@Danny

On this board you may discuss non-lighting related subjects, such as your other hobbies and interests, or anything else you would like to share with the community.  As always, discussions must remain respectful.  Please refrain from obscene, sexually explicit, or controversial religious or political matters.

Nothing I have seen in this section has violated these rules for a while, do you mind defining what you mean by "abused"? If these rules were to be changed, making this section only for "other topics of interest" and not for "anything else you would like to share", I can see how that has the potential to make this section less controversial, but of course that is subjective and we can't know for sure.

@Alex

great no we can ignore the cancer and feed it...

Honestly its pretty telling that on other forums i can upload daily, get in the area of 3-8 comments on average and non of them is junk! And here, i try to get back in every few months and either i get spam as a comment that i have to delete or nothing, meanwhile the off topic cancer is nurishedtothe maximum, and yes now i am doing it as well.
...(not gonna paste the rest of the comment in cause it was a little rough)

May I ask what other forums you are talking about? Do you mean lighting forums? Because if so I would definitely love to see it to compare. And yeah unfortunately there are always a few nuisance junk comments here from some users, but in my opinion it really doesn't cause that much of a hassle, and that is one of the risks that I knowingly accept being part of a forum.

I don't think that being able to ignore the off-topic sections could possibly make the situation worse, I mean I think it just benefits people that don't want to get involved with it. I personally would say it's a net improvement, even though I won't be using it.

Edit: I thought you might have deleted the comment yourself so I didn't comment on the rest of it, but that was not the case so I will do so here.
Like I said with RCM442, let's not insult people. No need to call people depressed, deplorable, mentally ill, unstable, incompetent, dumb, unwilling, or lazy. You as well are a relatively helpful and mature member on LG, and I was not expecting that from you. No offense of course but next time you try and prove a point let's try to do it in a more respectful manner. Obviously I have no control over what you say but I would like to think that you want LG to be a safe place for people.

@RCM442
I don't want to offend you at all of course, but discouraging posts about medical issues directly after talking about your own medical issues is probably not the strongest thing to do here, assuming you are trying to be a role model for the behavior of other members here.

Also, belittling the problems of others (no matter how insignificant you may think their experience was) can be considered unprofessional, I am sure you are aware you are in a position of responsibility here. If you saw someone else doing what you are doing right now, would you be tempted to step in as a moderator? No matter how valid an insult may be, the purpose is always to make someone feel worse, which is always unnecessary even if you think the other person deserves it.

a shame my carefully worded post disappeared because i got plenty of positive feedback by pm for it…

Oh, an earache? I had full blown ankle surgery yesterday! A tendon tumor that had gotten into the bone! A little earache is nothing and this post is pretty much clicking!
I too have ear problems but I don't go posting about all my complex medical issues on a public forum!

Soo a few days ago(last friday actually) I has an earache looked at. I am a cochlear implant recipient and my ear had been earaching on and off for a week! SOO that was a PROBLEM!  Anywho, the doctor sent me to the ER because they had an ear-nose-throat doc on call.... i was sent home in like 4 hours after I had arrived whith a prescription for amoxicillin. that is all.

Apparently those exist, and they have the benefit of eliminating the below-par teal (blueish green) reproduction of cool white LEDs. Those often have a bit of a gap between the pump diode direct radiation, and the YAG phosphor emission. And of course no blue emission above 440nm.

Has anyone ever seen this technology in real life? I attempted to buy some from Aliexpress - wide range LEDS supposedly putting out the whole 340-800nm spectrum. Of course i was sceptical and i don't expect much from 10 leds for €3,29 shipped to the Netherlands, but i do wonder if there are actual reliable sources, and if this technology is already in use somewhere.

What i received were bog standard plant grow leds with the 450nm pump diode and a red phosphor centered around 650nm.

Some of you might find this useful - ignoring boards.

great no we can ignore the cancer and feed it...

Honestly its pretty telling that on other forums i can upload daily, get in the area of 3-8 comments on average and non of them is junk! And here, i try to get back in every few months and either i get spam as a comment that i have to delete or nothing, meanwhile the off topic cancer is nurishedtothe maximum, and yes now i am doing it as well.

If I look at the off topic section or if i shown that of topic section to people who are interested in gas discharges and some lighting phenomena but are not strictly lighting enthusiast. The feedback is the same:

What a depressed deplorable bunch are you. At least half of you seem mentally ill or unstable, incompetent or dumb and unwilling or lazy... It seems as wonder that there are some functioning humans in there... 

So for me the best: stay out an laugh about it

@Multisubject the problem I see and everyone else I’ve spoken to sees is that this section is getting abused. It should be for discussing other hobbies, etc. but it’s getting used just for people to attention seek, vent, and talk rubbish.  It’s getting used more like a social media update on people’s life section. I won’t name other topics as not to cause issues but if you don’t see the problem, I really cannot understand how. However that’s your opinion on it, and you’re welcome to that.

Mechanical robustness against the external atmospheric pressure?

The most robust shape is a sphere, the least (assume smooth surface now) is flat panel. The curvature helps to make sure no part of the material is exposed to tension and no leverage amplifies any of the stresses.
These lamps use rather long internal structures, so true ball becomes impractically big.
The tubular has curvature only along one axis but becomes rather slim shape along the lamp working structures (the arctube with its frame and connection), elyptical across both direction, so it is stronger. Plus has its glass further away from the hottest part of the inner workings, so does not need to work at that high temperatures and that high temperature gradients.

On the other end the tubular means it could start from a tube - an easier format to make for a high volume production, which may make it cheaper even when eventually using a bit more material or requiring a bit more consistent structure. Elyptical requires more forming, which may make it more expensive for processing and more prone to defects that make it weaker.

At the end both are an engineering compromises, neither a "clear winner", their exact choice was dictated by the weaknesses and strengths of the particular plants and processes they originated from, but to big extend also the legacy - continue making what has been working and what people were used to in that area, e.g. also what the various fixtures became designed for (lamp anchoring mechanisms,...) and what the lamp engineers were familiar to work with (so they know what they can get away with and what not to do in their designs when using given shape, so avoid mistakes).

At this point the only reason I am still on LG is drama like this lol
My interest in lighting has turned into a broader interest for electrical engineering and electronics (but let’s face it, it was pretty much already like this, but I have learned a lot of useful information here and playing with lighting in general though)
I still like a collection of the big glowing things because I just find them cool, and I pretty much use LED and boring fluorescent exclusively.

Some of you might find this useful - ignoring boards.

We have enabled the SMF ignore boards feature.  When enabled, posts from the ignored boards will no longer show up in unread & recent, and the new post indicator won't show.  However, it will continue to be available on the home page for you to access.  To ignore a board, go to your profile and look for Ignore Boards Options under Modify Profile.