OFF TOPIC GUIDELINES
OT new threads should be for asking advice or presently advice on a non machining related subject, but, ideally, of a technical nature.
Non technically related questions, such as health related are ok if you're desperate or have valuable insights on same to offer.
But it should be "questions" and *real* questions..not just "made to seem" like a question just to "get past the censors" so to speak.
Jokes (non machinist related ones anyway), general reminiscenses of the past, links to eBay sales not machine tool related, are discouraged and will probably be deleted.
Political and religious related posts will be locked.
And please always put "OT" at the beginning of OT posts and give some good indication of your subject matter. In other words, don't put "OT- You won't believe this !" but put "OT- How to repair the dooflotchy on my fuzzywidget ?"
Whether the posts are machining related or not has nothing to do with it. It's all about solving problems.
Sometimes the response to this is someone pointing out the long dowsing rod thread, and things of that nature. But the point many fail to comprehend is that threads like that started out with legimate questions. Once a legimate thread starts, pretty much anything goes (except politics and religion)....but the point is don't start at new thread with the sole purpose of just ranting, joking, non machining related stories, etc.
As to where to new threads that are rants, jokes and such...no where.. here unless it's part of an already established thread.
===========
MACHINE DISCUSSION GUIDELINES
Note this is the is the Manufacturing Forum, not the home shop machinist forum. And while all levels of "how to" metalworking or woodworking questions regarding technique are welcome here, we are drawing the line at discussing manual "home shop grade" Asian machine tools and hand tools.
Note I said "home shop grade" Larger and/or higher quality Asian machines that might be used in manufacturing or job shop setting are ok to discuss.
The discouragement of HSM grade Asian machine discussion is partially because they have all ready been discussed to death here, and partically because they are not used (or at shouldn't be) in any manufacturing/job shop envirnoments.
For these machines, there are other sites such as the HSM Magazine forum, Chaski forum and various Yahoo Groups that are more appropriate.
========================
UPDATE-
Also not allowed for discussions on PM now-
*Atlas/ Craftsman/Dunlap products - anywhere
*Sherline and Taig - anywhere, including CNC versions
*Hacksaws- anywhere
*Horizontal shapers - Antique Machinery forum only
===============
PLEASE PUT YOUR LOCATION IN YOUR PROFILE
Just a reminder of what most know already...we need a location. If USA, we need city and state ideally...or area of the country at minimum....but put the county if so... "East" could be East Turkey for all we know.
Northeast USA is ok.....Maine, USA better....Freeport, ME even better.
For countries other than USA, just the country at minimum but the more info the better.
=========
AVATAR GUIDELINES
Avatars should be machinist, or manufacturing related in some way, or a photo of yourself.
And note I said "machinist", not "machinery".... a photo of your favorite car or motorcyle is not acceptable, but a machine tool photo is ok...since that is "machinist" related.
(FWIW, mine is Coalbrookdale by Night.. a painting of the first production iron foundry in the world ... in a way it’s where most of what we discuss here all started)
========
TOPIC TITLES NEED TO BE DESCRIPTIVE
The worst topic titles are things like-
1. Please Help !
2. Hey everybody, look at this !
But even more specific titles like-
1. Need info on D31
2. G53
Are meaningless or nearly so to many, so will be locked as meaningless. My theories on the reasons for meaningless titles are-
1. The "surprise" aspect... open the package to find out
2. Laziness
3. Shyness (newbies are especially prone to meaningless topic titles)
Bottom line is we need members to simply tell us in advance enough info to at least get a hint of what the topic is about.
This for two reasons-
1. Many of us are in a hurry and don't have time to open posts we then find out are of no interest
2. Search engines concentrate on topic titles more so than content, so with proper title your topic is more likely to be found by others with similar issues later.
============
NOTE REGARDING WARNINGS
Warnings are kinda like a yellow card and they accumulate within a month span. After a month they are restored back to 0. The goal is to reduce the number of insults that have been surfacing more frequently in the forum recently.
- 5 warnings: 3 day ban
- 10 warnings: 1 week ban
- 15 warnings: 1 month ban
- 25 warnings: 3 months ban
- 30 warnings: 6 months ban
OT new threads should be for asking advice or presently advice on a non machining related subject, but, ideally, of a technical nature.
Non technically related questions, such as health related are ok if you're desperate or have valuable insights on same to offer.
But it should be "questions" and *real* questions..not just "made to seem" like a question just to "get past the censors" so to speak.
Jokes (non machinist related ones anyway), general reminiscenses of the past, links to eBay sales not machine tool related, are discouraged and will probably be deleted.
Political and religious related posts will be locked.
And please always put "OT" at the beginning of OT posts and give some good indication of your subject matter. In other words, don't put "OT- You won't believe this !" but put "OT- How to repair the dooflotchy on my fuzzywidget ?"
Whether the posts are machining related or not has nothing to do with it. It's all about solving problems.
Sometimes the response to this is someone pointing out the long dowsing rod thread, and things of that nature. But the point many fail to comprehend is that threads like that started out with legimate questions. Once a legimate thread starts, pretty much anything goes (except politics and religion)....but the point is don't start at new thread with the sole purpose of just ranting, joking, non machining related stories, etc.
As to where to new threads that are rants, jokes and such...no where.. here unless it's part of an already established thread.
===========
MACHINE DISCUSSION GUIDELINES
Note this is the is the Manufacturing Forum, not the home shop machinist forum. And while all levels of "how to" metalworking or woodworking questions regarding technique are welcome here, we are drawing the line at discussing manual "home shop grade" Asian machine tools and hand tools.
Note I said "home shop grade" Larger and/or higher quality Asian machines that might be used in manufacturing or job shop setting are ok to discuss.
The discouragement of HSM grade Asian machine discussion is partially because they have all ready been discussed to death here, and partically because they are not used (or at shouldn't be) in any manufacturing/job shop envirnoments.
For these machines, there are other sites such as the HSM Magazine forum, Chaski forum and various Yahoo Groups that are more appropriate.
========================
UPDATE-
Also not allowed for discussions on PM now-
*Atlas/ Craftsman/Dunlap products - anywhere
*Sherline and Taig - anywhere, including CNC versions
*Hacksaws- anywhere
*Horizontal shapers - Antique Machinery forum only
===============
PLEASE PUT YOUR LOCATION IN YOUR PROFILE
Just a reminder of what most know already...we need a location. If USA, we need city and state ideally...or area of the country at minimum....but put the county if so... "East" could be East Turkey for all we know.
Northeast USA is ok.....Maine, USA better....Freeport, ME even better.
For countries other than USA, just the country at minimum but the more info the better.
=========
AVATAR GUIDELINES
Avatars should be machinist, or manufacturing related in some way, or a photo of yourself.
And note I said "machinist", not "machinery".... a photo of your favorite car or motorcyle is not acceptable, but a machine tool photo is ok...since that is "machinist" related.
(FWIW, mine is Coalbrookdale by Night.. a painting of the first production iron foundry in the world ... in a way it’s where most of what we discuss here all started)
========
TOPIC TITLES NEED TO BE DESCRIPTIVE
The worst topic titles are things like-
1. Please Help !
2. Hey everybody, look at this !
But even more specific titles like-
1. Need info on D31
2. G53
Are meaningless or nearly so to many, so will be locked as meaningless. My theories on the reasons for meaningless titles are-
1. The "surprise" aspect... open the package to find out
2. Laziness
3. Shyness (newbies are especially prone to meaningless topic titles)
Bottom line is we need members to simply tell us in advance enough info to at least get a hint of what the topic is about.
This for two reasons-
1. Many of us are in a hurry and don't have time to open posts we then find out are of no interest
2. Search engines concentrate on topic titles more so than content, so with proper title your topic is more likely to be found by others with similar issues later.
============
NOTE REGARDING WARNINGS
Warnings are kinda like a yellow card and they accumulate within a month span. After a month they are restored back to 0. The goal is to reduce the number of insults that have been surfacing more frequently in the forum recently.
- 5 warnings: 3 day ban
- 10 warnings: 1 week ban
- 15 warnings: 1 month ban
- 25 warnings: 3 months ban
- 30 warnings: 6 months ban
