Thread: hello and possibly goodbye!

Hi all,
As others have, I am introducing myself. Have been frustrated with my shaving experiences for years now and slowly working my way up to brushes, pre-shave oils, etc to improve things. Now I'm onto straight razors. I am learning a lot from the wiki and reading dozens and dozens of posts and trying to make sense of it all.

I think I will end up just being a lurker and not asking questions, as I am pretty sure I have already managed to post something that mods and others will find annoying. But I'll be around and thanks for all those (including the mods!) that provide such great information on this forum and contribute to the wiki.

k.

If you are referring to your RTFM rant in the other thread I don't think you need to worry about it. We have all been newcomers and suffered the same confusion and frustration in trying to make sense of it all. OTOH, after going through the learning curve some members volunteered hours to put together a FAQ and the info in the SRP Wiki as a resource for new and veteran members alike.

Many members answer the same questions over and over in spite of it being largely available in the fore mentioned formats or in the forum search option. Some answer cheerfully, others less so and still others say RTFM. Hang in there and keep at it and we'll see which of these alternatives you will take once you've got the learning curve done and are happily shaving with a straight razor.

Welcome and excellent idea. What did the great Abraham Lincoln say?...

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

I give up, what's a RTFM? Or Who's a RTFM?

Kaiyen, some of the mods can come across as being a bit humor challenged, so what you have preceived may not be imagined, but keep asking away. Moderator rants are always fun to read.

Read The Farking Manual

Originally Posted by Bruce

I give up, what's a RTFM? Or Who's a RTFM?

Kaiyen, some of the mods can come across as being a bit humor challenged, so what you have preceived may not be imagined, but keep asking away. Moderator rants are always fun to read.

Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

Welcome and excellent idea. What did the great Abraham Lincoln say?...

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

And I realize that my post may make myself appear a fool for now but hopefully not forever. But I will try to remain relatively silent (I have been putting questions into existing threads rather than starting my own).

This is a great resource. And as someone who has "graduated" from multiple other forums due to saying the same thing over and over I understand the frustration and honestly do my best to prevent me being the one to cause it.

anyway. take care.

My advice to you would be:

1. Do the ethical thing, instead of the aesthetic. If you say you're not going to post, quit playing up the martyrdom and just quit posting. Otherwise, post away but drop the "I'm just a persecuted but well-informed newbie" tack... martyrdom attitudes will not make you friends in real life or online.

2. Continue to read, and understand that there is no objective "This is right" razor. There are some "This is wrong", but beyond that we can't tell you exactly what you should buy. There are many, many choices but they should not be paralyzing. If you have really been reading here than you should understand that from a reputable vendor you cannot go wrong- have fun! If you have a severely type-A personality that needs a 'right' answer for this, perhaps some reading on pluralism or a trip to your friendly local counseling agency is in order.

3. Don't insinuate that the sets vendors sell are inferior product- they aren't- especially if you haven't purchased anything. You need to quit complaining that it is so terribly confusing, and then turning around and acting like you have the whole game figured.

4.Slartibarfast is one of the wisest guys I know.

5. Welcome to SRP. The experience will be what you put in to it. Your attitude affects your perception, and others responses to you. Think Heisenberg.

kaiyen, if you've got questions ask away. Some of the stuff isn't in the wiki or the faq and some of it isn't easy to find in the search archive. Many members here have no problem answering questions ...... some of them enjoy it. Also there being more than one approach you'll find differing opinions and that is always interesting. Right way, wrong way, my way sort of answers. Rarely a dull moment on SRP.

kaiyen,

We have done well indeed. By chumming the waters we have landed a Developer and two Moderators. Good work, good work, indeed.

So keep asking away about those things mysterious, worrisome or of concern or curiosity.

One of these days I'll read the Wiki and then I'll know everything too. Until then, we un-cognoscenti are pretty much in the same boat, chumming away, trying to catch that perfect answer.

welcome aboard and good shaving,

Thanks Bruce. :-). Not sure what you're thanking me for is a good thing, but at the very least, tongue firmly in cheek, thanks.

Benjamin - interesting use of the uncertainty principle. however, I doubt any amount of description of myself either via revealing questions of expository writing would provide sufficient data for even inferential analysis. But I get your point and like the reference.

This is going to sound like I'm trying to be a martyr but I really, really was not trying to do that. The forum urges people to say hello. I wanted to do my part. I am generally an active person of forums. But I was trying to say that I probably will just be quiet and read. In fact, I am now violating my decision to not write more in this thread in order to just let it die but only because I want to make sure that I say a couple of things:

1 - people will respond however they wish to what I say. I know that. I accept that. If I come off as whining then I apologize, truly. I do have my opinions on how people should treat each other on forums, though.

2 - As far as I can tell, Slartibarfast was defining what RTFM meant. I do not believe I have made any commentary against him. My perception is that he was merely defining it, not telling me to do it. As far as his reference to Lincoln, I was agreeing with it. I am acknowledging that I am making something known (whether that I am a fool or not is to the reader) but that I will in general try to remain quiet (current post excepted, of course).

3 - I don't think I have insinuated anything negative about the various vendors' products, have I? I honestly have no idea where that is coming from. I apologize if I said anything like that.

4 - I do not, by any means, have anything figured out. That's why I wrote the other post. I was empathizing with the OP about how hard it is to get started and get through all this information. I don't have anything figured out, and if I said something that suggested as much, then I apologize.

okay. I now promise to adhere to my earlier promise which I just broke :-).