Re: Check the Archives

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>

Hi,

I have answered many "newbie" questions, but I don't think I have ever
answered the same question the same way twice :o))  I try to tailor the
answer toward who is asking and their level of knowledge.  Often, I know a
little about their needs and I can direct the answer in a way that will
help 'them' the most.  I think they really have sort of looked around for
an answer, but just have not found it.  

These days, there are like 50,000 answerers to any question...  "Tesla
coil" gets almost 50,000 hits on Google.  If you search for "magnet wire"
at pupman, you get 2500 hits...  There are 334 sites on the webring...  Us
old timers remember the days you could never find a $*$%^#$# thing about
tesla coils unless you wrote lots of letters to Lindsay or information
unlimited.  And then, that precious fragment of information you got (six
weeks later) was probably totally wrong ;-))  Well, today it has all
changed!  Now there is "so much" information out there that you still can't
find a darn thing!

All the books and traditional "references" are pretty out of date.  Today,
no one wants to write a new book because it will be wrong six month later.
There are some great websites like:

http://home.earthlink-dot-net/~electronxlc/

That really hit the basics well, but there are still questions ;-))

Of course, the Tesla list, like any listserve, is a question and answer
forum.  Ask a question, get an answer...  Sometimes you get a lot of
answers that are all different, Sometimes you get no answer (a sign of a
"really good" question :o)))  But really, people ask questions because they
are stuck.  We have all been the poor guy that is stuck on some stupid
detail we can't find the answer too...  You can't ask someone to go dig
through 30,000 web sites for an answer you know exactly right off the top
of your head...

One sort of cool thing is that the "newbie" of last year is the "sort of
expert" this year.  Often, the simple questions can be answered buy the new
Tesla coilers, that are closer to the situation.  Many former newbies are
pretty darn sharp these days ;-))  We old guys sometimes get the heads in
the clouds (or up other places) pondering the effects of a 8nH inductance
of a gate wire bond in an IGBT package and its effects on switching
transients (Hey! That IS important and someday YOU may be asking it too!
:o)))  So, we may have to "pass" on today's "what does 'NST' stand for..."
but someone will catch it for us... ;-)

Remember the "advanced" Tesla list?  That list where all the experts were
supposed to gather...  I was so worried they would just sit there starring
at each other waiting for someone to ask them what an NST was.  They really
had nothing to talk about because they all knew the answers.   

I have a theory.  There are no experts without newbies to remind them they
are experts and there are no newbies without experts to remind them they
are newbies...  We really need each other to have any fun!!  

Of course, out of the 850(!) people on this list, only about 5% ever
post...  The rest just listen ;-))  If yesterday's answers were good
enough, we all would not be here checking the latest answers as of 11:44PM ;-))

Cheers,

	Terry