The Hexus Community Spirit!

[Andeh13]

I figured with the warning the we all got from tiggerai, we arn't showing any possible new comers/lurkers what sort of community Hexus actually is! I figured to offset it, it might be worth listing some of the things Hexus/Hexites have done for you since you've been a member? Any time you have come here wanting advice, computer builds, honest answers/opinions, a good laugh, gatherings or just somewhere to vent...post all & any times when Hexus has come through for you!

For me (I have several!):

Numerous computer builds over the last 5 years for myself & family. I basically come up with a price/needs...and then order the stuff you guys tell me. Then come back here a few days later and have a good whine/cry for help when I can't put it all together!

I have given loads of advice regarding an on going small claims case I have had to put together against my old landlord over him withholding our deposit!

I came on here asking for advice on a car I had my heart set on. 5 pages later I was convinced by the Hexus community to take a closer look at another car (Octavia vRS) and i ended up buying one a few weeks later, 4 months later I couldn't love it/enjoy driving it more! A definite benefit seeing as im averaging around 450miles a week!

When my 3 year relationship with my ex (mother of my daughter) tripped up a few months ago I needed somewhere to vent to unbiased people & Hexus came through. I got a dozen or so private messages offering someone to talk to/advice from fellow Hexites. Not only that when I became a father 14 months ago I couldn't believe the out pouring of best wishes & congratulations I got from a few dozen people I'd never met! A few months later us parents on here made some tepid demands & we were given our own forum!

A few months ago I set about building a carPC, something I've wanted too for a few years now(!), when I hit my budget & still couldn't get the damn thing to work two Hexites (kalniel & barker967) went out of their way to send me several computer bits to help me out, with no request for anything in return).

That's everything I can think up off the top of my head but I can probably name the majority of you for advice or help offered at some point in the last few years!

How about you guys? What makes you keep coming back?

edit: Removed several names just to keep it as general as possible, it's usually a team effort when advice/help is given & without listing all names I don't want anyone feeling overlooked!

[Disturbedguy]

About to go out looking for a car so not got long, so will update later.

But, no worries Andehh, all in a days work for DG

[g8ina]

Hmmmmmm, as my oldest son would say at about age 5, when asked what he'd done at school ...

"too many fings"

I've had several great discussions about health, esp relating to drugs (I have fibromyalgia and have had loads of support in here).

Photography one a day has always been very helpful, esp Bobster !

There have been tons of comments offering comparisons on hardware when I have been upgrading my PC.

On the other hand, I have been able to offer help with audio problems (cuz me was a pro audio engineer).

Its a great place !

[pollaxe]

I belong to the Stephen Fry forums and the behaviour/rules he asks for are:

• Kindly welcomes
• Genuine friendliness
• Consideration and appreciation of others
• Acceptance and friendship
• Intolerance only of rudeness and unkindness

These, I feel, are good rules for life (as well as being online) and ones I try to follow in both contexts.

I posted on Tiggerai's thread yesterday with a time for a 'group hug' photo. My intention for posting that was in a let's pull together/friend up/strengthen the community/be nice way but it wasn't really taken as such.. this, I suspect, is one of the pitfalls of being online when nuances/meanings/intentions can be missed or mistaken. Either my intentions were misconstrued or my post was not in line with the spirit of the thread. It was certainly intended to be.

I try to treat people as I would like them to treat me and I've seen many worse places than Hexus for the grumbles! I would say it's generally a very friendly, welcoming and helpful place (and long may this continue!)

Hexus has provided me with a huge amount of technical information. This has been when I've asked for it or when I've searched for something I've been looking for. If I can't find the answer then I never feel intimidated or bashful to ask the question directly. That, I think, speaks volumes for the community.

I've posted a few things technical (I remember taking some pics/explaining how Corsair H50s could be fitted in SFF cases in particular) or provided links to stuff that I've seen and think will help or be interesting. I also enjoy and participate in the discussions/banter & try to offer a 'welcome aboard' in the new user/welcome thread when I can. I don't touch the religious subject matter now as that tends to end up in a series of circular arguments and I respect the right of others to believe/disbelieve in whatever they want. If I don't offer a technical opinion it's either because someone has done it better, I don't know or I can see a wiser head about to comment on the matter. Again, I don't feel intimidated to offer an opinion on something if I think it will help or be of interest and that, as above, I feel says this is a healthy place to be.

[Disturbedguy]

Well I can't actually remember helping people on Hexus much, maybe my advice just isn't that great?

On the other hand I have recieved lots of help whether it be about hardware, software or just in general advice and such after ranting about stuff.

I have received advice from many, many people, but the one person that I wuold like to say thanks to is Finlay, helped me no end when looking for a car, point me to plenty of cars on Auto Trader and a massive thanks to him for lifts to LAN

Oh and Andehh for being someone to talk to and laugh with on MSN, maybe one day, I will get to meet you, in a none-gay-completely-manly-way of course!

[tiggerai]

Well done boys - this is what I like to see.

I'll post a bit more here about what HEXUS means to me...

[Lucio]

Speaking from personal experience, Hexus is one of the most useful sites I come to, not only does it keep me up to date with tech news, most of the people who post in General Discussion are helpful, kind and supportive, particularly when my life pretty much fell apart. Without this community, I dread to think what might have been.

[TAKTAK]

TBH, i don't think i could put down the amount of times i have been helped, purely because of the vast range of subjects i've been helped out with...

I still stick by thinking that the forums aren't as fun as they used to be...

What with Stew (is it really a year and a half now?), SteveB, Clunk, StaffsMike, Moogle, Webby (and many more) banned/left/moved on.

Matty doesn't get banned nearly enough nowadays ()

But then there are some great new members like Nibbler (the only name i can recall off the top of my head ATM [i blame futurama ]) etc

As well as a general decline in the amount of posting by Nick/Steve/DR/PD/Agent/Tigs etc etc, then again maybe i'm just missing their posts because i visit at a vastly different time to what i used to...

You just have to read through feisty (if you have that amount of time going spare ) to see the sheer amount of people who have drifted away...

Having said that, HEXUS is still jam packed with great people. Far too numerous to name...

[santa claus]

Sign of the times I suppose; in ye olden days this kind of community was generated in something we affectionately called "The Pub". The people in "The Pub" had less peculiar names and didn't have the luxury of anonymity. In the future "The Pub" will probably make a come back and there will be discussion about the days when we lived online talking to strangers just before we resumed our quest for the best porn and music videos.

In "The Pub" however, you would be berated for even mentioning a Skoda and summarily beaten up for wasting your time for "thinking too much about things". "The Pub" is for real men which women are allowed to adorn for viewing pleasure and fags were allowed to poison all the customers.

That's what Hexus has done for me: allowed me to continue with drunken-like ramblings with listeners wondering what the point of it all is. Luckily, in "The Pub" they were usually drunk and therefore could understand the profundity.

It doesn't quite work so well here. But that won't stop me .

[Behemoth]

I have to say that since I've been here on this very forum I've been made to feel more welcome than I have on others. On some forums when I have posted looking for advice/help/guidance or to just generally rant about something I'd get flamed for doing so.

Generally here it's all as I see it friendly banter which is great. Some of the advice I've had here from members has generally been very useful and has helped me out with my specific problem. I have to say thanks to those who have read my many rants about the job I no longer have and the support shown when I decided it was time to call time on the said job.

I can't really single out any one person in particular as there have been many of you who have helped me in the past, and for that you'll find that I'll spank the thanks when needed.

I've also put something back into the community, well I feel I have anyway. I forget who it was (AledJ I think) but someone wanted an AGP gfx card to see if his motherboard was faulty. While I could have asked for a few quid off him for it I said no thats ok, you can have it for nowt and don't worry about the cost of postage either.

I know I've said this before in similar threads but generally I only post when I have something funny/funny and interesting to say. I've always believed in quality over quantity.

I don't think anyone has had to warn me about anything other than a slight infrigement of the rules in the forsale section and it was only a very slight issue which I haven't made the misstake of repeating twice !

[Mike Fishcake]

Various pieces of advice on all sorts of things. From my car, to my PC, to gaming, even parenting and food

People have helped me out with queries for both personal, professional and family technical problems, saving time, money and frustration in the process.

A few more visits to my website, loads of links to good websites, and more often than not just a bit of a laugh.

There are loads of awesome people on here.

Which is why I fit in so well.

[sammyc]

Have gleaned a far greater amount of tech knowledge from HEXUS than I had when I joined, not knowing my mobo from my elbow. Not nearly as much as I'd like, but that is owing to time and a brain that won't absorb like a sponge but has to have knowledge dinned into it bit by bit.
Most of this is from reading other threads, some from asking for advice; the key thing for me being it is in a framework where everything is not so steeped in hardcore tech that I can't even get on at a low enough rung to work up from. There is GD for getting to know the diverse characters that make up the whole, many who (imo) err on the side of undervaluing themselves & their contributions, which is perhaps better than bigging themselves up - but I hope most know they are appreciated.

Hexus gives me somewhere to be a disembodied cyberweirdo in agreeable company - & many a good laugh, for which, thanks.

[Zhaoman]

Hexus is the first and only online forum I have ever joined. The reason I joined was simply because I found so many interesting information and discussions on here that I felt like I wanted to contribute and be part of it. I have never felt this way about any other site on the web, not even the website of my favourite band, or favourite game, or favourite sports team. I had been loosely reading Hexus articles and forum discussions for a few months before I joined and I think what finally sparked me joining was the god discussion of epic proportions in which, 'fuddam' especially, impressed me with really intelligent and inspiring arguments.

Since then I have discovered that fuddam is in fact just one of many and although I don't wanna single out individuals I really have to mention Saracen, Staffsmike, Cat-the-fifth (and there are many many more!) these guys and many of you guys may not realise it but I have learned so much from your posts. Be it a hardware problem, a political debate, a moral dilema, family issues, health and fitness, audio and sound, cooking even! I rarely feel the need to post because many people have already made great points in a better fashion than I could've done, and most of you guys on Hexus have something helpful to say and when you have advice it benefits everyone not just the person dealing with the issue. So I guess this thread is a brilliant way to say a great big thank you and what a great place Hexus is to be, I can't think of a better reason why I keep coming back.

So to all new members who have just made their first steps to Hexus, I would say you're in good company!

Hexus gives me somewhere to be a disembodied cyberweirdo in agreeable company - & many a good laugh, for which, thanks.

And the above is another great excuse to be part of Hexus!

[redddraggon]

The only problem with Hexus is that I am encouraged to buy more computer stuff than I really need.

[Behemoth]

The only problem with Hexus is that I am encouraged to buy more computer stuff than I really need.

That happens to the best of us though mate.

[jim]

My girlfriend's always moaning about Hexus, she reckons if I didn't post on here my PC would cost me half as much money as it does.

"You never wanted a 23" screen before you went to that damn LAN did you?"

I love you Hexus xD