[meteorite-list] Cloudy Nights Space Rocks Forum

From: Galactic Stone & Ironworks <meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:51:56 -0400
Message-ID: <e51421550908211351j3ad05539l9bc5efdb30e25163_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hi Walter and List,

I just wanted to comment on a couple of points that Walter raised
about Cloudy Nights.

First, Cloudy Nights (CN) is not a competitor for Art's List. It is
more of an accessory to it, from a meteorite standpoint. CN is a huge
forum system with a daily traffic count that dwarfs that of most email
lists. The focus over there is on visual astronomy, astrophotography,
and gearheadism (technical and optical discussions) - meteorites is a
small part of it. While the audience on Art's List is more advanced,
many CN members are new to meteorites. So expect fewer technical
discussions on meteoritics and more question/answer discussions about
the fundamentals of collecting meteorites. It's not a bad thing, it's
just different than this List in terms of audience.

Secondly, CN welcomes vendors, including meteorite vendors, but they
must adhere to a strict set of vendor rules that restricts some
behavior more than general non-vendor members. For example, the
forums are for discussion, not promotion or sales - so vendors or
members cannot sell in the forums outside of designated areas - like
the Shop and Swap (no vendors) or the Classifieds (vendors welcome).
The Vendor forum is set aside for announcements and news from vendors,
and not for general sales. Most members of Art's List who are
dealers/vendors will discover that they have much more freedom and
lattitude on this List than they will have on CN. If one agrees to
abide by the rules, then CN is a great place to discuss meteorites,
and sometimes sell them as well. But those who come there solely to
sell meteorites will find themselves disappointed because they will be
limited to secondary areas of CN which are lower in traffic and
generate few sales. (Vendor forum, Classifieds, etc).

What CN does offer to the meteorite community is a positive,
family-friendly place to discuss meteorites without foul language,
flaming, advertising, politics, or other distractions - something
which is a rarity on the internet. Although, to be fair, this could
easily describe Meteorite Central on it's better days when the
distractions aren't rampant.

I'd like see more meteorite collectors who are also interested in
astronomy to come visit CN and say hello. But I don't ever forsee a
time (or need) for CN to compete with this List.

Best regards and clear skies,

MikeG

(Glassthrower on CN)



On 8/21/09, Walter Branch <waltbranch at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> Hello Everyone,
>
> As a follow-up from yesterday's posting about the website Cloudy Nights, I
> would like to invite fellow Meteorite Central list members to check out the
> "Space Rocks" forum at Cloudy Nights. Not as an alternative to Meteorite
> Central, but simply as a nice place to visit and post. The members there
> are very friendly congenial and are eager to learn and share information
> about meteorites.
>
> Meteorite Central list member Martin Horejsi (aka, Dark Matter here; Zagami
> there) has a very delightful and informative (when is Martin not
> informative - he is better than Burks' Cosmic Debris) running column titled
> "A Few Good Meteorites" featuring fantastic pictures and text about old,
> historic meteorites. If you have not seen this, you are missing out on what
> could easily be published as a book about historically, scientifically and
> culturally significant meteorites. It's that good!
>
> Here is a link to the Space Rocks forum:
> http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php/Cat/0/Board/Metorites
>
> Other areas of interest on Cloudy Nights include a Vendor's forum (including
> meteorite vendors):
> http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php/Cat/0/Board/vendorann
>
> And Classifieds and Swap-and-Shop sections (including meteorites).
>
> BTW, there are no selling or listing fees and no membership fees when you
> join Cloudy Nights.
>
> Of course for those of you with an interest in Astronomy (like me) there are
> also forums devoted to lunar and planetary observing, deep space and double
> star observing, equipment and eyepieces, binoculars, telescope-specific
> forums, astronomical art (which I like), sketching (which I am getting
> into), among others.
>
> Anyway, at least check out the Space Rocks forum. It's really nice.
>
> -Walter Branch
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Walter Branch" <waltbranch at bellsouth.net>
> To: "Richard Kowalski" <damoclid at yahoo.com>; "meteorite list"
> <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Friday, August 21, 2009 4:12 PM
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Trim Saw?
>
>
>> Hi Richard,
>>
>> I hope you are not planning on using a tile blade with that saw. The kerf
>>
>> will take away a large portion of any meteorite you cut.
>>
>> -Walter Branch
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Richard Kowalski" <damoclid at yahoo.com>
>> To: "meteorite list" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
>> Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 9:11 PM
>> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Trim Saw?
>>
>>
>>> Awhile back I asked this list for comments on trim saws. I got a number
>>> of comments off list and at least one person asked for an update once I
>>> decided on a saw.
>>>
>>> I just ordered the Husky 7" Wet Tile Saw from Home Depot
>>>
>>> http://tinyurl.com/lofh24
>>>
>>> It seems to have a pretty good user rating (4.4 out of 5 stars, 18
>>> ratings) and is currently on sale for $126.88 with free shipping. It is
>>> only available online and not in their stores.
>>>
>>> Unfortunately for those of you that live in Alaska or Hawai'i (or outside
>>>
>>> the US for that matter) it isn't available to you.
>>>
>>> Since I have to re-tile my bathroom, I can justify this saw a little
>>> easier!
>>>
>>> Thanks for all of you who gave me input.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Richard Kowalski
>>> http://fullmoonphotography.net
>>> IMCA #1081
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ______________________________________________
>>> http://www.meteoritecentral.com
>>> Meteorite-list mailing list
>>> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>>
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>
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-- 
.........................................................
Michael Gilmer (Florida, USA)
Member of the Meteoritical Society.
Website - http://www.galactic-stone.com
Personal Site - http://www.glassthrower.com
FaceBook - http://www.facebook.com/galacticstone
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..........................................................

Received on Fri 21 Aug 2009 04:51:56 PM PDT