An appeal to all non-posting members
 

Folks,
I just glanced over the roster of our members: there is a lot of people who just sit on the sidelines. Some joined as recently as 2-6 weeks ago.
I would like to invite all of you to be brave and to post!
I have been a "newbie" and know how frightening it is to post for the first time: I felt I would say something that would cause universal laughter at my expence. It did not happen.
No matter how new and unexperienced you are, no matter how shy, please take a deep breath and plunge in!
Some of our posts are naive or just outright dumb ( I have contributed my share :D :D ), but the main pleasure in this enterprise is to exchange knowledge: everybody here will be delighted to offer help, advise and encouragement. I promise you: if you ask a question you will learn something new.
Even more importantly, I am sure that many of you know things about arms and armour, decoration, customs, ethnography, languages, history or mythology than none of us do. Please, contribute!
You are not only welcome, you are invited!
On the count of three, jump in!
ONE.... TWO... TWO AND A HALF... THREE!!!

Extremely well said Ariel!!!
I completely agree......and encourage everybody reading out there to join us. There is absolutely no reason to hesitate asking questions......we are all students here trying to learn together. While obviously there is a lot of experience around here discussing weapons, it has all been accomplished by reading, handling examples and mostly...asking questions.
What many do not realize is that the questions prompt the research that leads to answers or even more questions....in all.....learning.
Come on in.....the learnin' is fine!!!!! :)

All best wishes,
Jim

It's Funny
 

I have to admit to not having been nervous about my first posting here almost ten years ago .
It's only electrons folks . :D

I found the group to be warm and welcoming ; eager to help me learn .
That atmosphere still exists here ; I honestly do not understand why someone would join with no intention of posting ; why join when you can just lurk as a non member ? :confused:

Feel free to jump in ; the water's fine and always remember there are no stupid questions only stupid answers and you're not likely to get those here .

Rick

Hello All!

I have asked my share of strange questions and some that were simplistic. It's very freindly here and I have learned much. I lurked for a while before I joined and it was interesting but sometimes as a lurking non-member the question I wanted answred was not asked yet, bou when I became a member I found that I can now ask the questions and not just sit on the side-lines! I joined here when I was 14 years old and now am 15, I was nervous when I made my first post that I whould make a fool of myself.... But I did not! :D

Mark...

Make a fool of myself? I do it every day. I seem to carry it off okay as I am still in work :cool: .

Oh, my God!
Sorry for all the "adult" jokes, and my offer to go for a beer is rescinded! :eek:
Seriously, Mark, that young? I am a bit envious but wish I'd started with collecting when I was your age... All the best, kid! :)

Mark - you are our future and our hope :D - there was a time I thought I'm the youngest member of this forum, and thought the average age on this board is 50-60 years :eek:
Now I know I was very wrong

I only joined around 4 months ago. Previously I had never posted on ANY forum. The members here are friendly, informative and dare I say humourous. The forum staff are excellent, (give yourselves a pat on the back, boys :D ).

So I say, to all those who have considered posting a thread or joining the discussions........just do it......you wont regret it. ;)

< SNAP > Oww !!

I think I broke my arm following your advice Katana . ;) :D

Ah....the perils of ....self gratification ;) :eek: :D

Chuckle .....

In my case, this invitation would be like suggesting a madman to throw stones around :D As I have watched this forum so far, the people here are friendly and helpful. However, the questions I have are usually related to the historical usage of weapons and I hesitate to bother the members who seem to concentrate more on the collection side.

YOU MIGHT BE SUPRIZED AT THE WIDE RANGE OF QUESTIONS YOU CAN GET ANSWERED ON THIS FORUM. GRANTED MOST POSTS DEAL WITH COLLECTING ISSUES SUCH AS IDENTIFICATION,AGE, LOCATION AND TRIBE OR PRESERVATION. BUT MANY MEMBERS ARE CURRENTLY INVOLVED OR HAVE BEEN IN MARTIAL ARTS SO CAN ANSWER QUESTIONS ON TECKNIQE AND SOME HISTORY. THERE ARE ALSO THOSE WHO SPECILIZE IN HISTORY AND EVEN SOME WHO'S SPECIALTY IS LINGUISTICS. WE HAVE MEMBERS FROM SEVERAL DIFFERENT COUNTRYS AS WELL. OFTEN THEY ARE WORRIED ABOUT THEIR USE OF ENGLISH NOT BEING GOOD ENOUGH TO PARTICIPATE, BUT WHEN YOU CONSIDER MY POOR SPELLING,GRAMAR AND PUNCTUATION THEY HAVE NO WORRIES :D

SO HAVE NO FEAR AND POST AWAY WE MAY POKE FUN AT MEMBERS WE KNOW BUT WE DON'T MAKE FUN OF ANYONE OR THEIR QUESTIONS. JUST READ THE RULES SO YOU DON'T GET CROSSWAYS WITH THE MODERATORS AND ALL WILL BE WELL.

OK, give us a try... :D

Hah, well I have been coverted from long time lurker to infrequent poster.

huzza!!

By the way Ariel, did my etch solution work ok for you?


Will

Tried it on a very nice serrated Tulwar: zilch. Either I am a technical failure or it is not wootz.

Hello! Well I am 16 years and collecting. But mutch, I dont have just 2 dha/darbs but my 3rd is on its way! :)

Welcome Angren !
It's good to have you aboard . :)
Feel free to consult the Dha Guys about anything ; I can't think of a nicer bunch .

Rick

Almost as old as I am, welcome to these great forums! I will tell you, you will not find a warmer and friendlier forum than this one on the net ;)

To your luck, this forum has most of the dha/darb loving community posting on it, and they would be very glad to help you out with anything you need.

Welcome here William :)

Your not the only one around here my friend ;)

Hello,

Ive known vikingsword for a long time, and Ive just joined, I already posted a few times, but I must say, Im very familiar with this forum, its moderators, and its members.

HINT: im the guy right above...

I have a question for the young man formerly known as Mark Carter . :)

Do you have a first part of your name that you would like us to call you as we did your former persona Mark ? :)

A warm (re) welcome to the forum . ;) :D

Rick

hehehe... I really do not know what to say, I have no credibility anymore, as I am a pathological liar because of this 4 year long lie. :o

I wish to retain my former persona, "mark", in the minds of the board members, and resume to share my limited knowledge in my field, and continue helping with translations from arabic, but with a new name, my real name and character, Saqr, pronounced "Saggir". I wish you would delete my older account, and that I would re-start with this one.

Thanks for all the help Rick ;)

This has been an especially interesting thread, and it is rewarding to see the responses of members who have lurked :) and particularly those very young members. I had no idea of the youth of some of you guys, you all sound a great deal older in your mature manner of speaking and expressing yourselves. I am very impressed and as Wolviex wisely noted, you are indeed our future in our quest to further research on antique and historical ethnographic edged weapons.

The questions asked here perpetuate the research that is essential for us all to learn. By sharing data and newly acquired weapons we all gain from the knowledge acquired. It is like a monumental building project in which we all work together placing bricks, steel, mortar and constantly do so in concert with each other. Everyone has thier own areas of interest and expertise and specialize in matters accordingly. We have the dha guys, the keris krowd and lots of us that are sort of jacks of all trades.

I remember as a young guy collecting my first few weapons (one of my first was a Moro keris seen in a garage...I helped the guy sand down a Model A frame to get it!). I was so desperate to learn, but there were no forums, no wise old collectors to learn from, very few books around, and the few antique dealers were, uh, story tellers extraordinaire! What b.s.!!:)
I decided to start buying books from various mail order places, and building my own library to learn myself. Over the years, I bought every book I could find, even on topics that I never imagined would apply to my collecting, but found regulation military patterns were actually findable. Along with my rusty old keris, there were a number of assorted bayonets, mostly 50 cent items found in barrels at war surplus stores.
As years went by, and my library grew, out of probably sheer audacity, I started writing to various authors with my questions, thinking they would probably never write back. I was shocked! Many of these icons of early arms literature actually did write back! and over the years I became at least on friendly terms with these gracious gentlemen. Thier grace and patience in answering the questions of an empassioned young collector earned my deepest respect, and remains firmly emplaced in my regard toward authors.

By this same token, speaking to the younger members of our forum, who are clearly much more well versed and well informed than I was at that age, I wanted to tell you how much your presence here is valued, and I encourage you to not only ask the questions, but further the research. I deparately wanted to learn, and would have given anything to have a medium such as these forums. Now that I have reached the age that I am and gratefully learned a great deal, I find that I am still learning, and ironically much of it is generated by you young guys and the comments you make and the questions you ask!!
Regarding the note by Zifir concerning focus on collecting as opposed to historical discussion, they are both deeply connected, and the emphasis on one typicaly leads to the other. A weapon is acquired and the historical data is reviewed as we try to discover more on its origins, use and possible provenance.

For those 'lurkers', I suspect by your mere presence here that you have a great deal more knowledge already than you may realize on the subjects we discuss. We need your help as well ,as the questions you ask draw from that knowledge which you inately possess and often generate facts which may not be known or available to many of us.

Thanks everybody for enduring my 'trip down memory lane' :) and most of all for making this forum what it is, a sanctuary for learning among friends,
All best wishes,
Jim

Well then , Saqr it is and will be .

I suppose I could ban the old Mark Carter but that would be fruitless ; we certainly do not wish to delete your old posts so let us consider you reborn !
A Phoenix rising from the ashes of your old persona . We shall just let the old persona fade into obscurity Saqr .

From now on Mark Carter is history and he is reborn as you . :)

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jim , beautifully said on your part !
I was lost until I was directed here by Paul, a man who I have the highest respect and admiration for .

Through thick and thin from the days of Oakeshott this place has been my internet home . :)
I wish to thank all of you for your generous sharing of information over the years .
Most of all I cannot even begin to express my gratitude to Dr. Lee Jones for making this place possible .

Nice insight Jim, very good post, as usual. As you found the dealers to be story tellers extraordinaire, Im going through this stage now, and expanding my personal library and increasing my visual information in my field of interest, for me to learn continuously, and hopefully someday, end that with a publication, and get even with other people who continuously bugged me, looked down upon me, and even called me an "ass" on another website.

Saqr,
Glad to see you in your new reincarnation!
You DID pull our collective leg! :D
As for being called an "ass", in the academic world, the only way to stop being Ass Professor is when the promote you to Fool Professor :p :p
BTW, how many people here have not reach the voting age? Or, even more frightening, how many of the sword owners are still not allowed to drive a car? :eek:
I feel very, very old....
Be good, buddy!

Hear hear!
One thing I've learnt through my journey in life... is that one is never too old to learn! That often means asking questions or expressing opinions which, to some, appear simple/ stupid. But that is part of the learning curve. One should not be discouraged by detractors.I am reminded of one definition of 'expert': ex... has-been. spurt.... drip under pressure:)). A lot of real experts decline the tag. One great sage even went so far as to say: if on one's journey through life, one meets a person who calls oneself 'buddha'... quickly kill him.:D
Regards.

Bravo, Saqr! I started posting here under the psuedonym "chacon" and later changed to my given name. :)

I'll see if the forum software will allow me to merge your posts and personas in some fashion as simply deleting your "M.Carter" identity will delet all prior posts, I believe.