Steve, This was a courageous reply. I know you took some heat and some scolding for your opinion. Myself, I have had a mixed response to this and the other forums. I too have felt like I was talking into a black hole - and there wasn't even an echo to leave any indication that I had tried to communicate. But then I have also had a few people write back to me directly, off line, and thank me for trying to help or giving them a lead on where to go for information. I also have felt rebuffed when someone with more "authority" speaks and takes a contrary position. For all the "good old boys" listening in: you mean well, to be sure, but I doubt you understand how easy it is for you to "crush" someone; a big part of the problem is the medium: we know that with email you can't see the body language, you don't make eye contact, it tends to always sound stiffer or more blunt than the speaker intended ... Anyway, it is hard being a newbie. And like all "community" efforts, it's a mixed bag of folks out there. I try to stick to what I know I know and stay away from some of the threads that are all speculation. I hope you continue to try (there are a LOT of people lurking who don't try to give something; I guess that's OK; but not to the extent that they abandon the forum to the same 12 people who make comments all the time - that is what scares people away. It starts to seem like a club and not a professional self-and joint education effort). Anyway, got to get back to the work of today. Regards, Valerie Steve Hodge <[log in to unmask]> 10/06/2005 05:08 PM To: TechNet E-Mail Forum <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask] cc: Subject: Re: <List>Re: [TN] New Old Topic Let"s face it Valerie; fabricators are at or near the bottom of the food chain. I have bitten the proverbial lip on this subject as long as I can. I emailed several people privately, before I signed up, about fabrication related questions. I sent at least 20 with answers which I believed to be accurate. I received one response back. I continued to read the technet forums and, when I saw something asked which I thought I could answer, I would e-mail the individual with an answer. I thought if I signed up for Technet I would at least get responses and opinions about my answers. Well, that was my first mistake. I should have kept on the sidelines and not have offered any input in a general forum. I learned one valuable lesson: A newbie should never offer an opinion differing from the tenured professionals on any forum. The good ole boys have all the right answers anyway. --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 -----------------------------------------------------