When did you join the Naim forum?

I joined 17th March 2001.

I bought my first Naim equipment, and (LP12), directly from Naim, well, actually Julian himself. Round about 1976. So, about 25 years before I realised something called a "Forum" existed !

I could almost have started a thread about entry into the EEC at that time had I known

cheers Don, over 40 years Naim ownership and interest, there's probably not many other brands - cars, TVs etc that you have now that you had in 1976?

.sjb

Sloop John B posted:

cheers Don, over 40 years Naim ownership and interest, there's probably not many other brands - cars, TVs etc that you have now that you had in 1976?

.sjb

Mercedes cars..... although that might have been 1977

Cheers

Don

When I joined the Forum, some years before the date in my profile - I left for a few years and then returned - it was a really good place to frequent, interesting supportive people and a huge diversity of subjects. Nowadays it’s different - populated by people wanting instant fixes to their problems, incapable of helping themselves, endlessly repeating questions that have been answered umpteen times. The Padded Cell, previously the best part of the Forum is now mindless jokes, endless reactionary drivel and little else. Too many people with chips on their shoulder, those with more money than sense, obsessives, dullards and bigots. There are some lovely people of course but they are few and far between. It’s a pretty miserable place and there are far better alternatives. Good riddance I’d say. 

Around August ‘99. I plonked myself down in a seat in an internet café, the Gulf Centre, al Khobar, and used the net for the first time. I hadn’t a clue what to do, so typed “Naim Audio” into the address bar. Somehow I ended up registering for the forum! I still use the email address I used back then

HH,

That’s quite a damming description of us folks. Surely nearly everybody on here loves music and especially playing it in their own homes. The differences between people pales in to insignificance when pitted against our shared emotional connection with music. We are in a minority and we should celebrate our eccentricity.

Ray

hungryhalibut posted:

When I joined the Forum, some years before the date in my profile - I left for a few years and then returned - it was a really good place to frequent, interesting supportive people and a huge diversity of subjects. Nowadays it’s different - populated by people wanting instant fixes to their problems, incapable of helping themselves, endlessly repeating questions that have been answered umpteen times. The Padded Cell, previously the best part of the Forum is now mindless jokes, endless reactionary drivel and little else. Too many people with chips on their shoulder, those with more money than sense, obsessives, dullards and bigots. There are some lovely people of course but they are few and far between. It’s a pretty miserable place and there are far better alternatives. Good riddance I’d say. 

The forum is cyclical, the only way to cut down the influence of chip on shoulder, more money than sense, obsessives, dullard and bigots is to make sure they are countered. I hope you are not thinking of leaving us with the change of forum, we've lost too many stalwarts already.

.sjb

August 9, 2009.  Was fun while it lasted.

1st Jan 2012 for me.

thebigfredc posted:

HH,

That’s quite a damming description of us folks. Surely nearly everybody on here loves music and especially playing it in their own homes. The differences between people pales in to insignificance when pitted against our shared emotional connection with music. We are in a minority and we should celebrate our eccentricity.

Ray

If that’s all there was to it I’m sure HH would love the place.  

Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, Paul Stephenson, Malcolm Steward, another gent whose name I can't recall and I were the first members of the forum hosted on CompuServe. A few months later we grew from 4 members to ...well, you know the end of the story.

31/07/2011 

Onwards and upwards!

Now let us save some of the bickering for the new forum otherwise it's gonna be mighty boring!!

New forum?

Yes, didn't you get the email?

September 20, 2007

Became less interested in the Hi-Fi corner as time passed on and I eventually ended up in the photography thread in the padded cell. Nice people who who post nice photos to be found there.

I joined in September 2014, at the time of buying an ND5XS, following which I have learnt much, both about Naim and other things. Interesting forum, with some members very supportive on technical and support matters, which I have tried to emulate as my contribution - other aspects variable.

Love of music, even the same taste in music, of course is absolutely no guarantee of similarity or compatability oc any other aspects of people’s characters, which makes it a fascinating place, but at the same time can be very fraught when it comes to anything relating to either politics or people’s principles and values.

I “rose” to a “community rank” of 61, whatever that means (essentially too much time spent posting?), and learnt to respect and value some members’ contributions, some very much so, whether or not I always agreed with them. I also gleaned some disturbing things about others, based on the persona they present (which of course is only as real as they want it to be) - but the least said about that the better. I hope the new forum builds on all the good things of this one, and that I will meet you all again on the other side... 

dave simpson posted:

Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, Paul Stephenson, Malcolm Steward, another gent whose name I can't recall and I were the first members of the forum hosted on CompuServe. A few months later we grew from 4 members to ...well, you know the end of the story.

Nice to see you are still lurking Dave.

November 2007.

November 2001.   Right after my dealer Vinyl Valet liquidated and sold me a demo Naim CDSII, along with a Joule Electra Output Transformer-less tube setup.

BtB Aug 2015,

Forums and the internet in general allow us to present a more polished, supersized and beefed up version of ourselves, closer to the person we would like to be than who we actually are.  If we do have a chip on our shoulders it becomes a chunk, if we are turning a bit Victor Meldrew then we appear more miserable and more of a git and if we are a really nice agreeable type then we can appear a bit too sweet but for all that or perhaps because of it, it can be slightly addictive.

As someone who dislikes  TV the internet and has given me a place to unwind and as someone who is both scared of and dislikes social media in equal amounts this and other hifi forums are a safe place to visit in anonymity if I wish and best of all people do not feel the need to tell me even the most intimate and boring details of their every minute.

So all in all it hasn't been a bad place to hang out, I have enjoyed crossing swords and exchanging ideas with some and dismayed at the things others have to say but there are doughnuts everywhere in life, I live and work with them everyday just ignore them when you can and be careful when you can't.

I originally joined due to this (Aug-11):

https://forums.naimaudio.com/t...iti---delivery-times

but stayed later mostly for the music tips although I have received valuable advice for other matters too during the years. 

So, did it ever arrive?

Enlisted 21st April 2003. When Superfast Broadband enabled streaming was but a twinkle in Mr Branson’s eye...

I joined in December 2000 gosh was it really that long ago!!