Why This Forum Kicks A**!

I can't tell you how often I have been on this forum, sifting through all the posts and discovering :shock: gold :shock: in nearly every one of them, just amazed at how awesome it is and how privileged I feel to not only learn so much from everyone, but also to contribute in a small way to all the learning going on. 8) This may seem trite or sappy, but I assure you, it's not. Why is this forum so freakin' awesome? :arrow: It saves us from buying into the hype that so many opportunistic manufacturers, some of which border on snake oil salesmen, put before us in an effort to separate us from our hard-earned money. (Obviously there are exceptions to this, as are chronicled so well on this forum.) :arrow: It gives us encouragement that, yes, we recally can do / will do / have done this stuff... That it's not "rocket science" (although it is science, to be sure). :arrow: It gives us the information we need to avoid catastrophic mistakes that would render our work inferior, useless, and/or even :shock: harmful :shock: to humans. :arrow: But besides all that, it gives us a sense of community -- a worldwide collection of fellow nutjobs who understand what it's like to explain to friends, family, neighbors, and even the fellow at the home improvement center what we're doing and why, be given suggestions and recommendations that we (thankfully, from this forum) know are bogus, and proceed in spite, knowing not only what's right but why it's right. None of this would be possible without you... You who post your projects, start-to-finish, with those awesome 8) "worth-a-thousand-words" photos and illustrations 8) (and don't think that just because you don't get many comments about your photos or illustrations that they're not totally appreciated by those who see them)... You who post your questions (and especially to you who read all the "before you post" stuff ;-) )... And, of course, you who post your answers, commentary, and suggestions, for questions without answers wouldn't be of much value. And, of course, none of this would even be possible were it not for the dedicated "staff" moderators, Professor Knightfly and The John Sayers himself, with hardly a peep about the costs of keeping the lights on except for that gentle button at the top center of the page (which works really well, by the way -- and everyone here knows that -- :idea: right? :idea: ). My most sincere thanks go out to everyone who contributes to this amazing resource. YOU are why this forum kicks a**! :mrgreen:

Freakin' ass kissers... :wink:

I talk kicking a**, and you acuse me of kissing a**. Whatever. ;-) But seriously... Rather than clutter individual threads with thumbs-ups and right-ons and such, I figured I'd start a new thread... And then maybe others can add their sentiments too... ...smart a** comments notwithstanding... ;-) ;-)

Sorry, I meant "kick" - (cheap crappy Micro-Slop spell checkers... :wink: )