# Which message boards do you go to for specialised knowledge? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 2, 2005, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-message-boards-do-you-go-to-for-specialised-knowledge/306539 "2005-06-02T12:59:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-message-boards-do-you-go-to-for-specialised-knowledge/306539/21 "2005-06-03T12:10:33Z")
For owner-built home advice, the [CountryPlans Design/Build Forum](http://www.countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl). ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-message-boards-do-you-go-to-for-specialised-knowledge/306539/22 "2005-06-03T12:15:51Z")
The best help I’ve found for my area of interest, digital recording and the restoration of vinyl records, is the now-defunct, but newly archived [Syntrillium Forums](http://www.audiomastersforum.org/synforum/index.htm). I used Cool Edit 96, then Cool Edit 2000, then Cool Edit Pro. This program is so technologically advanced, it will do things that I think the designers never even considered. It took a whole community of users to come up with new uses for the functions, and to be able to explain what they do and why. I spent months and months just reading the articles on noise reduction and click/pop removal. Then I discovered that a guy came up with a foolproof method of doing the hard work of vinyl restoration in one, automated process. It made all of my previous results seem trivial by comparison. Now, on my restorations, you can’t tell that the music you are hearing used to be on a record. After Syntrillium was sold to Adobe a couple of years ago, the forums disappeared. But a search reveals that they have been re-hosted by [Audiomasters.org](http://Audiomasters.org). ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-message-boards-do-you-go-to-for-specialised-knowledge/306539/23 "2005-06-03T13:29:23Z")
An astonishing number of forums all about gardening [http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/](http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/) Finding good deals on Mac related technology [http://dealmac.com/view.html](http://dealmac.com/view.html) The best and biggest digital photography forum [http://www.dpreview.com/forums/](http://www.dpreview.com/forums/) The best and biggest forum on “VCD, SVCD and DVD Capturing, Encoding, Authoring and Playing” (I usuallu use the Mac Video sub forum) [http://www.videohelp.com/forum/index.php](http://www.videohelp.com/forum/index.php) Good forum for digital design on the Mac…great collection of tutorials [http://www.baseboard.net/forums/](http://www.baseboard.net/forums/) ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-message-boards-do-you-go-to-for-specialised-knowledge/306539/24 "2005-06-03T13:45:14Z")
[www.ytmag.com](http://www.ytmag.com) For repairing and maintaining old tractors. Not that my half-century old Ford doesn’t run like a top… _cough_ ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-message-boards-do-you-go-to-for-specialised-knowledge/306539/25 "2005-06-03T19:41:47Z")
[Bad Astronomy](http://badastronomy.com/) for your cosmic needs. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-message-boards-do-you-go-to-for-specialised-knowledge/306539/26 "2005-06-04T01:15:36Z")
For legal advice, [FreeAdvice forums](http://forum.freeadvice.com/) can be helpful. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-message-boards-do-you-go-to-for-specialised-knowledge/306539/27 "2005-06-04T03:58:22Z")
[RailPage Australia](http://www.railpage.com.au/f.htm) for my railway fix. I spend more time there than here these days. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-message-boards-do-you-go-to-for-specialised-knowledge/306539/28 "2005-06-04T05:07:09Z")
The [Bob Dunsire forums](http://www.bobdunsire.com/CGI-BIN/ultimatebb.cgi) for all things piping related. Not restricted to the Great Highland Bagpipe, although that is the main focus - also includes drumming, dancing, and other types of bagpipes, such as the Scottish Small Pipes, the Irish uillean pipes, Northumbrian pipes, and so on. Also includes some discussions of celtic languages, history, etc [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-message-boards-do-you-go-to-for-specialised-knowledge/306539.md?page=1)