@Danny
Don't feel pressured to respond, I just want to make my intentions clear.

When I say "some topics should be deleted", what I mean is that they should be deleted when they violate site rules. Again "topics that just do not need to be posted" is a very broad category, and I can't even begin to imagine how the mods would try to enforce that, though I do know what kind of topics you are referring to.

Members leave, and usually when they do leave they mention something horrible about the off-topic section. This is undeniably a bad thing, and like you I would love to have that not happen.

From what I am seeing, this starts by someone posting a topic that someone else deems to be uninteresting or otherwise unfit. That then prompts a user to make a comment criticising the user who started the topic. This starts a conflict between the people who defend the post and those who are against the post.

In my mind there are two ways to solve this:

1: Prohibit members from posting topics that others may or may not consider to be uninteresting/unfit (how do you enforce that?).

2: Prohibit members from making disrespectful comments on topics that they personally dislike or find boring (pretty enforceable).

In my mind, solution #2 is better. But either one will probably work, and you seem to like solution #1. And so does @RCM442. I don't think restriction is practical or desirable but that's just me.

@LightsAreBright27
I think on Discord servers people are more likely to be nicer to each other because it is more of an instant short message type of platfrom rather than a forum. More like a conversation.

This seems to be mostly a US problem, in other Europe most of the time clear lamps are tubular and diffused lamps are elliptical. However particularly with low wattage and retrofit lamps, this does not seem to be the case in the US.

For example, most clear 360W HPS retrofit lamps are BT-37 shaped, which matches their MV counterparts. But why not make them tubular (like normal 400W HPS)? The envelope is clear anyway, making it bulb shaped doesn't make a difference.

And for smaller regular HPS wattages this is still the case, most 35-150W HPS lamps are not tubular in the US. Often they are BT, E, or ED shape. Is it to reduce the surface temperature of the envelope?

And of course out larger wattages (250-1000W) are almost never actually tubular but rather a strange elongated elliptical-ish shape. How did this shape come about? Why not just use plain tubular like the rest of the world?

Now I know for things like MV and MH (which are usually nitrogen filled in the outer envelope), having a tubular envelope can sometimes restrict their use to vertical only so the envelope doesn't end up melting. But I haven't heard of this happening with HPS before.

Anybody have any ideas?

from what I have read and responses i have got from lighting engineers over the years when I have asked similar questions


the principle reason, is mechanical/optical compatibility, and quality of materials and ease of manufacture


for retrofit lamps, you want it to be the same shape and size as the lamp its replacing, to be as mechanically and optically compatible as possible


the reason for the funny shape of US 250W-1000W HPS lamps is because of material and ease of mfg, US glass tends to be lower quality than European glass and so having a slightly bulged bulb means a slightly cooler bulb, less out-gassing and degradation of the glass, and also I it makes it easier to centralise the bulb over the stem mount assembly on the sealing machine

As a newer member, I feel that the off-topic section should be mainly hobby related things (mainly electronics, etc) with the occasional incident or funny thing here and there.


But the strange thing is, other lighting discussion places with off topic are more active. For example lighting discord servers have plenty of off topic channels, yet have a constant flow of lighting related pictures. So according to statistics, off topic shouldn't be an issue.


I still agree that comments on photos have gone down a lot, comparing oct 2023 (when I joined) and now.


For now I'll leave it as is, the off topic board doesn't bother me too much.

I may be mistaken on this( can’t find my catalogs right now), but I believe the original 1000 watt high pressure sodium lamp was a T18 bulb,ANSI S52XA-1000, as opposed to the later E25 bulb, ANSI S52XB-1000.

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!

Ooo.. I hope you get better after your surgery.  It is no picnic when there is complication from my right hip surgery that I had last December.  I'm still recovering from that to this date.

@Multisubject you said yourself that some topics should be deleted that would mean to me that somewhere along the line you are border lining on the same page.

The topics I refer to are topics that just do not need to be posted. If you cannot work out which ones they are then you are missing the point seen as every other member here “including an admin” has backed me up. You’re the only one in disagreement so far whilst Patrick remains very much on the fence

This is a discussion topic not a social media page to post your life stories. We don’t need to know or care about personal things.  Do it in PM. Some stuff that gets posted here just does not need to be shared with everyone here. And some of it is just attention seeking. Post it on your own personal Facebook timeline if you want people to know. Not a public site.

This is all I’ll say on the matter. I’ll not be replying further. My opinion is clear, and I respect yours.

@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.