Hello all. Many moons ago when I first discovered this forum I fell in love with it. Not because it contains cutting edge build it yourself PV's and wind generators, but because I discovered that it was one of the few forums where people really cared. People were willing to help people with a passion. It did not matter if it were a first time beginner or a seasoned pro with a couple of phd's stuck under his belt. I used to search all over the Internet for home grown electricity production information no matter from what unique source it had sprang from.
There is more to a forum than "nuts and bolts" there are trends, settings, dreams and future thought. Some of it is practical right now and some of it is perhaps in the future. I suspect Dreaming and future desire is what causes "nuts and bolts" to become born in the first place.
I appreciate DanB's labor of love and efforts for keeping this forum semi focused On home made A.E. in the first place. But there will always be "fringes" and these fringes I find important to keep dreams and hopes alive, and to broaden our concepts.
While you can't have the front page running for a week straight on subjects such as OU or the strange things magnets may do to your health, or how hard one really can pinch your fingers with one, or you found it has a unique ability to behave as a unique shock absorber that may have a myriad of usages including A.E. It would be destructive I think... to be on this board, yet I feel it's crucial not to be too far away. Such items do need to be accessed quickly and eaisly by folks on this board.
Because I'm not knowledgeable of this software, or even the effort and expenses it takes to keep a board operational, I may be suggesting something that is difficult or impossible. But if not, perhaps this would be a tangible and ultra helpful option.
Currently at the top of the front page we have two rows of menu options. There appears to be room for a third row. Why not on that third line, allow hyper links to other speciality forums that are setup identical to this forum, and run on the same server. Perhaps DanB could nominate at his best options net moderators for those forums to keep them from drifting from their subject matter. This way it wouldn't put too much stress on one individual. On those forums at the top of the home page should be the hyper link right back to this one and any other sister forums.
I'd like to see one titled something like " playing with magnets" or " magnets other interesting usages" etc. I for one would like to learn and hear more about this "magnetic fluid" who knows what kind of string of activities people might enjoy from learning about it ?
There were some serious people in here testing, building and reporting their results of both home brewed wind machines and OU. I'd like to be able to track and learn from their efforts of both items. Why can't we have one little line at the top that will let us land at a sister forum identical to this, that will allow that ?
I recently came across another forum that specialized on country living... you know after you pump the water with your wind machine, you might like to know how to plant a garden to put the water on. Anyhow, they might be delighted to add a hyper link to this forum for their people to learn about do it yourself electricity. A hyper link here could take folks here to there. Networking I guess at the click of your front page top link would help to keep each topic "on forum".
To me... in theory it sounds simple. Sister forums with the same wonderful format covering the broader topics that do truly at various levels interlink with each other and often indeed compliment each other. A click a way, not interfering with each other's front page topics. Is this not ideal ?
I'd love to hear what others have to say about this....
The down side is, for DanB we are talking about 2 or 3 identical forums, so 2 or 3 times the work, and I don't see how he keeps this one running so nicely ! But would it be possible for others to monitor, or even maintain these sister forums all highly complimenting each other ?
There are down sides to anything. You always have to balance the positives and the negatives. But I can see a lot of upsides to making -anyone feel at home- without being sent to the "rant bin" and often treated as a degenerate... or being told to get off just because they have discovered something or have a question that is not quite in the full context of the boards ideals and may not even be aware of it at the time.
To me.. Sister boards with identical format would be the ultimate. But at the worst, one could have at the top of the front page saying "can't find your topic ? then click here" this would take you to a page with a list of other forums non maintained or affiliate with this board, but with other closely linked topic themes.
However Sister boards would be the "sweet" way to go to keep OtherPower.com's people together and intact... to let them all blossom with each other. To keep front page topics... well how shall we say... sort of on topic ?
Regardless of the outcome, I probably spend more time reading and learning on this board then the rest of the Internet put together.. I enjoying meeting new personalities and new ideas every time I stop in for a visit.
Hat's off to every one for you willingness to share your world in A.E. may DanB and others be blessed to allow this forum as well as possibly others to continue to grow into yet a larger neighborhood that is friendly and fun for all walks of life to stop in and visit for a while.
Best Wishes...
John-II
