Where Have the Good Threads Gone? CPF Kinda Boring Lately?

[StarHalo]

In my defense, I have started 98 threads in my time here.

I was totally ready to poke fun at this number, until I searched my started threads and came up with ..57. But in my defense, there are some gems in there; Cars, Man, Secret Aircraft, Awesome Older Tech Gadgets, Charts & Graphs, Recommend A Book, Indiana Jones Cereal Box Flashlight Review, 11% More MPG, Dangerous New Toy For Men, etc..

 

[Cataract]

I'm at 58 threads; 2 stickies, 4-5 reviews, one of which got me a free LD15 (for reviewing) and 2 half priced flashlights (which I reviewed) all because I did a review for a free TK45 sample (good ol days!). Most of my threads got one or no replies and one thread that wasn't even started by me; I must have been the last post on the thread and that post ended up being the first one during the great crash.

Since Carrot's challenges came up, here's a thread I started in complete relation to one of the challenges:
POWER FAILURE LAST NIGHT WHILE TAKING THE 250+ LUMEN CHALLENGE

This one I was sure would stir up some comments or other related stories:
The impossibly blind

 

[nbp]

Some nice posts recently here since I last commented in this thread with some excellent observations and suggestions. Keep up the good work folks!

I like the idea of a newbie questions thread! That could help limit the number of repetitive threads, in that it would be a centralized place to post thread links and such to answer questions instead of 50 new threads. I'm going to try it.


StarHalo: If you take out my WTB and WTS threads and a few Questions/Suggestions it's really like 75 threads, so over 6 years that's like less than one a month.

 

[Onthelightside]

Hello Everyone

I just spent the last half hour or so reading over the posts, some were depressing some were happy. I have to say that CPF has been an enjoyable experience for me. I was one of the people who requested a light recommendation in the forum and I looked foreword to the reply from GaAslamp. We deliberated on every detail of the light for what exactly would work in my use. Unlike many threads today, it was not what can I get the brightest, cheapest, lots of throw etc in two sentences and get two one sentence responses. He/She helped me through understanding the new world of flashlights and made me feel welcome to the CPF community. To see what I mean take a look at the thread Small Versatile Flashlight Also take a look at a thread I posted to help my friend in the Red Cross find a light for the Disaster Respondse Team she volunteers on. She recently had to use her flashlight to help paramedics find our location and was so glad the members of CPF helped her find a light that was perfect for her. I posted the short story in the recommend me a light thread to update those who helped pick out the light. Even though recommending lights can be mundane it really does give a positive impact to those on the other end. Just so the older members know it really is appreciated, maybe not by all but the personal touches in the recommendations are great

This thread was very cool I thought it shows a practical application for flashlights with the new phenomena of 3D printing. He designed a clip that could hold his AAA flashlight to his baseball cap and printed it with a 3D printer. I found it interesting and a great use of new technology in the "maker" time that we seem to be in now.
3D Printer thread

I have recently built/in the process of building a motion controlled lighting system with the core lighting coming from four Nichia 219 LEDs mounted on an Al bar. I have all the components on a protoboard which I now need to get encased and everything finished up. I have to say the light that the Nichia's put out is very pleasing and could even make a good solution to normal house lighting. I am not sure anyone would be interested in a thread on how I worked through the circuitry to build it as well as the mechanical side of LED mounting and heat management. I don't have a ton of pictures but enough for someone to get the general idea for what is going on. Anyone have interest in a thread for this?

I also volunteer with the Red Cross and one of my friends who is an Electrical Engineer built a rugged field lighting system to light up the medical tents for outdoor events. It uses LED strip and some custom wiring all encased in a pelican case. Definitely super helpful when treating patients and a very cool bit of engineering.:thumbsup:

Not sure exactly what my post here contributes but just a thank you to those who have helped me and I will do my best to try to contribute positively to the community here in the future for others:grouphug:

PS hopefully there are no spelling/grammar issues I have to go now...

 

[yoyoman]

It is hard being interesting. I started a thread (Lights Doing Their Thing) and it is mostly a monologue. Is it because the topic is too broad? Should each topic be a different thread to get more involvement? Or is it because what interests me doesn't interest others? The thread has more than 1,500 visits - should I be happy with that and keep going? I have learned a lot from CPF and, frankly, I enjoy it and want to contribute. I need some guidance and feedback - even if the message is shut up and just lurk.

 

[Cataract]

There are stray posts on usual beamshots, collections and just general unrelated talktalk in your thread, but when you scroll through, it seems there are still a good proportion of posts that are on topic. If my last post (#27) is not the type of post you expected, then you definitely didn't explain it right...

I think the trick is some form of self moderation by giving the example and post a few more examples yourself or comment positively on those posts you find most interesting. You can't ask for the sky, though (well... I do think my last post should be interesting )

I think part of the problem is that people just feel a need to broadcast something and just don't pay attention what they post and where. Blame twitter, facebook and the likes.

 

[StarHalo]

I think part of the problem is that people just feel a need to broadcast something and just don't pay attention what they post and where. Blame twitter, facebook and the likes.

I heard it could also be ADD, but who knows. This weather is really something though. Some dude just fell off his horse on TV. I love lemonade..

 

[Cataract]

I heard it could also be ADD, but who knows. This weather is really something though. Some dude just fell off his horse on TV. I love lemonade..

Here's a theory: ADD is induced by... Holy cow!!!

(ahem... ADD could be induced by the simple over-stimulation from the multiplying sources of useless junk as our ancestors would definitely have called it... wait... some of them are still around, and they do call it junk. Some of them use smart phones and never understand a single thing when we talk to them. Proof within the proof that it's not really about how we are raised or the likes!)

 

[Monocrom]

Here's a theory: ADD is induced by... Holy cow!!!

(ahem... ADD could be induced by the simple over-stimulation from the multiplying sources of useless junk as our ancestors would definitely have called it... wait... some of them are still around, and they do call it junk. Some of them use smart phones and never understand a single thing when we talk to them. Proof within the proof that it's not really about how we are raised or the likes!)

Sorry.... couldn't get through most of your post. Could you condense it down to six words or less.

KTHNX.

 

[orbital]

+

Two reasons for CPF change::

I: Most everything has been done w/ flashlights
II: CPF business is now 1/3 million members,,, it's become more of a dave & buster's than a cozy pub







^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[zespectre]

Well, speaking for myself the last two years have been pretty damn rough financially so I've been severely limited in toy purchasing. I was still willing to continue my "Real World Reviews" but I'll be damned if I can get anyone (individuals or businesses) to bother sending me samples anymore. No new lights means I do no reviews. Uultimately I guess that's okay since I'm scrambling between three part time jobs and a stupid number of hours just to try and make the income I was before my former employer closed the business down.

Another thing that seems to have changed participation is the development of standards and specific, calibrated, testing equipment. At one point pretty much anyone could just jump in and do some runtime graphs or brightness testing. Heck I used to run what I called the "dalemeter" which gave a comparison for light output, but which wasn't calibrated to anything other than itself. Initially that was fine and people liked that they could get -some kind- of comparison between lights, but eventually if I couldn't give an answer in Lumens or MCD or whatever then people weren't interested and sometimes got downright snarky about my "made up numbers". In short I feel like an underlying attitude has developed that if you don't have actual calibrated test equipment you shouldn't be doing reviews so I think a lot of people who would have written reviews shy away from it now.

Also, I agree that we've hit a saturation point. Much like camera equipment, when the sophistication develops to a certain degree then the differences between items become smaller and smaller and in low-consideration items like flashlights most folks just don't care.

Lastly, CPF is also definitely a business now and that changed some of the attitudes and behaviors. I'm not saying it is better or worse, but definitely different.

[there, was that at least remotely interesting?]

 

[degarb]

I still think the number one biggest handicap is Android to good, articulate forum participation.

Number two, is we are getting closer to 200 lpw.

Number three, arguably, is mysterious closings of threads and diversity of ideas.

Number 4 is economy.



OTH, there is a future:

Brick and mortar stores have a looong way to go to get good lights. I have given up on them. They are just interested in shelf life longevity and markup. Perhaps, a dead topic. Of course, the 18650 is the future.

I think fixed lighting (100 to 300 watt led worklights/200 lpw Philips fixtures) has a ways to go. I also think flashlights suck. Odd ain't I. But I do not see why any camper/runner/hiker/worker/house cleaner/mechanic/etc would ever want to hold a tube in one's hand when it has other purposes. So, I think headlamps/wristlights that you can point/other wearable designs have a way to go. Also, color shifting and beam shaping (without aspheric losses) can go further. If just being able to see for long periods of time is important to you, then the future is boring. If being able to see optimally, then there is a future in the forum.

I do think the future of battery power, fuel cells are MORE exciting than the exciting future of led. Also, future power generation (NOT SOLAR or wind so much) schemes will be more fascinating than LED. It will be interesting to see the politics play out as people invest in one power source or another and start trashing the competition. (Example, google & others just opened worlds largest solar farm, or the us govt. once fracked with nuclear weapons, or Norway is now using thorium for cleanup purposes, etc. etc.)

 

[yoyoman]

There are stray posts on usual beamshots, collections and just general unrelated talktalk in your thread, but when you scroll through, it seems there are still a good proportion of posts that are on topic. If my last post (#27) is not the type of post you expected, then you definitely didn't explain it right...

I think the trick is some form of self moderation by giving the example and post a few more examples yourself or comment positively on those posts you find most interesting. You can't ask for the sky, though (well... I do think my last post should be interesting )

I think part of the problem is that people just feel a need to broadcast something and just don't pay attention what they post and where. Blame twitter, facebook and the likes.

Your last post is interesting and is exactly what I hoped for. I'm planning a response.

It is possible that I have the brother of ADD - the need for instant gratification. I want 2,000 posts now. That's not realistic and not good. I am happy that the thread has 1,500 visits and I am happy that there aren't 1,500 posts that just say cool. The responses have been on topic and more than 3 words. That is good.

I posted on this thread because I want to help CPF stay interesting and wanted some guidance. At least I didn't start a thread "What's the best..." I will see how the thread evolves and take your advise of giving examples and positive feedback to guide the future direction.

 

[Cataract]

Sorry.... couldn't get through most of your post. Could you condense it down to six words or less.

KTHNX.

Sure: People don't read

STOP HERE

[...]

[there, was that at least remotely interesting?]

Is sure was a nice point of view and I do agree with the fact that there is a focus on calibrated numbers, but it has the big advantage that you don't need to do research to find a comparison base anymore.

Then again, that whole research through reviews to find someone who reviewed both the lights you were considering and one you own was one of the more interesting things to do. reviews were simpler to go through and focused on what's most important: the beam. Now they are all about UI.

I still think the number one biggest handicap is Android to good, articulate forum participation.

[...]

100% agree

-Sent from my iPhone

I think the social medias are taking too much away from a good internet exchange by creating bad habits; people just want to expose their point of views and their life and don't pay much attention to what others have to say because they have to check out the next 100 threads plus all their friend's last 15 minutes of facebook update, not to mention the other 4 forums they're on at the same time. I call it technology induced ADD.

Your last post is interesting and is exactly what I hoped for. I'm planning a response.

It is possible that I have the brother of ADD - the need for instant gratification. [...].

We all want it right away. Took 6 months for my flashlight troubleshooting guide to be stickied while I was certain the mods would make it a sticky even before the first reply. Hang in there and be your own moderator, that's the best way to get it where you want. Keep some comments in reserve and post them when the last reply was so long ago that your thread is very low on the list and I bet it will be one of the most interesting long running threads.

 

[degarb]

I wonder too how many practical modifications and builds are never posted, because they would look silly against the ten previous anodized, milled posts.

The only remedy would be to encourage the ugly, but practical, home builds with own subforum, where the expectations of the aesthetic would be low.

 

[Cataract]

I wonder too how many practical modifications and builds are never posted, because they would look silly against the ten previous anodized, milled posts.

The only remedy would be to encourage the ugly, but practical, home builds with own subforum, where the expectations of the aesthetic would be low.

Excellent idea! What are you waiting for?

 

[StarHalo]

I wonder too how many practical modifications and builds are never posted, because they would look silly against the ten previous anodized, milled posts.

The A-10 Warthog is ugly, but sure is popular..

How about buying a handful of 4D Mags at the local hardware store, taking the body tubes from two and stacking them side-by-side underneath one complete Mag pyramid-style, then drilling a hole in the tailcap of all three tubes for wiring, cap the open end of the bottom two, bolt a handle onto the top one - presto, 12D Mag spotlight..

 

[Cataract]

The A-10 Warthog is ugly, but sure is popular..

How about buying a handful of 4D Mags at the local hardware store, taking the body tubes from two and stacking them side-by-side underneath one complete Mag pyramid-style, then drilling a hole in the tailcap of all three tubes for wiring, cap the open end of the bottom two, bolt a handle onto the top one - presto, 12D Mag spotlight..

Now you've done it: I'll be looking at M@glites in case there's a super special on 3 packs.

And now that you've got me thinking about this I got an even better idea: make a wine-bottle rack type of holder to hold 3-4-5 ++ of your bigger flashlights. Many birds, one stone: makes for an interesting piece in the living room as a storage solution, can carry your lights easily while making sure they don't grind against on another and you can also use them all at once. Put a bird-cage cover on top and burglars won't try to steal them!

 

[nbp]

Sometimes I browse through the OLD threads and find ones I like since not a lot of the ones popping up lately seem to trip my trigger. I am inclined to just start bumping up old threads that were fun to inject some new (old?) life into the forum but then I think people will hassle me for doing so. What do you guys think?

 

[StarHalo]

I am inclined to just start bumping up old threads that were fun to inject some new (old?) life into the forum but then I think people will hassle me for doing so. What do you guys think?

Seems I've been doing that every couple of weeks for the last season or so, been hassle-free thus far. I usually run across some new idea or thing and think, "How can I share this on CPF," and Google Search often provides the answer..