Steve

1 minute ago, Thalestris24 said:

Yes I know though I was admonished previously for trying to sell some things too cheap.

I doubt you were admonished. What you charge for something is none of our business. Perhaps someone suggested an item was worth more than your asking price. He/she probably thought they were being helpful. 

HTH

5 hours ago, Thalestris24 said:

In the past the moderators have stopped me selling too cheap or putting things on the board without prices 

How much you charge is entirely up to you.

We ask only that members not place for sale ads outside the buy/sell boards and, when an item is offered for sale, it includes a price. 

HTH

Yes 🙂

Quote

The Fluorite Floosies?

Nice title 😄

3 hours ago, Stu said:

I’m sure @Steve can fill in the history of SGL 👍

I should first say I wasn't there at the very beginning. 

In 2004, Ant wanted a convenient place where he and Russ could chat and share images, so he started a Yahoo group called Backyard Astronomy. Over time, others liked what they saw and joined. When membership reached around 100, they moved the group from Yahoo to a PHP-style forum and renamed it Stargazerslounge. I think Ant came up with the name. The forum then went through a significant change following the arrival of Grant with his knowledge of PHP, website design and astronomy. As the forum grew and costs increased, FLO became the forum sponsor. FLO continues to cover all of SGL's costs. 

The ADMIN team has changed over the years. Ant has moved on but still logs in occasionally as a regular member. I think Russ does too. Grant, Daz, and I continue as ADMIN. The mod team also changed over time. The current mod team have several years of experience and all were long-standing members before becoming mods. 

But Spock is right. SGL is, first and foremost, a community of astronomy enthusiasts. The forum is you. Without you, SGL would cease to exist. 

I think next year is SGL’s twentieth anniversary. I’ll ask Ant. He and I are overdue for another get-together. 

HTH

Hi Ron. Hope you are well 🙂

Being a specialist astronomy forum, StargazersLounge avoids many of the problems and shenanigans associated with larger social media platforms. But it is not immune. 

Recently, someone joined, claimed to be a young lady, and began messaging members directly. The conversations became inappropriate, so the user was reported to us.

He (almost certainly a 'he') is now banned from using the forum. But he might return with a different username, so we ask you to be vigilant. 

Please don't assume someone messaging you is who they claim to be.

Please be especially wary if you are asked to share personal information or are invited to send/receive messages via other platforms. 

Please report suspicious posts or inappropriate communications to us. We will then investigate and take appropriate action. 

I see this discussion was unavailable for a few hours. It is now restored.

This was not a result of any moderation or admin decision. It was an error made by the original poster. 

21 minutes ago, Don Pensack said:

By the way, that thread has 602 posts, and it is only 1 of over 200 threads containing posts about the eyepieces.

Don, @John is a moderator for Cloudy Nights, so he is familiar with your posts there 🙂

I think John is looking for opinions from UK/SGL owners. 

8 hours ago, Paul M said:

I'll not bite on theology. 

Well done, that man 🙂 

We don't have theological arguments at SGL. 

We noticed he wasn’t posting so, fearing the worse, tried to reach him a number of times. We are sorry to hear our fears confirmed. John was a good man who will be missed by many. 

Gentlemen, the OP appears to live in Bolton UK (not Bolton Massachusetts or Bolton Canada) and is looking for eyepiece recommendations. 

Please stay on topic 🙂

I started my astronomy hobby with a number of made in Japan Series 3000 Plossl eyepieces. They were very nice. Cheap too! Manufacturing later moved to China. I hear Chinese-made versions were not quite as good as Japanese-made but I never had an opportunity to compare so cannot confirm. Mine had rubber grips. 

HTH

8 minutes ago, Steve Paterson said:

Hi Olly, is there a way I can check if he's in this group, like a member search function?  Apologies if it's obvious and I've missed it - been a long day!

There is not. Even if you were to find a username the same that does not necessarily mean it is the same person. 

1 hour ago, Steve Paterson said:

I bought the camera from a member of the Facebook group 'Secondhand Astronomy Equipment UK - For sale /Swaps / Wanted' who, as I mentioned before, has washed his hands of the problem saying it's easily fixed online and no refund offered. 

It is best you discuss this with the Facebook group.

I can imagine how frustrating this is for you but please do not use SGL for naming / shaming someone on Facebook. 

This is a good and important conversation but a difficult one to have without including politics.

We don't want to close the conversation so please, everyone, try to focus on the economics. Not the politics. 

On 01/05/2022 at 21:07, Jonk said:

Can I suggest something? Once you have a shortlist, could you list them and put them to a vote?

1 caveat could be that you cannot vote for a site that's within say 50 miles of where you live. I think that this was it would be fair and would encourage people to choose somewhere based on what it offers, rather than how easy it is to get to.

Ideally we will find a site close to someone in the SGL admin or mod team. A local with knowledge of the area who can make arrangements if required. 

Thanks for the suggestions and recommendations. We really appreciate them. We are confident we will together find a suitable site for future SGL star parties 🙂

3 hours ago, F15Rules said:

In case US based amateurs don't know, the UK astro community has a wealth of very experienced observers, of many years standing, who are well qualified to give good, sound advice on equipment, based on practical experience and sharing of ideas within communities such as SGL (and, occasionally, on CN and others too).

Just sayin..

Dave

^ Thank-you 🙂

At SGL a retailers opinion, any retailer, is not considered inherently more worthy than a members opinion. 

12 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

How so?

I don’t know. It is something I have always assumed. Curved glass bends light, causing it to act as a prism, separating light into its components. If the lens is larger/thicker then it is more likely to act like a prism as light passes through it. And if the resulting refracted light must travel further then colour separation will be more pronounced when it arrives at the Crown element. 

This is only my amateur understanding. Am happy to hear I am wrong, then learn the real reason 🙂

When a 60 f6 optical design is increased in size to 80 f6 then the larger telescope’s lenses are thicker and spaced further apart. I imagine both factors would increase optical dispersion. It would explain why smaller aperture scopes are less prone to CA. At least I think it does… 🙂

3 hours ago, Geordie mc said:

Am I a grumpy old git? Yes!

Your post is a good example of how difficult forum moderation can be.

Is your post a product review. If yes then we have a board for that. If you post there then we ask that you write individual reviews of products you own.

Is it a dealer / supplier review. We have a board for that too but, so far, you haven't mentioned a dealer / supplier. Perhaps ZWO is your supplier.

Are you dealer / supplier bashing. Your post appears to have been typed elsewhere then cut / pasted into SGL. Are you posting the same at multiple forums. We don't allow dealer / supplier bashing. 

Are you trolling. You have been a member for some time so will be aware there are a lot of happy owners of ZWO products at SGL. They are probably wondering if or how to respond. Fortunately I see you have not previously been reported for trolling so I think it unlikely.

Or is it simply a late night rant from someone annoyed at ZWO's rapid product development. 

Quite a conundrum... ! 

Whatever it is, can I remind everyone it is Christmas so not a time to be argumentative or grumpy 🙂 

4 hours ago, mackiedlm said:

Does anyone have hands on experience with the Altair 26M camera. (Please note I'm only interested to hear about the Altair version, not the ZWO, Rising Cam or others and only the Mono - not the colour version)

Please let's respect the OP's wishes and discuss only the Altair 26M. 

We have removed multiple posts discussing the US retail tax system. 

Please stay on topic. 

The OP's question has been answered.

The conversation is now veering off course so has been locked!