"Arfa Daily" bravely wrote to "All" (29 Sep 05 08:47:04)
--- on the heady topic of " Tube replacement help..."

AD From: "Arfa Daily"
AD Xref: core-easynews sci.electronics.repair:343445
[,,,]
AD I really don't know what has happened to newsgroups in recent years.
AD People now seem to treat them as forums, and chime in with all manner
AD of unhelpful replies to posters. It used to be that if someone- often
AD an amateur - wanted to know something, they posted and asked, and some
AD kindly soul, who knew the answer, posted back. The original questioner
AD then either posted back to the group, or direct, and said " Thank you
AD for your help. The problem is now cured." End of.

AD Now, all manner of other posters will chip in with half assed replies,
AD and often getting quite nasty saying " Go Google it, and don't be so
AD lazy " and other such stuff. This is not helpful to amateurs.
AD Recently, a poster on here had asked how to get into a Bose sub.
AD Despite how clever all the self styled moderators on here are, it's
AD not at all obvious, unless you know. Helpfully, the first reply was "
AD Use a chopsaw ... "
AD On many occasions, I have spent hours on the net trying to track down
AD info on something, and then posted on an appropriate group, and got an
AD immediate answer from a professional in that field.

AD I still try to be one of those " professionals in the field " , and
AD try to help, constructively, where I can. If people want to be "
AD impressed " by that, then so be it, but don't imply that I am actively
AD trying to impress. I know my abilities and limitations, and have been
AD around for far too long to need to play silly games of how good I am.
[,,,]

Arfa,

This newsgroup has always been a little bit schizoid because it has a
dual vocation depending on who you ask here. In this group co-exists
two types of techs, one is the knowledgeable amateur, and the other is
the mercantile professional. We all engage in exchanging information
about various electronics and are occasionally interrupted by the odd
consumer who asks things like "I changed the fuse 5 times and it still
doesn't work". Naturally the commercial pro will tell them to bring
their gadget to a shop and so will the amateur at some point. The
difference between them is the amateur will try to guide the USER
somewhat. I understand the pro in their telling the user anything is a
waste of time but then the sci. prefix in this group would be
meaningless. I learn a lot from the pro and I've set a few straight on
occasion so I feel our schizoid relationship works quite well in
retrospect.

A*s*i*m*o*v

.... Professionals built the Titanic, amateurs built Noah's Ark