Questions about CR4

This would be a good place to start: http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/5461

It explains "Why Conference Room 4 for a name? Is the '4' significant, like a revision level? Was there ever a CR 1, 2 or 3? If so, is a CR5 in development?"

Cheers!

Cool, thanks for the link... after quick glance, it looks like it will address quite a bit of the history portion of my inquiry.

JavaHead

Thank you, I was just about to post this! The FAQ also holds a few details.

GlobalSpec was founded in 1996 by a group of engineers looking for a service they couldn't find - what they came up with was GlobalSpec.

I can't provide much more information that you can't find here - GlobalSpec is a private company and most of the things you are asking are confidential. The 6,000,000 registered users number is up-to-date, however.

Thanks Savvy,

Certinally I would not want to compromise confidentiality and thanks for the links and your time to respond.

JavaHead

Thanks a lot. Yesterday one of my colleague asked me how to join this forum. I could say anything when he asked what is CR4?. Thanks once again!

Great read... never was able to locate part 2. Was it ever written?

I don't believe so. Perhaps if you request it in the comments to the blog entry it'll be written. (No promises.)

Hee Hee. Sounds like An Engineer in Paradise

There's a rumour that Episode 12 will be coming soon. And that a completely different blog will be starting soon.

It's only a rumour. I can't confirm any of this. Keep it to yourself.

Was there ever a CR 1, 2 or 3? If so, is a CR5 in development?"

No they shot dead CR1. Hacked to death CR2. Thorttled CR3 and buried (her).

Because CR3 was the only she and dead so there will be NO CR5 for CR4.

Actually CR3 is a he and he's still here under a different username!

in 05 CR$ shifted from a more basic format

hands down the thread with the most replies

Fun Fact from the archives

Guest posts were from Anonymous Coward...

196 pages?!

That's crazy. I book-marked that one for a read later on, when I have a month some time to spare.

Kris, were you able to find something useful out of it? Or, does the now famous tub still occupy a space at KrisDel Products Ltd?

JavaHead

First rule of the BBT - you have to read the thread to find out what happended to the bath!

Watch out for my bookmarks. I've not been in for a while (can't access it at home, the connection is too slow...)

Haha... that's what I was searching for... almost 45 minutes in and no sign of the bath's demise.

I await your bookmarks with anxious anticipation, haha.

Although, I think I broke the first rule... I replied to the thread not having made this discovery yet.

*sits in the corner*

Please stand for a Message from her hineyness]

I'll answer here instead of BBT

somewhere there is pic of a shard in the garden that is supposedly from tub

ER is still #5 on the Leaderboard {courtesy of JohnDG} Rose is likely to appear from time to time

Java you can change the view to nested on your user profile, should you want to follow the fibers of any thread...

BBT is an informal gathering place for some, a pub if you will

the regular patrons discussing events from around the site & world

some of us have a certain affinity for patterns that the post #'s form

GA's are a mark of shame on BBT [or are they?]

I share most of what JavaHead has stated. However, i do not consent his suggestion of making this a networking site too. An academic blog of this kind where one could discuss and find solutions and gain knowledge (even anonymously) should not think of getting into the mundane life of networking for short term materialistic gains.

Finally, want to thank CR4 for what it is.

it already is a networking site

they're called PM's...

How many presently active members have been around since the initial inception?

Me for one. I started with the GlobalSpec weekly text email newsletters and then joined the initial CR4 website. I still still think Anonymous Coward is a better term than Guest...

BTW the Squirrel and the Cat are johnnies-come-lately...

I have a question regarding GA's. In my case there are 41. When I go to my profile it only shows 10. What do I do to find the other 31.

Two minutes from now I will have forgotten what I just asked. Same with any GA I have received in the past. It would be interesting to see what came off the top of my head for the first one I got.

Any tips? I hope it is a button, light gray on a lighter gray background and not a huge arrow pointing to it, center page. Now that would be embarrassing.

Your tin foil hat is working again! We have to stop meeting this way, Ky.

I think you have only scratched the surface of that user group

maybe we should apply for official status?

what would we call it?

hdifamg, doesn't have much of a ring to it....

what should the badge look like?

I think my ability to add more badges has been locked :D

Hdifamga=How Do I Find All My Good Answers[technique]

The BBT will give me an answer, is that what you are suggesting?

I see, nobody knows. It would be interesting though, wouldn't it?

observe the area under my location & good answers

you will see many small images, which are the badges indicating the user groups I have joined.

I belong to even more user groups, but the badges don't appear

I was on a quest to see if there a maximum number of groups I could belong to...

I was also wondering how much real estate I could occupy over there on the left side of the screen

OK done, what next?

fix the economy

world Peace

& send over a nice bottle of wine... I prefer Cabs

Garthh,

Moscato rules dude!

Spacecannon

First to yell "thief" is usually the thief

Frankly none of us who have been around for a while care much about GA's.

We seldom give them and less often receive them.

For us it's about the mutual respect and proven knowledge, demonstrated over time - not the fickle nature of points awarded.

But you are right to some extent. There have been cases of people using two identities to garner GA's. None however, are long standing 'respected' or 'knowledgeable' or stalwart contributors.

A. it would never cross their mind to do it

B. the rest of us would know - just as we know who has in the past.

C. just as we know who hands out OT's to people they don't like - irrespective of content.

To summarize: Obsession with GA's, or GA ratio, is for newbie prats and the desperate for kudos crowd.

So "if the boot fits..."

*nods in agreement*

When I joined CR4 and received my first GA, about a week later or so, I actually was kind of proud. I took it as an acknowledgement by my peers. But I never viewed it as anything more than an 'atta boy pat on the back.

Acknowledgement, like most other forms of recognition by peers is subjective, context dependant, and mostly about timing. It is never meant to be used to justify long-term ranking or stature within a group.

In the context of this forum, all a GA means is that related to the specifics of whatever thread you are posting to, in that moment you said something that was either relevant to the discussion, were the first one that happen to post certain information, made someone laugh, or exposed a view not previously mentioned. And someone wanted to give you a pat on the back.

Once that moment is over, so is the pat on the back. Only the narcissist would use the fact that they got more pats on a back than someone else as an attempt to prove or justify greater value to their existence.

For me, I view GA's as road signs rather than pats on the back but only because about 15% of my activity on CR4 is reading the Dailey Digest and commenting on other people's issues. The majority of my time is searching past threads looking for information, so the GA's help point me in the right direction.

What I really wish we debated more, and tried to use more efficiently is the search tag function of the forums. Since about 85% of my time here is spent looking for past threads that may have addressed my issue already. The lack of properly applied and standardized search tags hinders my efforts.

So, instead of this constant debate on the value of pats on the back, lets talk about and debate, and try to get more efficient application of an actual beneficial tool… search tags.

JavaHead

GA from me because I think that is the right way to think about a GA. Get another and it will be GAs and we all know what to think of gas. I like CR4 because it forces me to learn about things in fields I know little about. I follow some of the referred webs and see where it takes me. Sometimes it is the CR4 character that adds the colour and humour that helps to hold the interest. Occasionally a question is asked in your wheelhouse and then it is nice to provide a constructive contribution. Nice response Javahead.

_{Scary thing about GA's it that the people giving them may know jack sh*t about the subject. This aside.}

I confess I don't apply tags - I'm never sure what I could put that would be more useful than a general text search - e.g. "Search all of CR4" for "pats on the back" brings up this thread (and more specifically your #39) as the second in line to another post a couple of years old.

Any suggestions?

I don't know what jack sh*t is, so how do I know if I know it or not? Is that a technical term? Is it something you engineers to lubricate hoists?

You won't find even one instance of me voting myself a GA which isn't possible, unless you consider my not marking myself Off Topic to be voting myself Ga's

you continue to assert that I am somehow gaming the system, without any sort of data or evidence to support these slanderous statements

there is only one criteria for membership here on CR$ & that is an email address.

the administrators do not disclose personal information about any of the members or guests

interesting a member who has yet to make any positive contribution to the site & isn't willing to be identified is continually popping up on different threads yammering on about how I'm supposedly giving myself GA's. anyone who spent a couple of minutes would look at my total of GA's or any of my recent GA's & see no evidence...

Moderator Jaxy stated after one of anonymous coward's recent slanderous rants that she had taken a look & this accusation was false.

Anonymous coward's hoping that by continuing to sling the same bullshyt it will stick

My credibility doesn't rest on GA's

Personally i would like to be able to opt out of having my GA count posted. I am not an engineer and find it difficult to contribute a good answer, its like being a cold naked white man in a room full of naked black men.

I am familiar with both Ky and Garthh and given their writing styles they are not the same person. Let alone the obvious differences in areas of knowledge they both have.

Spacecannon

Who is this everyone?

A new member?

I know, I am a member

I know there is a member VisiGuest

I know you are an anonymous coward

you [assuming you are the same anonymous coward who posted #41] continue to make unfounded accusations

beyond that there is nothing else to confirm or deny

I don't know anything of the sort

I hate when an Anonymous Coward presumes to put words in my mouth

Is that guest jealous or what? Why isn't admin stepping in? It is a kind of pollution and raises the repeated wish for guests to be registered in some way, shape or form. If he would walk into a meeting described by gringogreg He'd have coffee all over him and led off by security or by myself for that matter.

Congratulations on your breeding success, Ky.

Admin cannot step in because nothing that the "Guest" wrote was actually incorrect. I am a registered member, however I decided to post as a Guest to save my self the backlash from Garthh/ VisiGuest/ AAGuest/ Everyone (plus the rest of the persona's).

Member or not

you are an Anonymous Coward just the same

What backlash?

repeating your theories, doesn't make them true

put up or shut up

registered members share certain commonalities, some more than others, but every one is unique, like it or not that is just the way CR4 is set up

Hello, Everyone. Do you speak Latin?

"Guest" - How can you possibly read into my previous comment any affirmation of your personal conclusion/fairytale;

Garthh and Ky are quite separate people.

Neither Garthh or Ky would ever think of, or do "self GA".

You are way up the wrong tree.

Bottom line: The cost of "twisting my words";

To all those I have asked for tolerance of this "guest" - forget I spoke.

you talkin' to me?

Guest is clearly responding to the OP

Maybe Admin doesn't like to be questioned?

For the same reason a child asks why the sky is blue.

To learn, to grow, to advance... any limits imposed on what topics one can learn about hinders their overall advancement and potential.

But, specifically... regarding why I asked about CR4. Because I have found a place I fit in, people of similar view and process with which to converse. Much like you learn about past details about your friends and associates.

Sure, what your friend or coworker did prior to you meeting them, has no direct impact on your existence, but it allows you to learn more of them and thus makes your relationship stronger.

I inquired about CR4 be because it is a place I like to hang out, a favorite bar or second home so to speak... and thus I desire to learn more about it.

Simply put, I asked those questions because I wanted to.

JavaHead

Also, Guest, please do not discount the value of another's inquiry based on cultural perspectives.

For example, in some cultures it is considered polite and caring to inquire about the status of one's family (Joe, how's your wife doing?) where in other cultures, the same inquiry is considered rude and intrusive.

I accept these cultural differences and make it a point to not make such a direct inquiry should it offend, but as this is a cross-cultural forum, you should be acceptant that general inquiries on culturally-generic topics, such as my original post, are acceptable.

Even with this consideration, the moderators chose not to answer some of them because they considered them private. This decision did not offend me and was quite an acceptable response. Just as I would hope my original inquire did not offend the owners of the forum.

Where it is my right to make a tactful inquiry, it is another's right to tactfully decline to answer.

JavaHead