I'm posting my rant here, since it seems to be the best place in order to not get banned. But, if it does, so be it.
There's been a noticeable change in ES over the last couple of years. I used to think I understood the focus of this forum, mainly because upon discovering it, everything seemed to validate my understanding. Although I came here with a fairly good understanding of electricity, electronics, programming, etc., as well as hands on experience, I knew my knowledge wouldn't go far without getting the benefit of the real world experience that I quickly found resided here.
My first interaction on this forum was with Amberwolf. I had one of the typical newbie questions, thinking I knew what I was talking about, and Amberwolf, quickly, but respectfully, corrected my understanding and fundamentally changed my view of ebikes and confirmed that the real world experience and knowledge here would allow me to gain a much greater understanding than anywhere else on the world wide web. Hands on knowledge and experience is king, so I thought.
It was not only Amberwolf, but over time, I found several long time ES members, some who have moved to the administrative roles, had expertise over several areas, and I could always get my questions answered.
Back on Amberwolf, I had been continuously impressed by his broad knowledge and watched as he took on a role, or noble mission, to ensure that virtually all threads of any significance, contained fully accurate information, making big and small corrections to those threads with the goal, per my observation, that those threads could be relied on in the future by others, and they could count on them being accurate. It was a huge job, but I watched him do this for years. But he didn't do it alone. All of the ES experts chipped in, like it was an unwritten responsibility that forum members, who had benefited from ES, were giving back. It was the best of times.
But times change, and roles change, and people change. It's funny that there have always been various personalities on the forum, and while very diverse, they still seemed to function together. It was like a family, and like all families, it could be dysfunctional at times, with occasional squabbles, but people still focused on what fellow members brought to the table, recognizing and accepting that there will always be some friction when people are involved.
So what changed, and when? It's hard to pinpoint but for me there were two incidents that stood out, and the first occurred a little after several long time members had already started becoming more scarce. Amberwolf was doing his Amberwolf thing, cleaning up threads, and on one particular thread by a newbie that he'd been helping, he made what I recall was a joke. This was out of character for him, but I got the humor. But, the newbie didn't see the humor and got offended, and although Amberwolf had been patiently helping him the whole time, the newbie turned on him a launched a complaint. This led to a downward spiral in which Amberwolf apologized and placed himself on a self imposed exile. And, that newbie hasn't been around since. At the time, nobody really stood up for Amber or at least not enough to change his mind; so we lost one of our greatest assets over a snowflake that melted and couldn't handle even a small amount of slightly sarcastic, if that, humor.
The second incident, that I'll probably catch flak for, is when Chalo was banned. I don't recall the actual incident that transpired leading to his ban, and it's my understanding that there were several threads that were deleted, but the ones I'd seen started with his interaction with some newbies, but then there was a pile on from existing members who claimed to be "tired of his shit" (paraphrasing). While I'd seen squabbles in the past, that was the first time I'd seen the pile on occur to the extent of calling for a lifetime ban. Was I surprised? Not really, since the world had already turned to the point where families were banning family members from holiday dinners because they didn't like each other's politics or contrary viewpoint, so although it was sad to see, that's what we'd evolved to.
These two members, different as night and day in many respects, were anchors for ES. Their roles were completely different, but for me, each provided value, and not only technical knowledge. I can recall dozens of posts where newbies, a lot of times the know it all kind, would come up will all kinds of dumb crap. For myself, it would be out of character to be as blunt as Chalo, but many times I'd wish that he'd come in with his blunt and abrasive style and slap the newbie into place. Believe me, there were many occasions where it was deserved, and Chalo was the right guy for the job. And his bicycle knowledge was second to none, and we've suffered since he's been gone, probably more than his detractors would care to admit.
For me, I, like several others, have been trying to fill the shoes of members who have left, at least partly. My DIY FAQ and Trouble Shooting stickies are minor compared to what long term members have contributed over time, but I do feel it's necessary, at least with respect to how forums used to be. I recognize, these are old school values, and that's not how we live today, so maybe that's why people move on. Or, maybe I just had it wrong all along; I look at Justin's mission and constitution, and can't tell, but on another recent thread regarding the forum and ChatGPT, Ai posed an interesting question, what really is the goal of this forum? I thought I knew, but now I don't know.
End of rant.....
What's Our Goal??
endless-sphere.com
OUR MISSION:
Mission and Constitution ( paraphrased from justin_le )
The mission of the Endless-Sphere can be summarized by the following 5 points:
There's been a noticeable change in ES over the last couple of years. I used to think I understood the focus of this forum, mainly because upon discovering it, everything seemed to validate my understanding. Although I came here with a fairly good understanding of electricity, electronics, programming, etc., as well as hands on experience, I knew my knowledge wouldn't go far without getting the benefit of the real world experience that I quickly found resided here.
My first interaction on this forum was with Amberwolf. I had one of the typical newbie questions, thinking I knew what I was talking about, and Amberwolf, quickly, but respectfully, corrected my understanding and fundamentally changed my view of ebikes and confirmed that the real world experience and knowledge here would allow me to gain a much greater understanding than anywhere else on the world wide web. Hands on knowledge and experience is king, so I thought.
It was not only Amberwolf, but over time, I found several long time ES members, some who have moved to the administrative roles, had expertise over several areas, and I could always get my questions answered.
Back on Amberwolf, I had been continuously impressed by his broad knowledge and watched as he took on a role, or noble mission, to ensure that virtually all threads of any significance, contained fully accurate information, making big and small corrections to those threads with the goal, per my observation, that those threads could be relied on in the future by others, and they could count on them being accurate. It was a huge job, but I watched him do this for years. But he didn't do it alone. All of the ES experts chipped in, like it was an unwritten responsibility that forum members, who had benefited from ES, were giving back. It was the best of times.
But times change, and roles change, and people change. It's funny that there have always been various personalities on the forum, and while very diverse, they still seemed to function together. It was like a family, and like all families, it could be dysfunctional at times, with occasional squabbles, but people still focused on what fellow members brought to the table, recognizing and accepting that there will always be some friction when people are involved.
So what changed, and when? It's hard to pinpoint but for me there were two incidents that stood out, and the first occurred a little after several long time members had already started becoming more scarce. Amberwolf was doing his Amberwolf thing, cleaning up threads, and on one particular thread by a newbie that he'd been helping, he made what I recall was a joke. This was out of character for him, but I got the humor. But, the newbie didn't see the humor and got offended, and although Amberwolf had been patiently helping him the whole time, the newbie turned on him a launched a complaint. This led to a downward spiral in which Amberwolf apologized and placed himself on a self imposed exile. And, that newbie hasn't been around since. At the time, nobody really stood up for Amber or at least not enough to change his mind; so we lost one of our greatest assets over a snowflake that melted and couldn't handle even a small amount of slightly sarcastic, if that, humor.
The second incident, that I'll probably catch flak for, is when Chalo was banned. I don't recall the actual incident that transpired leading to his ban, and it's my understanding that there were several threads that were deleted, but the ones I'd seen started with his interaction with some newbies, but then there was a pile on from existing members who claimed to be "tired of his shit" (paraphrasing). While I'd seen squabbles in the past, that was the first time I'd seen the pile on occur to the extent of calling for a lifetime ban. Was I surprised? Not really, since the world had already turned to the point where families were banning family members from holiday dinners because they didn't like each other's politics or contrary viewpoint, so although it was sad to see, that's what we'd evolved to.
These two members, different as night and day in many respects, were anchors for ES. Their roles were completely different, but for me, each provided value, and not only technical knowledge. I can recall dozens of posts where newbies, a lot of times the know it all kind, would come up will all kinds of dumb crap. For myself, it would be out of character to be as blunt as Chalo, but many times I'd wish that he'd come in with his blunt and abrasive style and slap the newbie into place. Believe me, there were many occasions where it was deserved, and Chalo was the right guy for the job. And his bicycle knowledge was second to none, and we've suffered since he's been gone, probably more than his detractors would care to admit.
For me, I, like several others, have been trying to fill the shoes of members who have left, at least partly. My DIY FAQ and Trouble Shooting stickies are minor compared to what long term members have contributed over time, but I do feel it's necessary, at least with respect to how forums used to be. I recognize, these are old school values, and that's not how we live today, so maybe that's why people move on. Or, maybe I just had it wrong all along; I look at Justin's mission and constitution, and can't tell, but on another recent thread regarding the forum and ChatGPT, Ai posed an interesting question, what really is the goal of this forum? I thought I knew, but now I don't know.
End of rant.....
What's Our Goal??
ES Hub Motor Spoke Consensus [ testing chatGPT ]
I’ve read a lot of posts over the years regarding hub motors and wheel building. I then reread several posts that I had bookmarked before lacing my first hub. The wheel turned out fine, although if I ever build another, I’d go with thinner gauge butted spokes with washers. Anyway, the quote...
endless-sphere.com
OUR MISSION:
Mission and Constitution ( paraphrased from justin_le )
The mission of the Endless-Sphere can be summarized by the following 5 points:
- ES is a hangout and gathering place for all those who are involved with, interested in, or knowledgeable about ebikes and EV technology.
- ES is dedicated to sharing and spreading accurate knowledge about ebikes and other light electric vehicles and their underlying components. For instance, sales pitches or announcements with a clear commercial bias are not generally welcome outside of our Online Market, while independent analysis and first hand experience is highly regarded.
- ES is here to be a helpful resource to those endeavoring to build their own personal EVs. This is a community that is happy to support your DIY project with advice and troubleshooting help, and there is a trove of technical know-how and valuable build info built up over years for your reference.
- ES encourages entrepreneurship and innovations that advance the state of EV technology to the overall community benefit. ES users are often first to get their hands on new products and test them to their limits, and many ES members end up turning their own custom designed components into successful side businesses.
- ES is dedicated both continuing, and archiving the story of the ebike movement for posterity. We believe that the rise of LEV’s could be a disruptive force in the world that may be worthy of the history books. To that end, all content that is submitted to ES, whether direct or through a link, will be considered part of the official record that we intend to keep.
. 
weird rant
