Anyone know where LeeG went?

[paulw]

Have not used the forum for a while. It seemed strange not to see a ton of responses by LeeG.

[stusviews]

I, too, was concerned, but Lee posted several times as recently as December, so I guess that he's still around, just less active on the forum or busier with other things or both.

[paulbates]

I think leeg and io_guy (and others) got fed up with the amount of off topic, ad hominem arguments and rants on the forum during the past year or so.....  a sentiment that I identify with. 

 

I believe they still look in, but are not feeling as at home on the forum as they did in previous years. They will most likely respond if you PM them.

 

Paul

[oberkc]

I cannot say whether the tone of this forum has caused some to lose interest, but I have certainly noticed it as well and hope that I have not contributed too much to this and am renewing my goals to keep it civil.

 

Another change I have noticed is that the questions and topics seem less related to insteon and programs than in the past, moving more to the networking side and integration of other technologies with the ISY. I consider this good and interesting, but it surely can change the population of those able to participate in many of these topics.

[paulbates]

Thanks oberkc.. I know I'm not blameless, had my moments too, and have decided to 'let it go' this year.

 

What I'm,referring to is posts where a member posts an ISY related question of any kind.... but the thread turns from their ISY related topic,  to ad hominem attacks and has to be locked.

 

I really wish we could find a way to stop doing that.

 

Paul

[larryllix]

Agreed the diversity has caused so many topics that many (including myself) don't know anything about.

 

Response barking and negative ad hominem has broken out a few times, but hasn't ever gone too far out of control, IMHO.

 

Sometimes, people just get tired of the continuous hamster wheel with people asking the same basic questions over and over, despite the generous desire to contribute to other's knowledge and promote the ISY era progress.

 

LeeG did his time and I learned a lot from him. I am still out of his LeeG with his Insteon protocol bit twiddling.

 

It is no necessarily any flavour the forum has taken that causes people to fade away.

[rccoleman]

I hope that an official release of 5.0 and renewed interest in Polyglot will stimulate more on-topic and new discussion. If there's little new to talk about and 'normal' users aren't venturing into the alpha/beta releases, discourse devolves and evaporates.

 

I've seen the same sort of descent into bickering happen on another forum where the gap between the stable release and the overly ambitious next release was many years. The folks on the cutting edge grew restless and left when it seemed like the new version was never going to come out, and less adventurous folks felt the stable version was stagnating and sought a better solution elsewhere (Bibble 4.0->5.0, for any photography buffs out there).

 

I'll admit that the fact that 5.0.x exists and adds promising new features is a key difference from my past experience, but I think the delay in releasing it has hurt the user base and forum discussion.

[oberkc]

 

I really wish we could find a way to stop doing that.

 

Paul

The temptation is oftentimes too great and most of are too weak and flawed.

[paulw]

It was very obvious to me that LeeG was missing.  Could always count on him for quick good advice.  Now you mention it io_guy also.

 

Not that I am on here all that much, but will surely miss them both.  Please, nothing negative about the rest of you, site has always been very helpful.

[oberkc]

I, too, noticed fewer LeeG sightings. I could never quite understand how someone could become so knowledgeable about all this without working for smarthome or something like that.

 

Another thing I noticed is that there are a few others that have started to demonstrate that crazy-high level of knowledge on the topic of insteon and the ISY. I still just shake my head in amazement.

[MikeD]

Have not used the forum for a while. It seemed strange not to see a ton of responses by LeeG.

I was just thinking the same yesterday.

[Michel Kohanim]

Off topic, philosophical, conjecture, ad hominem, abusive, jokes, bickering, PMs complaining about one another ... this will stop today and I will make sure of it.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[larryllix]

Off topic, philosophical, conjecture, ad hominem, abusive, jokes, bickering, PMs complaining about one another ... this will stop today and I will make sure of it.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

Thanks Michel!

 

Behind the scenes I had a discussion with Scott, about the term "ad hominem" as incorrectly applied. We feel it should be "negative ad hominem", since.

• "You're amazing!"

would be "ad hominem" (referring to the person) also.

 

I know this is hard for UDI or anybody, to be the policemen here, or any forum. UDI has been very tolerant and relying on the maturity of most of us to back-down when things feel personal.

 

BTW: For all reading this...you can always delete your post if you read it in the morning and think "OMG! What have I done?"

 

...and for those reading it, please allow that to happen by not quoting the negative ad hominem post.  That is as negative as the originator's words trapping the offender into a defensive position. (give them an "out" for the sake of the forum). This would also allow people to kindly ask the offender to delete their words. (olive branch?)