RFQ Response Etiquette, (The Man In A Shed) vs (The Commercial Operator)

[Lee Roberts]

Hi guys,

I’ve been holding off with my reply but I think now is a good time.

I’m pleased the thread has now “levelled out”, amongst what has been said I’ve been able to take some good feedback from the discussion, I think I’ve identified some small changes I can make to the RFQ sub forum that should help address some of the specifics/concerns mentioned.

Thank you everyone for your contributions, overall this half of the discussion has impacted positively to the evolution of the forum.

I’ve split the thread for now; will write some code and fast track those changes shortly.



.Me

[Lee Roberts]

Here we go myi lov'ers (said in a south country accent):

<vb:if condition="$show['member'] AND $GLOBALS[forumid] == '194' AND $post[postcount] == '1'">
    <li class="postbit postbitim">
        <div class="postbody">
            <div class="postrow">
                <h2 class="posttitle">Forum Notice:</h2>
                <div class="content">Discussions in this sub-forum are disabled; please respond to this request by contacting the author privately.</div>
            </div>
        </div>
    </li>
</vb:if>

Still needs some cosmetic adjustments but i'll do those on the dev server as part of the major update/redesign.

.Me

[alex wight]

Having sat back and read some of the comments on here, its apparent that if you offer good advice to help others, it gets interperated in a totally different way, to suit the individual. The bottom line is, if you want to make a few pounds, do it, but don't tell an open forum that you are. This however is against the law, as if you are accepting monies in return for jobs/favours, this is classed as "doing business". If you wish to do business under the radar, again, don't do it on an open forum. As said before, i registered my small business with Mr Taxman, to keep me right, and to keep within the law. So should some spiteful jealous bag stabbing lowlife decides they want to tell Mr Taxman that i,m earning money through sales of my crafts. Mr Taxman can reply "crawl back under the stone that you came from and get a life, as this guy is a law abiding citizen. Myself and Dean, genuinely gave out sound advise, so that it would help members understand what goes on out there, but in was twisted in a way that made it look as tho WE were jealous or had an agenda. I can safely say that that was not and never was the intention from my part, and knowing Dean, nor his. We are all on this site to gain valuable information to help us have a better hobby/life, and share good and bad experiences. So the bottom line is, be careful what you say on an open forum.

Kind regards
alex

ps
one example of how an open forum can get you in trouble. I,m a member of a racing pigeon site, a fancier told the world that he had just killed a bird of prey. RSPB silently monitor the site pretending to be a fancier. Next step was an arrest, a court appearance and a heavy fine.

[JAZZCNC]

ps
one example of how an open forum can get you in trouble. I,m a member of a racing pigeon site, a fancier told the world that he had just killed a bird of prey. RSPB silently monitor the site pretending to be a fancier. Next step was an arrest, a court appearance and a heavy fine.

Good example and I'll give one that's very related to this site.!!. . . . I knew someone who was posting that they where using Copied CAM software to the point they helped (and probably gave) others by telling them how to install it etc. This was picked up on by the Software company and legal action taken.!!

Again I'm not getting on any Moral Soap box regards the use of dodgy software, most including me have used some at some point but just think before posting esp if your going to try to belittle some one at same time.

[m_c]

HM Revenue & Customs:Selling items online, through classified advertisements - Examples is worth a quick read.
Things aren't always black and white in the tax field, however if you're making any kind of intentional commercial income, it should be declared.
.
The pirated software thing is always a taboo area. However it is rumoured that a certain large CAD package got it's position by releasing cracks themself, and I've never heard of them prosecuting an individual for using them. It's quite ingenious when you think about. Get joe public using your very expensive software, who then go to their employers saying what a fantastic bit of software it is, who then spend lots of money on it. Mean while, all your competition who are doing everything they can to protect thier software and are relying on legacy sales/hard sell with limited hands on experience, are losing market share.
Off course they've never publically admitted doing it, but when the cracks have came from the same source for a considerable number of years, it does make you wonder.

[george uk]

The pirated software thing is always a taboo area. However it is rumoured that a certain large CAD package got it's position by releasing cracks themself,

Or the security built in was pap, beyond pap, and all products from that co, used a similar version, so when the algorithm got cracked, slight adjustments allowed you to crack all there products.

Although, Sky, virgin and the old ITV pay tv, had an all out war a few years back, sky cracked itvs codes and released them online, ( it sunk them, ) so the old employees released cracks for virgin and sky ( both same-ish ). So everyone had free modems and tv for years.

Mach, on the other hand, is different, its the Chinees sending out cracked software, Machs a cheep bit pf software and is not be worth the time to crack individually. the hacked versions look like they have some strange added code.

Lesson to be learnt, your opening yourself up to a lot worse trouble than being done for unlicensed software by installing cracked software. I know this from experience trying to track down a bug in mach a few years ago, and finding out the CHI had added code on top of the crack.

on the main topic, and had been through a full force tax audit a few years ago ( turn up at house and business, ceased books and pc's ). i found them to be very reasonable, as long as your not taking the mikle.

[johnsattuk]

on the main topic, and had been through a full force tax audit a few years ago ( turn up at house and business, ceased books and pc's ). i found them to be very reasonable, as long as your not taking the mikle.

Many years ago they turned up at my friends house and made his life hell for 12 months, to the point that he had a nervous breakdown, and nearly lost his job. They had decided that he was living in an area that was not commensurate with his income.

[JAZZCNC]

Many years ago they turned up at my friends house and made his life hell for 12 months, to the point that he had a nervous breakdown, and nearly lost his job. They had decided that he was living in an area that was not commensurate with his income.

Yep another Classic Gotcha they watch and look for is exotic Foreign Holidays has it's easy tracked.!. . . . How many "Men in sheds" say I only do it for "Holiday Money" .? . . . . If they are suspicious are have been tipped off they don't just Knock on the door, they sit and watch just like a clever guard dog then they lock there teeth into you.!!

[george uk]

They had decided that he was living in an area that was not commensurate with his income.

very similar, i purchased my house at 40k when it valued up at 110k ( 2002 ), off my family as a present. one year on, First day they arrived with warrent, they listed every expensive item in my property, asked me were and when it was purchased, and checked it there and then. I was a property manager and they had mixed up my personal and business accounts, with a client account that had 250k pa going through it, All sorted out eventually.

I had made some slight filing errors, but i was honest with the tax man, from the start ( admited something inconsequential ). He told me how the fines systems works. If you dont withold anything at the first or subsequent meetings, and provide your full books/reciepts. you will generaly only be fined the same amount as any missing tax. ( as long as its a mistake and you have not tried to deceive them to badley ). Still it was 4 months of hell.

[george uk]

i will add this because someone mentioned software on here and perhaps its not worth a topic on its own but is something that all cnc machinists should bare in mind in relation to there controllers and software. This is relevant to anyone using a controller card thats assessable to the network, or anyone using windows on any part of there network.

The Americans and Israelis and us ( uk ), wrote a totlay different type of virus call stuxnet to attack Iran's infrastructure, specifically to attack semen's controllers,motor drivers,VFD and operating systems, through holes in usb/bios/Os backdoors ( holes that the americans forced the co,s to include ). When Iran found it ( many trashed centrifuges later ), they published the code. and i dont think nobody considered the consequences. The way it was coded to move around undetected, and locate targets, and implement itself was new, and still is reasonably untraceable. The first few modules in teh code can be adjusted to vary the attack parameters, the modules that attack the VDF timers arent specific to semens, they mess with teh way the chip calculates/times,

OK< YOU SAY, WHATS THAT GOT TO DO WITH CNCing

Because as soon as them craft hackers got hold of it they realised they could use the code to load onto any usb or cd or disk, to find and attack many different types of micro-controllers. A real lot of stuff coming out the east and ru has this coding hidden on it someware, if the cd spins or usb powers the drive, it will infect it without trace. The real problem is it has the capability to infect the routers underground ( infrastructure ), and these arent easy to replace. IE, if it infects ANY machine connected to the same infrastructure point as you ( usualy a few hundered connections ), it will infect all of them. and its only detectable when it activates.

OK, whats relationship with CNCing

Because my friend has seen many many different variations on this used to attack American and Chinese products, ( seems like there is some sort of cyber spat on between them ). a lot of the codes seems to be directed towards overheating the chips.

The point being , be very wary about exposing you cnc computer to the net, any hacked software, and eastern disk. And if it is exposed to the net, dont let your microcontrollers identify themselves ( especially LAN connections ).