
there are a lot of folks out there, just out of sight but you can't know
them unless they step into the light of the campfire or out of the mist.
There are a couple few circles of folk standing around the fires or under
the streetlight exchanging ideas, jokes, jibes and insults, friendly and
otherwise. The folk on the outside can listen without joining, in fact
that's what most do but it's not reciprocal. The lurkers get to know the
campfire circlers but we don't get to know them. Sokay, doesn't bother me,
though I'd really like to get to know more folk, EVERYBODY has something to
offer.

As has been said there are most of the typical party personalities hanging
around our campfire(s)  We can read any or all the posts easier than we
could keep track of the conversations in two or three circles. Like any such
gathering there are the voices that carry, folk who circulate through all
the little groups, never hanging out but always there. The folk everyone
knows, voices we hear no matter which fire we're hanging around.

When things are slow blacksmithing-wise the conversations get chaotic,
sometimes heated, often silly, sometimes boring, sometimes over the top. But
let a juicy subject come up, preferably a good tough question or problem and
watch it get tackled. It sometimes reminds me of the red headed quintuplets
turning on the babysitter at bed time. <grin> There're lots of fitting
analogies but I'm working on colorfully pithy. I gave up on terse long ago.
<grin>

We're pretty much all agreed on one thing though, we're here for the company
of blacksmiths and other metal workers. We're here for information and the
camaraderie of folk with similar interests. Some are here for the bare
facts; answers. I like facts and answers too but to understand the replies
you have to know something about the person speaking. While we all speak
english (okay, most of us) of a sort, <grin> we don't necessarily speak the
same language. This is where the bull session aspect of the list is so
useful; we get to learn a little about the person making a statement, posing
a question or making wild speculations. We can never know what a person
really means we can only know what they say. The personal knowledge gives a
better chance of understanding what the Person is saying and a better chance
of knowing what they mean.

Being in the company of smiths has broadened my perspective and skills
immensely though I've only met maybe a dozen in person and only played with
fire and iron with three. Still, having read many posts by the voices that
carry I've learned to tweek my perspective towards theirs.

Who here couldn't learn a thing or two about ingenuity from Mike Spencer?

The power of shear human knowledge and skill with basic ("traditional")
tools from George Dixon?

The value of book learning, research and adaptation from Bruce Freeman?

Perseverance in the face of unspeakable pain from Roy Wilson?

The list is too long to name more than a few folk who've been inspirational
for me. My last point being I wouldn't get nearly as much as I have if I
hadn't sat around the fire chewing the fat with the folk. Sometimes I get in
a bind and ask myself: How would Mike S. do this, George, Roy, Andy V.?
Yeah, I know the last is kind of scary. . . .still, it works more often than
not.

Well, didn't this just turn into a long philosophical ramble. Maybe you'll
want to read the subject line and apply it to me eh? <grin>

Weekends when I'm working graveyard shift can be pretty boring; it's too
cold and dark to do anything outside, there isn't even a 24 hr. cafe within
50 miles so I have little choice but to pester the list. <sigh>

Frosty
------------------------
If it ain't forged
it ain't real.
Wrought iron is.
The FrostWorks

Meadow Lakes, AK.