NAAh, just lie, " Been collecting and restoring for 20 years but I'm new to the site"

When do you think the bubble is going to burst?

Nah it’s easy. Dont Post.. Anything for 5 years. Then your good.

Be honest. If you are excited about pinball, say it.
If you are excited about your first machine, Post a hundred pictures.

Step 1. Realize that the pinball hobby is just like every other hobby... cost more than you think, you will make many mistakes, people will call you nuts...

Just remember the Romper Room song.

Do bee an old bee. Don't be a new bee.

LTG : )

Do your home work

E2520B55-D8A7-425E-8C6C-FE57A0F115BA (resized).jpeg

Don't answer the trolls

WAY too much butthurt around here lately.

I mean, I always thought pinball was supposed to be an AMUSEMENT, but it seems like some of you have forgotten this and are anything but “amused” much of the time! You’re SUPPOSED to relax, hang out, get a little sauced or twist one up, have a few laughs, enjoy some friendly competition, and simply have a little respite from the bullshit of modern life in general.

Newbies, I say don’t worry so much about it. Stop “trying too hard”, just be yourself, and understand and accept the universal truth that no one is liked by everyone! Above all, remember that a little humility and even meekness goes a long way. You don’t gain credibility by swooping in and enlightening us with some self-imagined revelatory insight or controversial opinion; everyone who has been here for any length of time has likely already heard it (and probably debated it to death), and when you do this our first impression is that you are likely an ass.

In other words, don’t come in here throwing bombs or otherwise promulgating negativity on your first post; you are much more endearing when your introduction consists of sharing your excitement about your first game acquisition or your feeling of triumph after doing your first successful repair!

I've had 70 pins and fixed them all myself by trial and error and I think I'm really smart but then I see people in here who design entire new replacement MPU boards and can comprehend complex digital electronics or can build their own pinball machine from scratch and it makes me feel like a really ignorant, stupid piker who's just been fiddling around with the hobby for 30 years instead of a veteran.

Don't be too hard on yourself. Some people never learn how to twist two wires together! Others come on here asking if it matters which way around an IC is inserted!

The ones that are designing MPU's and building complete machines are usually electronically trained people.

Electronics is a skill that has to be learned by study - it isn't like lots of mechanical things that can often be learned by observation, rebuilding an engine for example.

I'm not suggesting building an engine is easy or doesn't require any skill, of course it does, but electronics takes a whole different mindset to grasp.

learn to use the 'Search ' function

and dont use your first thread a whine about anything

Pinball is not all about electronics either. Nobody knows it all! I don't care how smart or educated they are. Compassion/reflection is important. Be kind and remember when you started out. Pass on your knowledge and understanding to the newbies. I am always willing to help others on here. I have always appreciated those that have the talent to deescalate tense situations instead of pouring gasoline on the fire. Blessed are "Bridge Builders" for they will spread a different kind of virus, one we know very well, Common Ground.

I waited 4 years. I wonder how much better my Pinside experience would have been, and would be to this very day, if I just waited that extra year.

ebay.com link: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Data East Pinball Head LED Display light box

Newbies should avoid buying these $5 pieces of shit from Keebler Kirk.

This thread got me thinking about the first few threads I started over 6 years ago.

Out of my first 5-6 threads, they were all tech questions except two:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/what-is-the-best-bang-for-you-buck/page/2

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/poll-starting-a-collection

I think these types of threads are extremely common for newbies to start. It seemed 6 years ago the vets were MUCH more inclined to help newbies out. Now it seems like the first few posts of threads like the above linked ones tell the person how many times that question has been asked.

So is it the frequency at which new people are getting into the hobby and these same questions are being asked more often than they used to? Or are the vets just older and more cranky now? Haha

Pretty cool going back and looking at old threads if anyone is bored and wants to do it. Haha

The problem isn’t being new to something, the problem is coming in with self obsessed entitlement.

I see it all the time in other recreation activities as well. (Surfing, skiing, off-road biking, analog synth)

I’ll use surfing for example. Surfing in New England is rugged and cold. When I started 15+ years ago there was a small hardcore crew of locals that were actively surfing year round. Being new, all I wanted to do was stay out of their way while learning. I bought used boards and wetsuits, froze my ass off in my shitty gear, and learned the ropes as I got better. Mutual respect was earned.

Now it seems, and especially during this past year of Covid driven “lifestyle seekers”, that the vast majority of new people spend thousands of dollars on equipment before they even have any clue what they are doing. It’s more about projecting their new image or identity of the hobby on social media, than it is about actually doing and enjoying it. And they couldn’t give less of a shit about the reality of everyone else who has been doing it for years, respectfully (for the most part) enjoying and sharing the hobby. It’s wild how one or two blowhards can ruin the atmosphere so quickly, and make everyone less accepting of not only the dbag noobs, but also the other respectful people.

If that is you in any hobby, you aren’t a noob, you are a try-hard kook. Just chill out, sit back and watch for a little bit before you bang your chest and try to insert yourself front and center. Just because you decided to spend a ton of money doesn’t suddenly give you an identity/ personality, aside from being the person who thinks they can buy their identity. No one likes that person, ever, anywhere.

It’s amazing to see how polite everyone was and grateful as well. Much more light hearted and welcoming.

I joined 3 years ago so I got my share of help but also some nice helpings of eye rolls and “here we go again” and the list of how many times a topic was asked.

I can understand a little hazing for the new guy but not everyone is as understanding and when the newbs try fighting back without a leg to stand on it never ends well.

My advice for anyone new is remind yourself no one cares to hear ANOTHER opinion and try to read more threads than you type in.

Also if you’re new have a good understanding of:
Then vs than
Their
There
They’re

Also- be prepared that it totally confuses a few simple minded people if you do not use the correct wording. Examples are- Then vs than, Their, There,They’re.
It shuts there brain down and then they cannot sleep until they post.

See both posts above

Their*

Oh boy....

Worrying about installing a resistor in backwards.

You could have posted the first day you found Pinside and welcomed with open arms.

You got Rum

LTG : )

That is a good one.

So many resources available now. Google. Any of the parts vendors websites ( scroll through to learn the names of some parts. Pinside has a forum search. Each thread has a search this thread search. And each thread has a picture gallery. Fun to scroll through and see if the picture you seek has already been posted multiple times.

If you are new to something. Learning a bit about it is so easy these days. None of these resources existed for me in the 1960's. You learned by doing, or the hard way.

LTG : )

FWIW my serious is advice is do not work on your game with the power on, and preferably unplug it as well (you can get shocked by some (most?) EM's even with the power switch off...)

And reading about someone blowing up their ACDC by having a tool (or the mini playfield?) fall on the transformer and make something "go boom" has had me since advice noobs to unplug the game...

Not that veterans are immune from doing stupid stuff, it is just that most of us have "broken" something by working on a powered on game so even the slow learners have this one sorted out after a decade or two

Please refrain from using Car analogies and comparisons as they are unacceptable when ‘tire kicking’ pinball machines. The accepted common analogy is now prison or institutional references only please.

LOL Lloyd, I would have but I honestly didn't know Pinside for those first 4 years. Back then I was on RGP daily.

Or in my case, both. When I was kid I learned the consequences of diodes real fast. Thankfully no tough lessons in capacitors. Back then learning meant going to the library and getting books and reading on how stuff works. Now you can educate yourself real fast on specific issues. Or get even more ideas and get into more trouble.

You certainly can. I, um, heard that from a friend.

Sticking an electrolytic capacitor in backwards gets cool. Real fast. Some of them are like a small Roman candle.

LTG : )

Don't call them tables or post pictures of your blue and purple LED masterpiece and you'll be fine.

17 years. Pishaw.
N00b

I had the same idea when this thread popped up and I revisited my first posts to see how bad I came off. They were mostly tech help as well, but some super basic questions. Looking back I realize that having to type out the symptoms makes me think about the problem in a different way.

I’ll repeat some advice: Search is your friend. Asking an educated question where you’ve done some of the work will get you a lot farther. It also gives the poster on the other side enough info to make educated guesses on how to help you.

I always find the "noob" issue to be a bit of a conundrum.

After all - I was one here once, too.

I had loved pinball my whole life. Always dreamed of owning one. Got gifted $350 from my boss to purchase a Williams Space Odyssey that had been offered to me by a customer. I was in heaven. Didn't know f#%k all about repair. Hadn't ever lifted a playfield of looked inside a backbox. I was so green. Looking back and reading my first few posts (good suggestion chuckwurt) it is very clear that I sounded like... a noob. However, I would contend that I sounded like a polite one.

Most of my first few questions I would never have to ask today. Then again it is six years later, I own four pins and I have a NIB coming soon. I have learned so much.

If I could go back and talk to my noob self I would likely say:
"Calm down, bro. You are new to this. You can't hide that in good language. I know you think you can, but you can't. Just be calm and really take the time to listen to the advice these people are giving you. And remember...
Someday you will have taken apart enough score reels and cleaned them and put them back together.
And tensioned enough steppers.
And swapped out enough coil sleeves.
And rebuilt a lot of flippers.
And pops.
And kickers.
And lost enough screws and e clips and nuts and bolts because you can't take the advice of veterans who told you nicely to PUT A TOWEL OVER THE THING BEFORE YOU START WORKING.
And learned about transistors on boards in SS games that can burn out and keep that pesky light you have changed out six times with no success from ever coming back on until it is replaced.
And noticed that if just one little nylon spacer is missing on a switch stack in a Wiliams EM score motor, you will never score that 3X Bonus when it is lit.
And over-adjusted the leaf switches on a kicker like an idiot to give yourself the maddening machine gun hammer that keeps on giving and then learned how to not do that.
And bought a Fish Tales at a great price ($1500!) from a really cool guy who is a tech for an operator and taken it home and gone through the multiple months process of tearing a ramp-laden modern table down to the playfield, and clean everything, and replace all the lights, and buff out the playfield so the Diamond Plate looks insane good again and fix the broken kicker on the lower left and replace the bad optos on the reel to enable correct multiball sequence and replace the battery acid compromised MPU and send the driver board out for a deep sprucing hand polish all the wireform ramps and replace the broken plastics and wax the playfield down and painstakingly put it all together and install that swanky new ColorDMD and be so happy AND THEN HAVE THE UPPER OUTHOLE KICKER ARM SNAP IN A FEW DAYS (hahahahaha)."

An other words, I would say to myself: shut up, be calm and become a sponge. Learn. Read all the forum posts you can that even vaguely relate to the issue you are presently tackling. Thank people for their time and their teaching. Be an asset to the hobby. Accept that things will always need fixing and tweaking here and there.

Learn about schematics. Here's a hint - one of the best thing they do is tell you SIMPLE THINGS like what colored wires you are looking for in the different parts of a circuit.

And lastly, when it comes to this hobby and money...
You will spend it. It WILL add up. All the bitching and posturing and redundant new forum posting in the world won't change where market prices are going. If it bothers you, get out of this hobby. Because you will need money to be in it. This isn't watercolor painting or paper airplanes. This stuff will take some money to obtain and maintain. There is NO WAY AROUND IT. I'm not trying to be mean or snobby or condescending. I'm being realistic.

And six years later, now that I am not a noob, I know more than ever before how much I still have to learn, but I am so happy to look back and see how far I have come. And when some fresh faced so and so struts in and starts complaining about the price of games or why he can't find a White Water for under $4000, I just let it roll off my back. I am a pinhead and I am content. This stuff will go on here forever.

And if you want me to be totally honest, I think people were way more patient with me six years ago as a noob than people on here often are with noobs today. Maybe it's just the ever changing way we use this wordless, faceless electronic communications technology to share experience and knowledge, but I feel like a lot of us are harsher than we used to be.

Cheers,

Tim in Motown

When I was big on MMOs there was a long running distinction between newbs and n00bs.

Newbs didn't know anything, n00bs didn't want to know anything.

Being a newb and asking for help isn't a bad thing. Jumping on pinside with no experience and telling people how it should be is acting like a n00b. Don't be a n00b.

It's hard remembering what it is like to be a newb, and it's harder to be kind to them. I definitely have been short with a few people who asked questions without even appearing to try and figure stuff out for themselves.

Is this a joke? Half the old farts here cannot figure this out, yet.

Hey their @jorant!
Thanks for asking.
To be honest about the old farts, there brains are slowing down more and more with age.
Its kind of sad really, I wish they're was some kind of miracle cure to slow the aging process.
With that being said its better to be nice to them then make fun.

Speaking of old timers I should probably give my grandma a call to say hi, than get back to work.

Too funny. I actually started to get a headache reading that lol

I got a nose bleed typing it, it hurt to do that

Lol... I can remember back in the day when other collectors would steer you toward Pinside as the "kinder, gentler" alternative to RPG. While today, Pinside is certainly better moderated--there is a lot more snarkiness then there used to be toward "newbie" questions.

I think it is reflective of the number of first time pin owners getting into the hobby--which is a good thing--and I am glad they are "into" pinball enough to come post here. [insert b##h session about newbies driving up prices here].