I have been a regular (daily) visitor to the forum now for well over a year. In that time I have learnt a lot of things I didnt know before, had some prety intersting debates on vastly varying subjects, and whitnessed some prety amazing acts of human kindness (the crowdfunded christmas prezzie thread thing)

So, tell us what STW has done for you. I expect all the usual jokes to be in there about woodburners and Audis and expensive watches, but hopefully some real feedback too about what each of you get out of it.

For me, I have learnt…

I do not neccesarily need a tv licence
I found a new IT supplier for our business
Where I am going to move to next
There is no such thing as a 4k HDMI lead

I found a load of lovely folks to ride with!

I found a load of lovely folks to ride with!

Needs a like button

I found a load of lovely folks to ride with!

😉

10% of members ride bikes
104% of members are middle management IT
Power Kites are not acceptable presents
30% of users now own old fashioned razors
We have some wood gods amongst us
We have a lot woofers
Everyone likes coffee
I’m not as addicted to Zwift as weeksy

Personally I’ve met a few members, learnt some useless tosh that passed the time enjoyably and bought and sold a lot of bike related gumpf.

Middle aged blokes really like arguing about Brexit/Driving standards/Crown races.
I am a lot closer to the middle of the spectrum than I realised.
It’s much more amusing looking from the outside in.

Never, ever, go out with Louise.

It’s the recommendations when you’re about to buy something that have helped me the most.

Recent purchases for me going on STW recommendations:

BT Headphones
Portable charging pack
Debit card for use abroad
Accounting software
Present for son at Christmas
Snowboard mittens (waves at howsyourdad1 if he’s reading)

All have been from good recommendations from here – rather than online reviews.

EDIT: Oh and I’ve had a few jobs from here in the last few years, so STW has helped pay my mortgage as well. 😀

EDIT: Oh and I’ve had a few jobs from here in the last few years, so STW has helped pay my mortgage as well.

Wow, beat that if you can!

I have had some very good technical info on a wide range of subjects.

I have bought some great value second hand parts

I have had my views challenged robustly and have changed some of those views as a result.

I really value the latter. FB is an echo chamber and friendship groups tend to be as well. STW is not and being exposed to a range of views is very healthy IMO

How to clean a cat covered in sudocreme.
Do not argue with stupid.
Do not start discussion on Brexit or Driving.
Do not lease a car from Ling
Do not buy from Superstar Compenents
Don’t post a pic up asking for some photoshoppage

Have you unblocked THM then ? 😛

Do not lease a car from Ling

?? I thought the consensus was its ok to buy a car from Ling? Or are you trying to sumon her back to the forum?

Ling
Ling
Ling

I’ve got refunds from BT and Scottish Power because of STW.
Someone stopped me totally **** up my wood floor.
I’ve even been told how to change the defrost duration on my chocolate cabinet.
All stuff that you can’t find by simply googling.

Helped me through Prostate Cancer – found some other members who had been through same, now they are very good friends and we have, with STW and sanny, raised awareness of the disease in younger fitter men than the usual demographic and raised a chunk of charity money to boot.

Oh and lots of great bike and non bike advice 🙂

chocolate cabinet.

What the hell is one of those??

I have got some good friends. from here.

Helped me through Prostate Cancer – found some other members who had been through same, now they are very good friends and we have, with STW and sanny, raised awareness of the disease in younger fitter men than the usual demographic and raised a chunk of charity money to boot.

Imagine all the time you’d have & how few bikes you’d had if you’d never been here

chocolate cabinet.

What the hell is one of those??

You had to be there, man.

I’ve learnt that I definitely won’t be ordering a car then backing out and posting about it online.

I’m also 20000% less productive than I used to be.

For me, the best one was getting some advice on how to fix an electric garage door – what I expected to be a £2k+ job to replace the whole system as it was completely dead turned out to be the cost of about 89p for a fuse (I had no idea the base units had internal fuses inside them).

STW advice effectively picked where I live and where we went on honeymoon.

…and thousands of other bits of useful advice/opinion/nonsense over the couple of decades(!) I’ve been a member.

(Very rarely about bikes though!)

I got a 9999 year ban.

During that that time I lived many lifetimes. Now I’m back.

Mainly, it’s something to do during the day. Not much else keeps me occupied doing my boring job. Bloke next to me browses news sites all day. I like to “interact”* 🙂
Also –
Discovered new music through the you-know-what thread.
Ridden with great people. Keep planning to do that again, but life gets in the way.
I have only used STW to help with one purchasing decision – Tripster. Everything else I choose myself, without asking which <insert item here> to buy! 😉

*annoy

The varied advice and information share is second to none, theres pretty much no question that you can’t ask and receive some form of help and assistance.
Don’t argue with Big Hitters.
Always speak your mind on any thread, it’s your opinion/contribution that is important.
That the forum goes through phases, some folk go some stay some are new and some have been here since water was invented. Its the colossal make up of the place thats fascinating.
Don’t get wound up on a thread, be clear about your thoughts and opinions, those that antagonise/troll are only 11 inches tall and still going through puberty.

I’ve learned that most people, when it comes down to it, genuinely want the best for their fellow humans. They just *love* to argue about what that is until it comes to the crunch when they all pull together and show what a good community this is.

As with DezB – it passes the time quite effectively.

I found a new IT supplier for our business

Who did you pick in the end? (chances are, I/my employer supply them…)

I profited grossly from selling a lifestyle device.
Introduced me to Jedi, which in turn had a hand in me to meeting the future MrsTomhoward.
Road bikes
Gravel bikes
Posh calculators
Provided entertainment during hospital stays…
Sharpened my arguing technique…

I bought 2 bikes from people on here and both of them went above and beyond to help me out with my various questions. It restored my faith in buying second hand parts from strangers so thanks Wwaswas and Teamslug, both bikes are running like a dream and are still too good for my abilities.

Advice received about stuff
Sold stuff
Talked about stuff
Argued about stuff
Learnt that footflaps shares the same taste in music**waves**
Learnt that Binners is a cool dude who likes Roller Skates (which is jolly splendid) 😀

*blushes* thanks blader1611 🙂 Glad to hear it’s still going strong!

Oh, and some artisanal trousers

Learnt the following

to not let any of you use my shower 🙂

Mumsnet.

The north.

Fatbikes

raised a chunk of charity money to boot.

+1

I milked my X-factor worthy sob story to raise several grand in aid of Anthony Nolan; blood cancer charity.

Thank you. 😀

The varied advice and information share is second to none, theres pretty much no question that you can’t ask and receive some form of help and assistance.

agree and the possibility of relentless ridicule 🙂

Everyone likes coffee

Must be the exception I hate the stuff

Big Bike Bash has been a great thing that came out of STW

alexxx – Member
Power Kites are not acceptable presents

We only have the word of others, the concept hasn’t been thoroughly tested.

E-mail in profile.

This year, amongst other things, I got to find out what a thoroughly decent chap Ambrose is and really enjoyed meeting up with everyone at Hit the North.

Yours
Kiteless but happy,
Pete.

Calmed me down a bit.

Met a few off here. Geetee, ton, beef hat, fred (!)

Group ride Swinley before the built trail stuff (can’t remember the names).

Calmed me down a bit.

Er…

gofasterstripes – Member
I found a load of lovely folks to ride with!

And then he moved across the sea to avoid doing so 😉