The internets have been changing and those that left likely found a better use of their time. Some may have monetized their knowledge by becoming authors/trainers. Some may have simply realized that YouTube, Lynda and the like have become a much more useful venue for graphic learning than this forum limited to text and still pictures.

The exodus was not just due to the change in forum software. Forum hosts changed a bit. Cliques were shaken up a bit.

The attitude has certainly changed here. We can find many old posts where people admitted to being intimidated from posting here. They were afraid of some of the unprofessional behavior coming from people offering professional advice. Those intimidating regular posters are now managed with 'report abuse' links and a very loose registration system is now more welcoming to elementary posters (and too welcoming of spammers).

I'm not sure what you are talking about but if I complained about one of your posts and the moderators found no offense, what is your problem? Or are you upset that the moderators failed to censor something you are not proud of?  You are more than welcome to censor yourself.

I'm full of no one. Please do not hold me responsible for your nuttiness. 

The Intimidator is one of the key components that got the Trail Blazers the NBA Championship.(If you hafta look for it, you are too young! )

Don't dis the Intimidator!

"Some folks" would love to know what posts in particular you might be talking about.

When you posted that C=M=Y would make a neutral gray, I stepped in and told you that was wrong. I didn't respect your opinion or respond out of fear that what I'd read in books might be a solution looking for a problem.

Too many forums are filled with straight bull where no posters step in with the smack down. I, for one, appreciate our little club of overlords.

I find it totally ironic and disingenuous that you bring up the booksellers, when you yourself have plugins for sale that you can't resist dropping into every image you post. Your language reeks of contempt in a post aimed at ratting it out.

To address oneself as a software developer who makes plugins for Photoshop is a qualyfier towards future sales: Least that is how I read it. Maybe I am wrong.

It is not about who knows what and who is right or wrong – it is about attitude.

In the last few weeks not only has the challenge gone out of helping in here, there is a distinct attempt going on to take over the morals and standards of the forum to mould it into a sort of lovey-dovey Photoshop nursery.

Although a Photoshop "professional" is literally someone who makes his living from the product, in fact he has to exhibit more than that in my book. And professionals do not suffer fools gladly – they haven't got the time.

The sad fact is that, when the true professionals nearly all left, I stopped learning anything in here. Except that some people can be incredibly annnoying.

(Footnote: I am not a professional Photoshopper , I am a professional aerospace engineer.)

function(){return A.apply(null,[this].concat($A(arguments)))}

John Joslin wrote:

And professionals do not suffer fools gladly – they haven't got the time.

I know lots of IT professionals, and from my personal experience, they are like everyone else:  some are mild-mannered and don't get ruffled easily and some aren't and do.  (Interestingly enough, some of the kindest individuals when you get to know them in person have an uncompromising and confrontational alter-ego in newsgroups and forums!)  Time is not the issue. The most choleric of the experts waste an unbelievable amount of time arguing and exchanging insults.

As an absolute beginner with PS I have spent many hours reading the forums to answer my queries and pick up ideas.

Upon reading the start of this thread a quotation came to mind...

"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone"

So you are now the self-nominated spokesperson for this forum eh?

<walks off chuckling>

This forum has a perfectly good moderator.

It is superfluous to try and do his job just because a few people disagree with some of your statements.

Keep diggin' son — I'm outa here!

You just don't get it, Noel. You yourself assume the role of the greatest authority here.

You do it by the sheer number of posts.

You do it by the fake Photoshop logo in your avatar (which spells it out in case anyone misses the point).

And you do it by missing no opportunity to speak of your "long experience" as a "software engineer", and using that even when you're way out of your depths.

If you or others spread factually wrong information, I will say so. This is nothing personal. I don't care what you do on your own time. I don't care if you like me or not.

I care about what you are telling people.

Stop pissing on people who do large number of posts. KGLAD, in the flash forum has more posts than all of you combined. He is a tremendous assest to that forum and he freely shares his knowledge and does so with emmense grace. You could all learn from the man.

Not true, D. In the exchange where I attempted to run his version of monitor calibration, I came up with results that challenged, or at least, questioned the method with the results I found. Noel went back, re-examined the process and agreed with me.

Noel is assertive, as one should be when the occasion demands it. The best part of being assertive is it injects, when all the factors come to light, a way to test the premise, conjecture theory, whatever. If the information is couched in weasel words, nothing can be concluded except that the deduces are wild.