[ChrisH]

This is a great thread. It should be repeated again about a week after Kickoff. About then tempers will be flaring about all these "disrespectful newbies who don't know the rules". It happens every year. Admittedly that is also a very stressful time of year, for both this forum and the individuals on it. So maybe there is some excuse, but not much of one.

I remember a few years back, 2001 to be exact, before many of you were here. I made one of my first posts in a thread that had a raging debate about how electric cars would save the world, or not (Note: this was pre-Segway). I just could not let some of the mis-information in the thread go unchallenged. The esteemed Dr Joe replied with something to the effect of "Your reply made me want to kiss my monitor". At that point I was hooked.

I don't post so much anymore. Being on the West Coast, somebody usually says what I was going to better than I can before I even read the post. So nowadays I only come out of the woodwork when I really think something needs to be said, or I can contribute to a technical discussion.

But I remember what a powerful thing that enthusiastic greeting was. Maybe we could get better results by encouraging good behavior than by slamming people with negative rep for what are obvious rookie mistakes.

PS I've handed out more rep in this thread than I have for a long time, ALL of it positive, all to relative newbies. The new people who have commented will be worth listening to in the future ...