A word to eager newcomers

If you are new to this forum, and perhaps new to lasers entirely (like myself) and you are extremely excited about building your first laser, YOU ARE IN GOOD HANDS. :yh: The veterans, admins, and even experienced forum members are all wonderful people who will not hesitate to help you. In time, I promise they will become the most valuable resource you have for laser trouble, and will most definitely end up saving you time, pain, energy, and money. It's what they do, besides making lasers themselves of course.

THAT SAID:

Before you go laser crazy and begin asking questions at at the start of a project, do some research on your own. By searching the vast contents of this site before pursuing the help of others, you prevent a wide range of extremely common forum issues.
1.) you keep yourself from sounding like a complete noob.
2.) you avoid asking questions that have been answered a thousand times over
3.) you may find the answer you were looking for on your own.
4.) AND MOST IMPORTANTLY you show general respect for fellow forum members by saving them the time of trying to explain forum wide knowledge to you when they could be building lasers or helping someone else with a serious need.

Remember, those who answer your questions and review your posts are doing the best they can to save you time and effort on your laser projects, and in some cases they may even save you from making potentially life changing mistakes (I.e. Blinding yourself with a laser, either because you do not see the need for goggles, or because you are using an extremely dangerous ir laser without realizing it) They are all trying to help you any way they can, so the least you can do is try and do the same for them by doing a bit of research yourself before asking questions, to save some of their valuable time for them.

Trust me, I'm new here too, I haven't even quite finished my first laser up yet, but thanks to experienced members of this forum, I now know I will be able to finish it successfully. I had to ask a few questions myself, but by doing a bit of research before hand, I managed to avoid the pit soooo many newcomers fall into: they ask enough extremely uneducated questions that they end up ignored because they fail to show the same level of concern/respect for those they question as they expect experienced members to show them. A bit of simple research could have spared them such a fate. So my intention in writing this is in hopes that perhaps I can save a few of you from falling into that pit as well.

So welcome to the LPF community!!! :yh: you are in a good place now, among friends.
So have fun,
Build lasers,
AND DO SOME RESEARCH :yh:

Ahhh... a New member that understands the process...:gj:


Jerry

You can contact us at any time on our Website: J.BAUER Electronics

Thanks for the positive feedback Jerry I'm just hoping maybe some newcomers will see this and avoid the trouble that so many other noobs cause/find themselves in. :yh:

I know I asked my first few questions on here yesterday, after massive amounts of research, and got exactly the answers I needed, and I got them very quickly really.

Having been through the process myself now, I am trying to help oil this machine that has potential to run so very smoothly if new additions take the time to get a good foundation in research before jumping in and questioning away willy nilly.

Greatest respect for site veterans, and all advice/ feedback much appreciated. :bowdown:
I definitely look forward to being of some assistance to new members myself in the future :yh:

thanks thats good to know

Very good attitude, +1.

Ditto.......... this needs a sticky and made into a manditory read BEFORE any newbie is allowed to post. +1 to you sir!!

Mmllory1 said:

Thanks for the positive feedback Jerry I'm just hoping maybe some newcomers will see this and avoid the trouble that so many other noobs cause/find themselves in. :yh:

I know I asked my first few questions on here yesterday, after massive amounts of research, and got exactly the answers I needed, and I got them very quickly really.

Having been through the process myself now, I am trying to help oil this machine that has potential to run so very smoothly in new additions take the time to get a good foundation in research before jumping in and questioning away willy nilly.

Greatest respect for site veterans, and all advice/ feedback much appreciated. :bowdown:
I definitely look forward to being of some assistance to new members myself in the future :yh:

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thats the way to do it i didn't build my first laser for almost a month after i joined...also what part on TN are you in?

Wow, much appreciated, Im honored to contribute useful information :yh:
I just hope it actually gets read by newcomers who need to learn how to really take full advantage of this site and make it work as smoothly as possible, otherwise its not very useful.

Ah, and Memphis :yh: and yourself?

close to Franklin :beer:

Ah very cool. :yh:

you two need to get a room----J/K
actually maybe you can carpool to SELEM next Aug.
Its the coolest laser meet going- we will have a nice one in Feb. in San Antonio(TEXLEM). Free lodging and lowcost homecooked meals =more time for the photons.

for a look-see go to utube and search SELEM


hak

Sounds really cool. I'll definitely look into attending that.

your nice +1

hey what is rep power? also this is what i think of your builds
:lasergun:

Rep power is a measure of your general reputation on this site.
It is the reason that we trust the vets and avoid advice from those with red bars under their names.
When a member of the forums finds a post you have made helpful, or generally beneficial to the community, they may choose to submit positive rep feedback to that post, increasing your rep power over time. However, if you were to be found giving out inaccurate advice, a tempting to scam another member, or spamming the site in general, then you would most likely receive negative rep feedback, and possibly even get yourself banned from the site. So be helpful when you can, and avoid trolling people, and before too long you may be a respected member of the community :yh:
Hope that helps :yh:

Mmllory1 said:

Rep power is a measure of your general reputation on this site.
It is the reason that we trust the vets and avoid advice from those with red bars under their names.
When a member of the forums finds a post you have made helpful, or generally beneficial to the community, they may choose to submit positive rep feedback to that post, increasing your rep power over time. However, if you were to be found giving out inaccurate advice, a tempting to scam another member, or spamming the site in general, then you would most likely receive negative rep feedback, and possibly even get yourself banned from the site. So be helpful when you can, and avoid trolling people, and before too long you may be a respected member of the community :yh:
Hope that helps :yh:

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Excelent explanation