Being passionate about something I feel is a good quality. A passionate person is detail oriented and when it comes to engine building the details count. The huge problem with the keyboard is that words have no "tone". You have no idea if someone is being sarcastic, serious, or joking. Depending on personality type, you read typed words based on it. If your serious person, you read the words with a negative tone....if your happy go lucky person your read the words more light hearted.
When it comes to engine builders, you want a serious one. They will get the details right. People have called me an engine builder....I quickly correct them. I am not...I don't have the skill set. I see the big the picture. An engine builder see's strokes, the color hues, and what they need to do to complete the picture.
99.9% of the time you get 2 passionate people speaking by typed words....it's going to go to hell in a hand basket real quick. Now you take those same 2 people and they meet in public and add tone to the voice....the odds are they will find common ground and get along just fine. I've seen it first hand. Scott and Chad Spier's could not stand each other. A chance meeting at PRI and they email back regularly.
YB can be zoo....I have had my fair share of personal attacks on their but I learned a valuable lesson over there a few years back. A chance PM from George Bryce, Star Racing, ended up me calling George. I took him on a memory lane movie of his past out of the blue as he did not know he and I shared a common mentor. George told me in conversation that day, "Chris it isn't the the 1% of the membership that post that you need to worry about, it's the 99% that read and never type a word. He is correct, our largest projects we have done are from customers that have never posted or have posted less than a dozen times on sites. These customers are well to do and can read through the lines.
Whether you like someone or not, you can tell if they know what they are talking about. Scott and disagree on a ton of stuff and for the most part don't hang out after work as our life styles are very different, but when it comes to him as a person, he is a good person that means well and a very talented person. If he wasn't you won't have people like Larry Widmer and Darin Morgan giving him kudo's on his work.
The are many smart people on this site....I read. There are many passionate people on this site......I read. Life's too short and this industry is not getting in larger. Having guys like Lykins, Foxwell, Robotnic, and others is good....different ways but excellent results.
