Changing light bulbs on the Forum

[Steven Sweeney]

Though I found this on a sailing forum, it's obviously generic. We've all seen Forums such as the one described here. (ALL trumpet players' forums are like this!) Fortunately, the SOG Forum has rarely gone through this full cycle -- cause, perhaps, to be thankful for the more limited participation for which it is sometimes criticized.

How many forum members does it take to change a light bulb?

1 to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb has been
changed

14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the
light bulb could have been changed differently

7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs

6 to argue over whether it's "lightbulb" or "light bulb" ...

another 6 to condemn those 6 as stupid

2 industry professionals to inform the group that the proper term is
"lamp"

15 know-it-alls who claim they were in the industry, and that "light
bulb" is perfectly correct

19 to post that this forum is not about light bulbs and to please take
this discussion to a light bulb forum

11 to defend the posting to this forum saying that we all use light
bulbs and therefore the posts are relevant to this forum

36 to debate which method of changing light
bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs,
what brand of light bulbs work best for this
technique and what brands are faulty

5 People to post pics of their own light bulbs

15 People to post "I can't see S$%^!" and their own light bulbs

7 to post URL's where one can see examples of different light bulbs

4 to post that the URL's were posted incorrectly and then post the
corrected URL's

13 to link all posts to date, quote them in their entirety including
all headers and signatures, and add "Me too"

5 to post to the group that they will no longer post because they
cannot handle the light bulb controversy

4 to say "didn't we go through this already a short time ago?"

13 to say "do a search on light bulbs before posting questions about
light bulbs"

1 moderator to lock the light bulb thread.

1 forum lurker to respond to the original post 6 months from now and
start it all over again.

[Richard Bingham]

Thanks for the laugh, Steven! What's also funny is the "similar topics" that comes up with the thread !

[Michele Rushworth]

Steven, this is fantastic. And I thought we were the only ones engaged in such foolishness. (Now somebody's going to post here and take offense that I implied that they were "foolish", and someone else will post to say that a better word might have been "silliness" so that no one would take offense, and on and on..... Thanks for the laugh!

[Enzie Shahmiri]

I am chuckling! Well said....

[SB Wang]

Steven:
One of Krylov's fables could be a supplementary reading:

CRAYFISH, SWAN, AND PIKE
(Translation of I. Krylov*'s fable;
to the Holy Trinity of the First Bush's Term -
White House, State Department, and Pentagon)



Let crayfish, swan and pike

Draw heavy loaded cart,

Each being just a part

Of harness they dislike.



They try a lot, and everyone

Starts pulling it with zeal;

The problem is that each of them

With his path wants to deal!



The swan makes upward for a cloud,

The crayfish falls behind;

The pike dives sharply in the deep,

And cart moves not from site.



The moral of the verse is that

Accordance should prevail

Amid the people who have plans

To work but not in vain.







* Ivan Krylov