On a lot of forums, a newbie will pop in with a question and immediately get squashed with comments like "Use the search function" and "ANOTHER question on THIS," or just general ridicule for asking such a basic question. That doesn't happen very often here...and here's why.
We actually encourage newbies to ask questions because it creates conversation...it forces experienced folks to look at old issues in new ways, possibly prompting new approaches. That's where innovation comes from.
The search function is awesome (well, not the one vBulletin gives us, but adding site:hammockforums.net to a search engine's terms works well), but what's even better is NEW ideas...and the search function doesn't create those.
Here's a quote from one of my mentors about fundamentally transforming a very successful organization to approach a new mission.
The same idea applies to what we do. Just because something has been working for experienced hammockers for years doesn't mean we're doing it the best way possible...just that we've conditioned ourselves to think so.During my military career, I led at many levels, from a young officer in charge of a platoon of 30 soldiers to a four-star general responsible for the 160,000-strong international coalition in Afghanistan. Since my retirement in 2010, I’ve spent significant time working with leaders in industry, and I’ve learned a great deal from their experiences facing equally complex challenges. This exposure across fields and disciplines has left me with the fundamental belief that a large organization is inherently biased to look for its own image within its competition. Organizations, especially successful ones, refine their methodology to such an art that they lose the ability to see the alternative methods and approaches being developed by the competition. Their success makes them prone to miss new solutions to the old questions.
And we don't know that if we don't try to look at old questions in new ways.
And newbie questions help us do that.
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