Very succinctly put Craig,
I spend some time reading the Minelab forum, but more time reading the Minelab classroom forum. There is far less personal interaction on the former and practically none on the latter, with the exception of the, periodic recognition of technical and engineering expertise, paid to two major posters, Cody and Captain Kirk. I detect with Captian Kirk. He's one of the best I've seen. This doesn't suggest that he has superior skills to those individuals who post on the, "Friends," forum. This only means that I've not as yet had the opportunity to detect with those of you who post on this forum. I've been invited repeatedly, but schedule issues have kept me from taking advantage of the opportunities.
This forum resembles the very early, Citizen's band radio culture of the late 50's and early 60's where the interaction began in the use and exploration of a new medium and evolved into a social gathering place, much like the old corner drug store, with a fountain bar and marble countertop. Long lasting relationships developed from those early days in much the same way that they appear to develop here. The communication on this forum seems to be in order of content, social, practical, and technical. This is generally a very friendly forum, except for Elson. Jus' gettin' even with ya a lil' bit Elson. This forum wouldn't be the same without you.
Inasmuch as I'm probably more of an outside observer, the possibility might be greater that I could be a slightly more objective observer. No sociological observation is completely free from subjective interpretation, however.
I wish all of you the best for 2006.
Respectfully,
The Nutty Teacher & Tarantula Wrangler