Practical Uses for Lasers?

[tmackbb4]

I couldn't imagine the op taking that anything but understanding to both sides of the story.
Ignore the ignorant ...I like it

 

[NKO29]

I'm not trying to start a flame thread I hope noone especially the OP doesn't think that's what I was trying to do. I agree 100% with Mack, stop answering the dumb questions. They will search or leave. Safety concerns should be addressed but aside from that, I don't know why people entertain these questions.

I just wanted to let NKO29 know why the others (as well as myself) are frustrated. I don't waste my time with answering these questions.

Again like ignoring the trolls I think we should practice ignoring the indolent

I don't mean to come across as offensive at all, but please don't try to do that to me ever again. I fully understood WHY people may have been frustrated but i also understand that as a newcomer it can be hard. I think although it may be tiring, we should make new people feel happy and KINDLY tell them how the forums work. Not basically mortar shell them with unkind comments.

 

[tmackbb4]

I just see a newcomer with a question and the person gets a whole lecture of what they should or shouldn't do when they were never told. Introduce yourself tell them to use the search function, be safe and enjoy your newfound hobby. No one has to answer any questions they don't want to, and no one has to feel like new people are hated here. Even though that may be the case with some of our more stuck up members. Everyone was new, and even though these things might be common sense to a vet, some people don't know all of what you may know ,and just want to be friendly and ask a simple ice breaker question just to feel out the people. And when they get a first response like, stupid question, etc, the community comes across as a bunch of snobs.

 

[Javalin]

I just see a newcomer with a question and the person gets a whole lecture of what they should or shouldn't do when they were never told. Introduce yourself tell them to use the search function, be safe and enjoy your newfound hobby. No one has to answer any questions they don't want to, and no one has to feel like new people are hated here. Even though that may be the case with some of our more stuck up members. Everyone was new, and even though these things might be common sense to a vet, some people don't know all of what you may know ,and just want to be friendly and ask a simple ice breaker question just to feel out the people. And when they get a first response like, stupid question, etc, the community comes across as a bunch of snobs.

Ouch, that really hit home. You know, when I first started reading I felt like I would never join specifically because of some of THOSE members and not wanting to end up ridiculed or shunned by the community... and now look at me...

I didn't want to start a flame thread... But I sure did throw gas on the logs...

NKO2 I wasn't trying to call you out directly but I sure came off as a jerk. The internet is a horrid medium for conveying emotion or inflection. Although if you ask my girlfriend she'll tell you I'm bad at that in person too. You were just trying to give the new guy the benefit of the doubt. I read your reply and thought to myself I'm not even going to respond, but after reading it again I felt like you deserved to know that I sincerely apologize for quoting you and turning a simple feeling I had into what looks like a lecture toward you.

Truth be told, I was the OP at one point in time. My girlfriend told me that unless I could justify a $200 laser it wasn't going to happen. And so the search began. Weeks went by, an I couldn't find a single legitimate reason for having a $200 laser other than I really wanted one. I wanted to build them, I wanted to interact with people who also wanted them... "Just because". In fact I have a conversation saved between me and Wicked Laser's live chat support about the Arctic not being a ray gun...

To the OP, stick around. The guys and gals here are awesome people. Some (not excluding myself) can be rough around the edges, But read all of the stickies, take the advice of those who have gone before you. Make your own mistakes and learn all you can along the way. Above all, be safe and have fun.

 

[tmackbb4]

I'm still intimidated by a lot of topics here lol :scared:
And Blord have mercy if you say something wrong or even miss word a thought. Some take rookies in like family, and some cast them out like garbage. Pman vs. MANY OTHERS

 

[NO4H99]

Blord have mercy

Started cracking up!

 

[NKO29]

NKO29 I wasn't trying to call you out directly but I sure came off as a jerk. The internet is a horrid medium for conveying emotion or inflection. Although if you ask my girlfriend she'll tell you I'm bad at that in person too. You were just trying to give the new guy the benefit of the doubt. I read your reply and thought to myself I'm not even going to respond, but after reading it again I felt like you deserved to know that I sincerely apologize for quoting you and turning a simple feeling I had into what looks like a lecture toward you.

Now that you cleared up exactly what you meant, i now feel i maybe came across as hard to you lol I'll definitely agree that the internet is horrible at passing thoughts/emotions! You didnt have to apologize, just explaining what you meant made it all better btw! :beer:

 

[tmackbb4]

Glad to see that. I didn't think either meant to come off wrong.

 

[apwhitelaw]

All I have to say is I did search and nothing came up. I even googled and only found one thread on some other forum. Guess I just didn't try the right search terms. I spent quite a few minutes looking too. I knew this had to be a question asked several times, so I was very surprised not to find anything. Oh well.

EDIT: Turns out that when I was searching things like "laser uses" or "practical uses", since the word uses is too short, it wasn't even counting that term. So searching "laser uses" instead really just searches "laser". Yeah I'm sure that will get me exactly what I looking for. Anyways, sorry. I really did search.

 

[The Lightning Stalker]

You have to use the Google custom search bar at the bottom. Yeah, the built-in forum search feature sucks.

 

[apwhitelaw]

Wow, I never even knew that was there. Why the hell is it all the way at the bottom?

 

[tmackbb4]

Yeah it's pretty useful to find Some quick answers. It would take longer to think up a question that hasn't been asked then anything else.

 

[Javalin]

Wow, I never even knew that was there. Why the hell is it all the way at the bottom?

You Have No Idea How Dumb I Felt When I Finally Figured It Out. I Won't Say How Long It Took Me Because It's That Bad! Haha

 

[apwhitelaw]

There's actually a sticky about it and if you click LPF Search, two buttons over from the regular search drop down button, it brings you too it. Very helpful.

 

[OzLasers]

Dye lasers for aligning observatories telescopes is some of the coolest laser tech I've ever read about.

If I ever get some free time, my goal is to build a 15W 589nm dye laser.

 

[Speedy78]

You will need a lot more than time to build a 15W 589