Hi Roy,
Just my 2 cents worth but shouldn't you just get a hobby that you really
really enjoy?
I don't do glass because of other people. I just think glass is fascinating
even if my own work is not that great.

--
Connie Ryman
Cryman Studio

"Roy " put an "RP" here to reply wrote in message
...
On 13 Oct 2006 09:45:53 -0700, wrote:


glassman wrote:
I respect your right to lurk, but if each of you would try and become
just
a tad more out of the closet, just think of how much more fun this place
would be. Try one post, or better yet one thread start, or one
question.
This board is really drying up, and that's the primary reason for the
silliness and OT bashing... there's just not much else to talk about.


--
JK Sinrod
www.SinrodStudios.com
www.MyConeyIslandMemories.com

Give some thought to why the lurkers chose to not post.

I started lurking here about a year or so ago when both my wife and I
decided we should finally take
up the hobby - we'd talked about it for a couple of years. I have since
developed the theory that
just about every person who does much stained glass work is suffering from
some sort of severe
personality disorder, perhaps due to lead poisoning.

I signed us up for a class. My wife was very uncomfortable with the
ranting and raving of the
instructor, and never came back after the first meeting. I lasted one
more session, got our money
refunded, and never went back. A couple of months later, we get this
flyer from the guy, saying
he's going to do only contract work, is selling off his stock and will
never teach another class
again. It seems he only had enough people to field a single class in
2005, 5 of the 6 people did
not complete it. Evidently, if everyone was not gong to be grateful,
well, he'd take his ball and
go home.

I've read many complaints here about lack of new students, lack of sales,
etc over the last year or
so. Hey, if you treat your customers like this guy did, how can you be
surprised that no one wants
to do business with you. I see the same childish rants, raves, personal
attacks and foul attitudes
all over this newsgroup. It's a shame, because I still think this could
be an interesting hobby.
But there are many, many other hobbies out there that are just as
interesting and rewarding, and
they don't seem to come with the abuse heaped on people like the
instructor we had, or the unmerited
verbal attacks that are commonplace in this newsgroup.

I pull headers here once a week or so. If Carol(?) in Turkey has a post
in a thread, I tend to pull
the bodies for those headers. There is frequently something I can learn
from a thread she
participates in, because it takes longer, usually, for the hate-mongers
here to ruin it.. Most of
the rest I will just spot check to see if there is any substance to it, or
kill it if has descended
into the typical 6-year-old level of name calling that seems to be 90% of
the posts.

Why don't lurkers post? Probably because they see the virulent,
antisocial attitudes dumped on the
group by two or three people on a very regular basis. My belief is that
many potential beginners
are probably nearing retirement age, certainly have disposable income, but
are totally turned away
by the vulgar abuse that appears to me to permeate the hobby, at least as
it is represented in
rec.crafts.glass.

Since I have never before in my life found such a pocket of mean-spirited
people by nature, I must
assume that many of the frequent posters here are suffering from some form
of lead poisoning that is
causing these asocial attitudes and behavior. I mean, what do you guys
do, hold all the solder in
your mouths all day long, week after week or something?

My thanks to the few courteous, helpful people who occasionally post here.
Those few are the sole
reason I still lurk here, and have not completely given up on the hobby.
But I will probably never
consider spending any serious money on it again - perhaps just a
time-killer some rainy weekend.

I also lurk over at rec.woodworking, where almost always even a clueless
newbie will get helpful
responses and even friendly answers to honest, even pretty stupid newbie
type questions. RWW is
the most helpful newsgroup I have followed. The help and advice I got
there convinced me to pry
open my wallet a couple months back and spend a couple of grand for a new
cabinet saw. In more than
a year following this group, I have not seen anything posted that begins
to induce me to spend even
a tenth that much, ever again, on the SG hobby.

Listen up you retailers and suppliers. Y'all are killing off the golden
goose with all your
infighting. You'd have a lot more lurkers here, and potential customers
too, if this wasn't a group
dominated by a few pathetic people.

Ok, flame away. I've even dropped every twit filter I've had in this
group to make sure I see every
argument refuting this post. I really want to hear the logic as to how
ranting, raving,
name-calling, insults and veiled threats brings people into the hobby.
Maybe you'll convince me
that common courtesy and respect are a waste of time. I doubt it, but
fire away.

Regards,
Roy