@Fresh1....
People like TLS, Shake, and fresh1 always seem to be overly excited about the topics we focus on, but often poison their own experiences and others  with being too philosophical, outspoken, active and off topic. Sometimes it is best to just read and only comment on topics when you have something that is related and truly useful to the discussion. Its great to question the status quo, authority, and whatever else but it isn't always appropriate and it is detrimental to this site as it can and almost always stifles the real meat & bones of the conversation.

An interesting pov vesp, and in some ways correct,,however I would like to make a few points here,,which I had thought of posting in "site matters" but wasnt sure how to approach it....

 I have lurked here for some time, during which I have seen a number of (imo) good, useful (read, "informative") members "disappear"
 
   This saddens me, as its the input from all sorts of minds which truly makes for a valuable forum,,I try not to "go off topic" and pollute threads,,alas,, how can some discussion of various ideas bee encouraged, if members feel they will be castigated for their "input"?

  Members such as Zzuchila, TLS, to name but a few, are no longer here due to attacks that may have been justified for the member doing the attacking,,but not necessarily for all the other members who MIGHT have 'enjoyed' another, maybe challenging, but nonetheless "different" POV.
 
  Many of the ideas tossed around here are not particularly "new" especially when it comes to the synthesis of various compounds.
Sure, there have been some truly novel and worthwhile ideas posted, but imo they are the exceptions, not the
'rule,or, standard'

 This is not to say that the input from members is not valuable, or useful, but to have a forum which is too "clinical" and sterile (lol the "on topic" part of this post!!!) Ideas NEED discussion AND feedback,,which can, and does sometimes "wander" BUT often some great ideas come from waaay out of the left field,,and after all,,IMO if we dont help each other develop such ideas by experimenting,, and then reporting back,,what value is there in having such a forum? Shit,,it may as well be JUST the Reference section,,for thats all you will have IF posts are REQUIRED to be substantiated with references....

Some of the most vibrant posts here are about fairly common substances e.g Nitroethane or hydroxylamine...why? Because they ARE useful and (fairly) common obtainable chems which are important! There are MANY others which have yet to be discussed...possibly because there is already so much data available on them,, but as MANY of us know.."just because it is in writing/referenced,,DOESNT make it so/true!"

Looking back to forums such as the Hive, it is apparent,, members fed off the ideas of others developing these ideas as each was best able (take anirecetams endeavors with claviceps cultures...not everyone has access to GCMS and the like..gee who HAS a laminar flow hood at home? not me!)...and after all, not everyone is at the same level of either knowledge or experience,,and depending where you reside,, factors such as the accessabilty of chems and equipment,, can and do,, vary greatly.

 I was of the impression this forum was primarily interested in utilising  OTC "products" as much as possible,,as well as sharing successful processes and syntheses,, one member who comes to mind with some neat OTC/ghetto ideas is jon...bless his heart, and cyborg like metabolism!!!

 For myself,, he has given me the most practical and useful ideas in this area,,possibly because he IS knowledgeable and experienced in these areas...

 Dont you think the propagation of ideas AND goodwill is important?,, this doesnt mean 'spoonfeeding' but encouragement,, IMO,
 Nothing inspires the budding OR experienced chemist more,,than some success in their attempts,,whatever they may be.

I have a fair wack of experience in a few areas of this forum,, but most of those areas have been well covered already,,and to add anything further,, would only be an exercise in ego stroking!!!

So, as with the above 'idea' about using microwaves to sterilise 'things",, I actually as thinking more about the containers being used,, (which as far as I know,, is a fairly recent development-I cant recall reading of doing so elsewhere here,,or for that matter,,on any other forums of this nature)

 I think there are many members who feel slightly intimidated by the high level of knowledge demonstrated by some,,but certainly not all,, the members on this forum....

Ok,,if a thread/post IS useless,, or redundant,, is that not what Vacous Posts is for?  I actually have a bit of a laugh at whats there,,and I'm a bit surprised that you tend to have MANY posts there yourself....I'm not sure how I should take this...does it suggest that because that this place is your baby,,its ok for you to start threads which then later you dispatch to VP because you have decided they have no merit,,or is it some type of "double standard" you allow yourself,,but not other members?

This is not a dig at you, but a genuine query, I hope you can understand my pov here.

  I realise moderating a forum like this would become absurdly difficult,, if everyone just posted any old thing...but at the same time...I can honestly say,, for every wonderful idea,, members like jon have posted,,there ARE also some pretty dumb ones as well,, which are still there!

  One other thing which I wonder,,is why aren't similar threads/topics merged,,as this would make for more "complete" threads,, and a more 'satisfying' and complete reading experience,,as well as possibly reducing the same thing being said under different Topics.. e.g why dont you combine ALL the threads related to Claviceps culturing/extraction together? IIRC you said something like "its easier to start a topic than it is to delete one"

 Anyway,, I think you know I like this place,,so please take this as purely my pov,,and an attempt to be somewhat "constructive" in my criticism

 as always,, my regards

 f1

Goldmember!!! another interesting member I've not seen nor heard from for a while....well hello ,, um,,are you agreeing with the above or???

    Please folks dont be shy!

  f1 just trying to help

Considering I listen to a lot of peoples advice, and implement the suggestions when I feel they are good - after hearing what others think about it, I feel all right with saying this: If you don't like how the forum is ran, moderated, how the topics are organized, the moderators, or anything else about it - start your own forum. Until than, stop posting in threads with off-topic rambling.

Its pretty easy to talk about how to improve a product you haven't built, nor dedicated hours of your day  too since the very beginning of 2009. You don't even *really* understand the operation of this forum because you are too busy looking at the keyboard to type your ideas on how to improve it. How long have you been here? and you mostly post in the Den of Iniquity?
You're not even seeing the culture of this site IMO.

Also, there is a reason you like this site and that very reason believe it or not, is also what you want to have changed about this site.

Ok,,if a thread/post IS useless,, or redundant,, is that not what Vacous Posts is for?  I actually have a bit of a laugh at whats there,,and I'm a bit surprised that you tend to have MANY posts there yourself....I'm not sure how I should take this...does it suggest that because that this place is your baby,,its ok for you to start threads which then later you dispatch to VP because you have decided they have no merit,,or is it some type of "double standard" you allow yourself,,but not other members?

Sometimes deserving first posts have crappy off-topic replies and it is better to move them in VPs
Sometimes I post things that have unintended discussion and I than realize they should be in VPs - like that wikileaks thread.
VP exists so members can still see the posts - as I feel they serve some use, and also demonstrate what not to post.
Some of my posts probably do deserve to be in the VP section. I'm fine with that.

Looking back to forums such as the Hive, it is apparent,, members fed off the ideas of others developing these ideas as each was best able (take anirecetams endeavors with claviceps cultures...not everyone has access to GCMS and the like..gee who HAS a laminar flow hood at home? not me!)...and after all, not everyone is at the same level of either knowledge or experience,,and depending where you reside,, factors such as the accessabilty of chems and equipment,, can and do,, vary greatly.

Ideas are great even if they are repeated by many different people - I never said I FORCE novel content... but don't fucking post on how to improve the site in a thread discussing how to culture ergot fungi.

I think there are many members who feel slightly intimidated by the high level of knowledge demonstrated by some,,but certainly not all,, the members on this forum....

Well, fuck, I feel intimidated. Notice how often I post in the Drug synth and other main sections? I don't have much to add, so I simply STFU. I enjoy reading the content though, and I don't like to sift through it all.  I am sure other intimidated ones do as well.

  One other thing which I wonder,,is why aren't similar threads/topics merged,,as this would make for more "complete" threads,, and a more 'satisfying' and complete reading experience,,as well as possibly reducing the same thing being said under different Topics.. e.g why dont you combine ALL the threads related to Claviceps culturing/extraction together? IIRC you said something like "its easier to start a topic than it is to delete one"

Because it is a pain in the ass to merge them, and it is not always 100% clear that ALL topics pertaining to Claviceps should be mixed. Do you think a thread addressing contamination issues should also be mixed in with one that talks about altering their gene expression using garcinol and other HATi's? Do you think the C. purpurea should be mixed in with a C. paspali thread? Or one that addresses specific nutrients be mixed in with one that talks about altering cell membrane permeability?
Some should be combined, others should be split into their own topics. Its hard to tell what is the obvious thing to do, and it is hard to keep up with all of the posts and all of the topics. Especially when the members will most certainly bitch and moan. Moderators do their best but sometimes topics get missed, misunderstood, or would be too controversial to do much about...

Clearly the claviceps discussion greatly varies, and each topic about claviceps is different... and each one often has members combining the discussion from other threads - this perhaps isn't the best but it is damn near impossible to prevent. Are you saying you want more moderators? I think we've got enough and surely you of all people should not be asking for MORE moderators.

Some of the most vibrant posts here are about fairly common substances e.g Nitroethane

That is a common substance? It is simple but it isn't easy to make, nor is it OTC or anything else...
Additionally who ever implied we can't discuss common substances? There is an entire forum for "common substances" or anything other than drugs called Other Chemistry.



I realize there is more to address but whatever - your post is so long and strung out that it is not  easy to address all of your points. Besides  it is redundant because you are essentially Shake/TLS. They both would posted this same exact stuff in almost the same format. Go read all their posts and my responses. Than feel free to PM me about anything else - Stop posting on how to improve the site in threads about science. They are obviously completely different subjects and as Goldmember said less noise makes it easier for everyone to sift the shit from the sugar.






Members can post essentially anything in the Den of Iniquity and can ask very simple questions in the Short Questions Thread.

Quote

but i digress if you want to stay out of jail, don't think about buying piperidone.

aint that the truth

Also stop posting to threads in the fashion you did above as quoted... What on earth does that contribute to a "one pot synth of fent without dichloroethane?" thread?
Stay on topic... and actually post useful content.

interesting call, maybe, maybe be we just share a method, the problem is "communication" of "ideas" is fucking difficult without writing a book!

Communication consists of the words said, tone of voice, and body language. It also includes how these relate to what has been said in the past; what is not said, but is implied; how these are modified by other nonverbal cues, such as the environment in which it is said, and so forth. For example, if someone says "I love you", one takes into account who is saying it, their tone of voice and body language, and the context in which it is said. It may be a declaration of passion or a serene reaffirmation, insincere and/or manipulative, an implied demand for a response, a joke, its public or private context may affect its meaning, and so forth.

Conflicts in communication are common and often we ask "What do you mean?" or seek clarification in other ways. This is called meta-communication: communication about the communication. Sometimes, asking for clarification is impossible. Communication difficulties in ordinary life often occur when meta-communication and feedback systems are lacking or inadequate or there isn't enough time for clarification.

As someone once said "arguing online is like winning the Special Olympics, you still leave disabled"

yes its sometimes confusing

I have an issue with "no win" aka "double binds" i.e.
One of the causes of double binds is the loss of feedback systems. Gregory Bateson and Lawrence S. Bale describe double binds that have arisen in science that have caused decades-long delays of progress in science because science had defined something as outside of its scope (or "not science"

I have commented on the feedback here, good, bad or indifferent, IMO there is not enough....just my opinion

btw, wtf is "the stanky leg?"