Hi Jon, Welcome to the clubhouse :) Girls are allowed, but we are happy to argue about most everything else. We tend to forget how many other people are lurking here, reading our thoughts. At last count, the list had about 130 members, of which only ten to fifteen actively post anything. Discussions such as we have seen over green lasers recently are usually indicative of too much cloud cover and not enough photons. Combine that with the holidays, and we all get a little stir crazy. It is easy, under those circumstances, to have a lively (some would say heated) discussion among ourselves and forget that many of the readers don't see the friendship that underlies the discussion. If you see these guys at the next meeting, they will be good friends, all working towards the same goals, and still giving each other the same sort of grief you see here in the forums. But, in person, it is easier to see that this is just noise in the overall scheme of things. In the long run, this is a hobby, and as such, has no right or wrong way to be done, just the way that each person get the most enjoyment out of it. (Excluding, of course, the basic "good citizen" guidelines about being considerate of your fellow observers.) Some of us love dark sky parties and lots of searching for faint fuzzies, some of us are into public star parties with the teaching and interaction those have, others just like getting out with fellow observers, (and some of us are just socially unacceptable :) ). We all know this, but it does not stop us from trying to convince others of our point of view, during those long, cloudy, photon deprived, cold winter nights. Don't take it to seriously! Jo At 11:48 PM 1/7/2005 -0700, you wrote:
Wow. I signed up for this list as a way to get local information on what has been a low budget foray into Atsronomy. I do not have the money for any fancy gear. I have a Wal-mart special Meade telescope and a pair of 10x70 Binoculars that I bought on the recomendation of the folks on this list. I don't claim to have much skill in finding my way around the sky, but I enjoy the hunt.
As someone new to the hobby I must admit that the tone of some of the posts lately have not made me eager to embrace the local community.