Wall Memories - JR

John Ruhnke1

Wall Memories,

Note: Sorry guy's sherif Dan wanted me to edit this story. Please substitute the word XXXXX for the worst word in the known world of languages you can think of when reading the Post!


The first time I looked at the wall, I saw all these posts. I read a few. My first reaction was, how stupid is this! I can call people on the phone and talk much faster than I can type. Why would anybody do this. I didn't get it. Coriousity and late night boredum brought me back to the wall again, and I read a few posts. After about my fourth time there, I read something about steam heat. I remembered something I did in the past. The guy posting gave me a solution that I could have used way back then. It would have saved me and solved the puzzle of the steam job. Now I saw it as a learning tool. Once I had a problem hydronic job and I posted a question. I swear it took me an hour just to type it out, hunting and pecking with my one finger. Sure enough I got ten very good answers. Now I was hooked. Hooked on the wall. I started reading and posting, posting and reading. I learned to type because of the wall. One finger typing became two, than three finger typeing. It opened a whole new world to me. I began to know and post mesages with some very big heavy hitters in this industry. Richard Tressuwey, Dan Holohan, Lary Drake, Dave Yates, John Siggenthaler, Tomas Lenman, and lots more! I began to know these people. What was really thrilling was that they began to know me!!! Yes, John Ruhnke, average Joe, was a somebody. People knew my name!! The most thrilling event for me was going to the NEX expo and meeting all of these famous people and introducing myself. They knew me. They knew who I was!!!! I couldn't believe it!! Richard Tressuwy knew me! Dan Holohan knew me! John Barber knew me! Wow! When I was in high school, I was shy, nobody knew me! I was just a fly on the wall. Now I was known, because of my posts on the wall. My purpose was not to be known. My purpose was to learn about heating systems, to learn about the newest and latest radiant technology. Then I got involved in little battles. I invented something and posted the progress on the wall to try and gain interest from manufacturers.

The early battles, in the old days, the wall was a free for all. Dan posted a statement on the wall that talked about freedom of speach. I can't remember what it said, but basicly, it said, Freedom reigns here, say anything, say what is on your mind. I will NEVER delete or change a post. Total 100% freedom of speach, absolutly no sensorship. It made for some wild battles!!! The first such battle, that I can remember was the Wall Street Journal battle, The wall street journal posted info on some leaking Goodyear rubber systems. They showed a picture of a PEX system, it was a big picture, and the article talked about radiant failers. Because of the old PB system problems and the death of the PB industry, this scared me! I feared for the life of the radiant industry. I remember calling the newspaper and threatening the reporter. I told her it was a PEX system in the picture. I told her to stop bashing radiant systems. She told me of leaks in copper and rubber systems. I told her how great PEX was. I told her PEX could last for 200 years and hasn't failed yet! I told her how great Wirsbo PEX was. Then I told her I would give her $1000 or $5000 dollars if she found one foot of failed Wirsbo PEX that was properly installed. I told her she had billions of feet of tubing to search through and if PEX was bad, it would be easy for her to earn the money. I gave her my phone number and name. She promissed me that she would take me up on it. She never called me back!!!!!!!!!

Thus started the PEX, Rubber, Copper wars. Yes, Major battles raged on the wall. I took a stance on the side of PEX. We slinged comments and threats back and forth for weeks. Remember copper Ken? Remember the Heatway guys. Tomas Lenman and Wheels! Dan never erased a post! Oh it was great. Sometimes I would spend a whole day just posting on the wall. No sleep, ignored my other daily routenes. I just posted and posted.

The death of the old wall. One guy by the name of Jeff McGough brought the wall tumbling down. Brick by brick he swung his sledge hammer until there was nothing left!! What an XXXXX he was. There were other reasons the wall came down but Jeff was a major factor. Jeff was bad. Every time somebody posted, Jeff would post a bad comment against the guy. He did it over and over. He loved the wall because he could say anything, hurt anybody and his posts were never erased. Many people would post against Jeff in defense of others. I posted and defended others and Jeff called me up on the phone late one night and threatened my life!! He told me he was going to fly into Connecticut, hunt me down and cut me up with a knife! I ignored him and continued to post against the XXXXX!! Dan, of course also defended others from Jeffs posts too!! Now Jeff declared war on us all!!! He began to get worse with every passing day. Finally he began to post porno and links to porno on the wall. Dan had no choice and would remove them. That didn't stop Jeff. Dan blocked Jeff, Jeff came back on with a differant IP address and still posted his reign of terror! Finnally The wall came down!!! Dan pulled the plug. The wall was gone and no more!! It was gone for about a week. When the new wall came up it had rules. It was never the same since. I kind of liked the excitment of the old wall. I miss it. The lessoned learned from all of this was RULES ARE IMPORTANT!!! Freedom will never last without a certain amount of government. Too much government is bad too. You need a nice balence.

The wall continues today. I learned a lot from the wall. I learned who I was from the wall. The wall will be with me in my heart for ever. LONG LIVE THE WALL!!!!!!!!!

P.S. If you see Jeff please tell him what an XXXXX he was!!

JR
John Ruhnke

Duncan_2

Absolute freedom

Hi John. I remember that wall - it was a wild, fun place, but at times a little crazy. More like a frontier bar full of intelligent, drunk anarchists than a coffeehouse or shop devoted to heating discussions.

I love the idea of freedom, I'm just not so sure anymore that there is such a thing as pure, absolute freedom.

Tom Paine said in 'Common Sense': "...were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; ..."

The good old Golden Rule.

Dave Yates (PAH)

The Wall progression

John,

I'm glad you edited that post. I read the earlier version this morning(G). Those were some wild times, to be sure. But freedom carries a price and we sure learned that lesson on 9/11. The Wall is no different in that the freedoms carry responsibility to others freedoms and that "free speech" requires we respect each others beliefs, feelings and morals. You're correct that the actions of one can and sometimes does restrict freedoms for others. The noble high road had to be abandoned and for a brief period it looked like we wouldn't have a common meeting ground.

All in all, it was a sight not to be missed and a grand experiment. But The Wall matured and so did eveyone who participated. I've always felt I've come away with more than I've been able to contribute.

I liked Dan's column in P&M this month & feel he sumed up The Wall expierence quite nicely. It was a real shock to actually meet people I'd come to know by their "voice" only. Not one fit the mental image I'd formed. It's too bad, in a sense, that all people don't get to know the "voice" before they develop pre-concieved notions about others based upon appearances. That's one "wall" this Wall has caused me to tear down.

Duncan, how is it going for you? Fires still raging in your neck of the woods?

To Learn More About This Contractor, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Contractor"

Online Sheriff \"Murph\"

great story JR.

i wanted to see if this is the post that never dies

leo g

the only true freedom

comes from being totally responsible.

Earthfire

AAAAAMMEN SAYS REVERIND IKE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMEEEEENNNNN