Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] intentions

[SeaLordOne@aol.com]

Shipmates,

I understand Roger's frustration, going to any site and finding lots of stuff you don't want,and very little of the stuff you do want.  My thoughts are that the most positive reaction to that might be to (1) stop reading threads you are weary of, and (2) start making the sorts of posts that you yourself would like to see.

I would prefer not to see anyone complaining about threads on Psubs.  To me, a thread should run on until it dies a natural death from lack of interest (or is shut down by Ray for inappropriate content).  If two or three guys want to talk about rocket engines for their psubs for three months, I recommend that we let them do that.  We don't complain, we simply delete those threads each day if we are not interested.  It seems unreasonable to me to expect every psubber to be interested in every posting on every thread.  I always "prune" my messages of threads that no longer interest me before I begin reading them.  I personally would prefer to have an "inclusive" rather than an "exclusive" outlook on content.  Even if I am too busy to read a thread right now, I may want to read it a year from now by digging back into the archives.  I want those archives to be as inclusive as possible.

As to looking for a location where a current builder can routinely compare notes with several other experienced builders, wow, that would be a dream come true.  I would love it if Psubs.org could evolve into such a site some day in the future, but I suspect we are years away from that.  How many folks have built even one psub, let alone several?  We have a tiny number of what I call "Jedi Masters": Phil, Pat, Carsten, etc.  We have folks who have built kit boats.  But I think that we are years away from having a large pool of experienced expertise at our fingertips.  Today we have only a small pool, who are trying to build their own subs and help others at the same time.  They are real heros...but they are in short supply.  Psubs.org is the closest thing I have ever seen to such a site, but I think we have a lot of growing to do to make Roger's dream a reality.

If you want to see practical tips on the site, I recommend that you begin to post them.  If you want to see wild theoretical stuff on the site, I recommend that you post it.  I recommend that each of you post what you want to see, and allow others the freedom to post what they want to see.

Just my thoughts,

Doug