THREAD CLIPS

 

Welcome aboard, my name is Mike Mascelli, and on behalf
of the Professional Refinishers Email Group,
I would like to welcome you to our email forum
and this weekly feature, called Thread Clips. 
 

There are not a lot of "rules" here, though we do have a few basic principles
we hold dear, and chief among them is that we keep the conversations friendly
and light. Though the topics get highly technical, we try not to take ourselves
too seriously, and you will often see references to the "Groop" -
our self proclaimed nickname. 
 

In addition, the highest level of "groopness" is the unselfish sharing
of information on the products, techniques, sources of supply, and
everything else that pertains to the business of conserving, restoring,
and refinishing furniture. 
 

When a topic of conversation gets going between two or more Groop members,
we call it a "thread". Some run for a day or two, some have been running for
weeks, and some have become semi-permanent "old friends". What I try to do
each Monday is summarize the "news" of the previous week
- like adding new members -
and to give a brief compilation of the postings for each of the active threads.
 

 Sounds simple enough, but on an average week there are nearly 150 postings
on as many as 30 threads, and it is pretty easy to get lost.
 

 Many members have said that they have come to depend on the CLIPS
as a weekly recap, or to use as a quick review of what has been happening
in the Groop if they were not able to read all the messages.
I strongly encourage you to read ALL the messages for as long as you find
them valuable, and to use the CLIPS to help you decide where to jump in. 
 

For convenience, I use abbreviated names in the CLIPS like (GregW) and it
may be hard to keep all the members straight in your mind at first.
I recommend that you refer to the members list often, and if you really get lost,
send in a quick posting and say so !! 
 

We are fortunate to have folks from all branches of the "biz", some famous,
most not, and some contribute daily, and some hardly at all. 

Beware that if you go too long without sending in something,
our host, Alan, may get The Shadow after you !! 

You will notice that I try to keep things light in the CLIPS, and even toss in
an occasionally irreverent remark about one of the members.
Please understand that this is all in good fun, and we really do like each other.

Mostly.

Like all human endeavors involving more than one person, there are disagreements,
and we have found that invariably what starts out as a misunderstanding, winds up
with a lot of good information being shared, and that there is usually more than one
"right" way to do just about anything. 

If you feel you have something to add, just do it. 

Glad to have you with us, and start Groopin'.

 

 

 

AlanM writes:

 

 

Mr.Clipsmeister Mascelli spent the last three days

here in Idaho with me, planning GroopShop II --

I think I plumb wore him out !  His plane left here

this morning while it was still dark, and it was dark

when he got home (near Albany) ... and I think he

slept the whole way and didn't get CLIPS finished.

 

We had a very productive GroopShop planning session,

so if you'll bear with us a couple more days, we'll get it

all sorted out, get the webpages up and get the whole

outline and information in Groopmail.

 

We have a tentative line-up of 25 "sessions" or "classes"

available for this year's GroopShop, including a few "advanced"

sessions on tap (like one by Mitch AND DonLibro) ...

so we have much to talk about. Your patience is appreciated.

 

Almost as if forging Mom's signature on this "the dog ate

my homework" excuse email, here's a quick glimpse of the

extracurricular side of this planning meeting:

 

http://www.alan.net/prgshow/03summit.html

 

AlanM

Idaho

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

groop@alan.net

http://www.alan.net/groop/index.html