Lots of things, in no specific order, learn from them if you choose.
1/ I see that since my departure / absence other have taken up the mantle of defenders of the faith, e.g. plain old hard engineering fact, and for their troubles are being pilloried in exactly the same way I was by those who either think they know better, or are just in it for the argument anyway.
2/ The idiots that followed me here from Usenet because I refused to play with them there any more (I'm letting the Court system do my talking, it's a lot slower and impersonal, but I get on with my life and they end up facing custodial sentences for breach of injunction) are a symptom of this.
3/ The net isn't what it used to be, anyone can get online now, for almost zero cost, and boy do they get online, and stay there.
4/ There is a thing called the Tragedy of the Commons, in times past in England we had "common land" which was owned by nobody, anyone could use it to graze their animals, which works fine until the check and balances are removed and someone works out that not only can they stick 5 cattle on the land instead of 1 and overgraze it, but that sooner or later someone else will figure this out too, so before it is turned into a dustbowl better get your animals up there first while the going is good.
5/ This "Tragedy of the commons" has come to the internet in general since about 1999, set up a new website such as this one and it is only a matter of time before those who have overgrazed their psyche elsewhere find your new pastures and abuse them.
6/ The Tragedy of the commons applies to personality too, ask Andy / T19, here is someone who I've had actual dealing with, real cash, real iron, real engines, he won't have anything bad to say about me. I've never met or talked to George at utterpower, but it is a no brainer to say that anyone who has shared real cash / iron / engines with the guy has nowt bad to say.
7/ The people I've been prickliest with throught my life are the same as those on here, no cash, no iron and no engineering, waste of my fucking time and everyone else's to argue the toss with someone who doesn't own a Lister, and won't either, back in the day running custom Harleys or other such, no end of dreamers who wanted to talk to you about what you were actually doing with your life, fuck them all off and reserve your time for those who were doing it or working on it, not those who were dreaming about it.
8/ I posted a picture a long time ago of a broken Lister crankshaft, and said here is what vibration does. Vibration kills machinery. That is not an opinion, that is fact, you either have the (engineering) education and experience to understand that or you don't, waste of time arguing with people who don't and who don't therefore have the tools required to learn why they are wrong, let the fuckers rubber mount their engines, they will pay the price eventually.
9/ Time to get real unpopular. George charges (I believe) ten bucks for his CD (which I have never seen) If you can't afford ten bucks for his CD you can't afford a Lister or anything else he sells. Same goes for this website and any other themed / subject website. The days of free access to stuff are gone, give free access now and unless you have a whole bunch of fanatical people involved in administration, such as Linux for example (and even that has its issues) then all you get is a Tragedy of the commons, which those who know nothing drowning out those who know everything a newbie needs to know, with those who will only ever dream and delude themselves drowning out those who are actually doing it for themselves. If you want this website to survive you'd better make it annual dues, no exceptions, no charter members, no dues no access, at a stroke you eliminate the Tragedy of the commons.
10/ Time to get personal and unpopular, Kyrdawg may be someone I could kick back and have a beer with and enjoy myself, but I don't have to go online to meet more people that I can do that with than I have enough remaining years for in my life, and I'm barely middle aged. For the purposes of this forum and that means Lister and Listeroids and ancilliary gear ONLY the guy is less than a waste of space, he is noise attenuating the signal and reducing it. He may be a lovely guy but he is as much use as a chocolate fireguard on this website, and people don't come to Listerengine.com to meet drinking buddies, russian bride, porn, or any of that other shit. I single him out only as an example, he is far from unique.
11/ Over the next few months, time allowing, I'll document what I am doing with my "mobile engine room" as shipchief called it, make it a proper engineering resource, but multimedia, lots of pictures and video and "how to" shit, no way will it fit on one DVD, but once done anyone handy with spanners can do the whole mobile engine room thing for themselves, and you can bet your ass I will be selling it for money and not giving it away and not giving anyone a forum to indulge in a Tragedy of the commons, where people who lack experience and knowledge can debate the pros and cons of flexible mounts etc etc etc.
12/ I didn't used to feel this way. I always believed in the net, and I still do. It is not about me getting older, it is about the net getting older. The net has evolved, I am evolving with it. Sooner or later all of you who are worth anything will get this.... You either have a community with a strong stakeholder participation like Linux, or you have a community with a financial incentive not to shit on your own doorstep, or you have a Tragedy of the commons where everyone who isn't doing anything with their life can come and play on your time.
13/ Get this, my life is so much better since I decided to tune out and drop out of all the usenet and http unmoderated forum side of things, I have hours more free time per day, I get shit loads more done, I have no stress cos I only use my time talking to people who are on the same wavelength or those who actually genuinely desperately want to know and learn about this stuff. It is as life changing as dumping some old harridan and getting yourself a new younger model woman. I am not kidding here folks. Instead of being in here arguing the toss about engine theory with people who don't know and don't accept that there is no shortcut to avoid the hard work of learning, I'm out there getting on with stuff and ticking jobs off the list and making room to add new ones.
14/ Those of you who have chatted in the past feel free to continue to do so, if you want copies of documentation or pictures or measurements etc email me, I am no longer going to provide everything for free to asswipes, so no public downloads for all and sundry, life's a bitch, so sue me.
15/ Don't PM me here, because today is the first time I've logged in since way back when, and I doubt I will log in again for some time, email me.
16/ I hope some of you with a clue will read all this and "get" what I am trying to tell you and pull something useful out of it, eg the Tragedy of the commons thing is here to stay and the only way to beat it is to eliminate that particular playing field. If this site goes subscription only I will reconsider my participation, until then my time is too valuable to waste it trying to weed out those who are real from those who are dreamers.
17/ Your time is at least as valuable as mine, how many hours of it have you wasted online arguing the toss with people who aren't prepared to listen? Or, if you are one of those seeking information, how many hours have you wasted trying to sort shit from shinola?
18/ Catch you all on the flipside, still drop by and (not log in) watch now and again, waiting for T19 to give birth to antique produced enhaust gases, expectant father style, he'll have that look same as my mate did in the video he posted, THAT SHIT is what makes the time rewarding, not arguing the toss with the unqualified.
19/ If anyone thinks this is all sour grapes because the old man of the sea didn't get enough people touching their forelock, then you really really need to wake up.
20/ catch you on the flipside.