To Hobo and Grandpa I'm always gratified to find your posts in a thread. Your posts normally get to the crux of the matter. Grandpa, early on, your post concerning bandwidth and slots solved a problem for me. Have you ever considered writing a supplement to the LW user's manual (step by step setup of options)? Or, starting a NEWBIE THREAD and redirecting the query to the correct thread?
I've been using LW for about 1 1/2 years. Wading through the threads and weeding out "guess work" responses is a daunting task for a beginner (see my other posts). I practiced the old adage that "You aren't learning anything while you do the talking (or typing)". Finally, I had to post a few times.
Concerning freeloaders: Are we getting paranoid about sharing? Everyone was a beginner once. Where did the paranoids get the files they are so jealously guarding now? Of course there are freeloaders but there are more serious problems caused by sharing partial and completed downloads and replicating garbage. I never share these until I have QA'd them and then they go into my shared folders and not before.
I share on 2 machines (one or both at the same time) unless, like Hobo, I'm forced off by thunderstorms which causes power failures here or generates lightning to destroy modems, routers or NICs. I have no restrictions on numbers of downloads per person. If I have it, they are welcome to it, unlike the "I've got mine, you get your's" mentality.
I doubt that I have been considered a freeloader but I'm sure I've been accused of being greedy. The reason; I try not to share commonly available files. I'm always looking for those seldom available files which are only available semi-annually it seems. These Hosts seem to only be online on their birthdays or some such. When they are, I try to download as many of their files as possible and then share them 24 hours a day. Probably qualifies me as unmannerly but, my intentions are honorable.
I also take issue with posts LOLing about how upload attempts are thwarted. You don't know the situation on the other end. It could be your Grandmother! Not everyone out there is a professional like some think they are.
There. I've said it and I'm glad! |