Jeff, welcome to the board.

There really is no such a thing as a stupid question, only those of us who are too stupid to answer them. Of course the questions these "stupid people" ask can be found by looking in the archives. For most folks it is easier to type a question than to do a search. Even if we were to do a FAQ, people woould still ask what we consider to be dumb questions. All we can really do is "build a bridge and cross it" :D :D

And then, blow it up.

:wink:

ok you're right i take it all back, stupid of me to post. but also what bob said... :?

let's end this here before i embarass myself even more :P

I -for one- have asked many "stupid questions" both here and elsewhere. Yes, I have read a fair bit of books, articles online and still don't know the answer! There are a thousand answers to a handful of questions and who is correct? In a sea of so much information, it's easy to get lost. Now, I go to Amazon website and read the reviews since just because so-so wrote a book, doesn't mean it's going to be up-to-date and informative --or even easy to comprehend. Chemistry & plumbing- it doesn't matter how many articles I've read, I still can't "get it". And yes, I've been flamed for asking dumb questions.

While we ARE in the world that people want someone else to do their homework, it is more kind to suggest a really good book on the subject rather than b*tch about why don't they do their own studying??

Teevee, on a board, you can develop a relationship with people and the Lounge is a great place to "sit down and get to know these people". Why else do you think it was made for? To ask reef questions?

I used to frequent a board and if you asked a question that had been asked in the last week or two, you got spamed, flamed, abused, sworn at, and generally insulted until you cried... (so I hear) lol
They were a mean bunch, and then the worst spammers of the bunch assumed the moderator was letting them spam because they KNOW EVERYTHING... actually he was out of town... lol

Stupid questions can be annoying, if you have seen that question a dozen or more times. Books are great I love em, but like was said.... out of date can be a problem. Heck I've got the Baensch Marine Atlas 1 & 2, some of the stuff in these books is ... questionable, so how do you know... ya ask questions... you make mistakes, you open your wallet and you make more mistakes.... HOPEFULLY you learn as you go. I think we all agree we have all made stupid mistakes, and we have all probably asked more than our share of stupid questions, but when we asked them they weren't so stupid to us.
Teevee. I know it gets frustrating, but just think, one day one of those people may write a book and say, some dude goes by Teevee finally got me to understand this concept.... and BANG your famous....well.. kinda.

I am reminded of the one South Park episode where Mr. Garrison says to Cartman: "That's OK, Eric, there are no stupid questions, only stupid people." (And then proceeds to ignore Cartman's question ... )

I guess that, as with most things, you can take the good along with the bad. If people have a genuine interest in learning, they'll get better, and if they don't, likely they'll just lose interest and move on. I agree, sometimes when when a question is asked that was asked only a couple of days prior by someone, the tendency must be there to not want to retype all the same info all over again ... but maybe at least someone can provide a pointer to the other discussion or something.

In the end, it's all good as long as we all learn something ...