It sounded like a good idea...

... to present myself.

But the major problem is: what should I say? A simple "hello" is a little bit not enough, but I do not intend to write my biography (and even if I did, I would probably not do this here).

Considering that, I will sum up some things that looked important to say about me.

Firstly, as you can see on my profile, I'm French. Even if I pride myself with great skills in the english language, I might sometime use french sentence construction or ask what something means or what's the english for a french word. But considering that the glossary in this section is pretty complete, I'll most likely try to figure out the name of everything in my own language with it's help.

Secondly, I want to say that I clearly understood every rule mentionned on this board, and that even if I can't recite them all by heart, I'll either use common sense or a quick second/third/fourth/... look a those to stay away from any forum rules infringement. I will add a little comment about those rules: every single one seemed logical to me and I didn't expect less than a common sense reminder while reading.

Thirdly, I'll try to sum up the many reasons why I registered. Mostly out of curiosity. That's my biggest flaw and my best merit: I'm outsdandingly curious. There are many things I want to understand. I don't care if something works, I want to know why, how and what's the purpose for this to work properly.
But it would be a lie to say that curiosity alone led me there, and honesty is something I tend to seek as much as knowledge, especially when I have an interest in what people can give me.
I don't know how you will perceive the next statement though, but I will still make it.
I'm a cosplayer. Even if I didn't make many costumes (mostly because of economical difficulties, somehow because of the incredible stupidity of many french cosplayers), I'm still interested in this... let's say discipline. But to make a good costume, I really think a need good accessories. And I don't think I can do credible props if I don't understand how the real thing works, how it can be functional, and so on. Of course, all of the xiphoid related subjects are interesting in this perspective, but I will probably have many questions about other type of weapons, some might look totally unrealistic, but I think that the knowledge in weapon and weapon use you seem to have might help me a lot.
I mean: how am I supposed to handle a sword that looks like a giant pizza-cutter? Should I use it like a giant axe, or try to stick to medieval fencing? I this type of weapon were common, what purpose would it have? Should it be able to turn like a circular axe to be truly efficient?

That's the kind of question I might ask if I don't find it already answered. Thos question might also help me in my rolepaying activities, both tabletop and live action, to understand the same kind of things.

Well... I think I said everything important about me and the resons why I'm here. Oh, yes, I forgot something important: out of pure honesty, I can't promise I'll never have to use the knowledge gathered here for purpose other than pure erudition and acting credibility. I don't mean doing illegal thing though, but I understand well that under certain circumstances, the difference between what's just, what's right and what's good can be hard to perceive. To put that in an extreme context, I can say that under the Nazi occupation of France, I would probably have acted against the law for what is good. But I'm almost sur that under such extreme circumstances, anyone there would do the same.

Nethertheless (I'm not really sure I spelled this word correctly), I wanted to be honest on that point and I hope I'll not sound like an anarchist or something like that. I just want to be clear on the fact that if I have to, I'll try to use knowledge in an harmful way, and I hope the time will never come for me to do that, nor it will come to anyone.


Don't hesitate to answer, comment, argue or anything about that little presentation, I would gladly answer, even if I might be a little bit long.

Catfish

That's all fine and well, Catfish. I understand exactly where you're coming from, as I had multiple cosplayer friends. I will go ahead and say though, that most articles are on constructing various things or decided if this is better than that, etc. There are articles on use, technique, whatever...though they are rather limited in number and quality. It's just not the focus of these forums. Not saying there aren't things you can learn. As far as the questions, ask away. I don't think anybody minds a few questions. Just (like you said) don't ask questions that've already been answered. Bonne chance.

to the forum ...What's wrong with being an anarchist?

First, I want to thank for the welcomes I got and the explanation about the forum focus. But as far as I looked in some topics, technical question are often linked to the desired use of the devices discussed. That should answer most of my questions about it before I even ask.

Then, to your question Testmonkeyking...

testmonkeyking wrote:

What's wrong with being an anarchist?

Basically, nothing, I'm just not one. I'm more a royalist at heart, believing in gained nobility through noble actions, and that noble men (note that I don't attach the two words) should be the one to make the world go the right way, that "humanity" should not be something granted from birth but something gained by acting in a humanistic way.

The "absolute freedom" given by anarchism would be a good thing if respect of other's freedom was the heart of everyone preocupation, which is sadly not the case and will most likely never be. I would add that most of the "anarchist" I know are far more "antisocial" and selfish than simply seekers of human freedom and equality, as anarchism is supposed to be.

But well, political beliefs and inclination are mostly like faith (in the religious way): based mostly on speculation and personal ethics... and somehow the perception of "that's how I would love to change the world if I ruled it".

Welcome to the forum.

Bienvenue au fofo et fait comme chez toi.

If you are looking to understand how things work you definitely found the right place most things here are pulled to bits to see how it can be built better or smaller.

ça fait plaisir de voir des gens de France dans le coin. T'es d'ou?