Going down the pub is a quintessential English pursuit thought to be understood by many around the world but fundamentally rather less, in fact very few. You could remove the core ingredient from the "Visit down the pub", the beer, and you would still get visitors (dont take me too literally), but if you took away the banter, the beer could be great but the attendance would fall.
Down the pub, everyman is equal. Every pair of jeans carrys the same paint stains, the same DIY marks regardless of whether the wearer peddles stocks, thieves insurance premiums or is a respectable plumber.
What do we look for in our forum, is it the beer or the banter? It isn't a technical forum that's for sure, it is a self help group of enthusiasts for definite and we are all enjoying reinventing the wheel. Everything we have done and will do has probably been done elsewhere, but there is no fun in discovering someone else did it first!
The other thing we don't do well is egos here. Everyone has been accepted for their own level of incompetence, measure someone from the bottom up and see how far they have climbed, measure them from the top down and see how far they have to fall!
We've all learnt al lot, and we've all got a lot more to learn, but learning has to be done alongside competence and confidence and more importantly from the British perspective, with the banter. I'm not being disrespectful to our overseas subscribers, nor trying to suggest we are in any way elite, but how else could you explain Brian to a wider audience? We are different as are all cultures, be they of the same racial origins.
Every forum, like every pub, has its different core regulars, some go into the pub, don't fit in and move to the next pub, and eventually they find one they enjoy. There are some cracking posts on the IAP forum, but personally I find it the best cure for insomnia known to man. I'd rather dredge the answer from hours of mistaken experience and learn myself than wade through the IAP forum annals.
We need to grow organically. Some of the forums will please some of the people all of the time, some will please some of the people some of the time and all of the forums will never please all of the people all of the time.
John,
Your experience is plentiful, your knowledge extensive and I hope that you find a forum in which you will settle and enjoy both your beer and your banter. With best wishes for your forum future.