Here is the official contest thread for TubeClockDB.com

I need more users. You need more vacuum tubes. I think we can make this work.

To enter, leave a comment in this thread. (Register here: www.tubeclockdb.com/forum/register.html )

Prizes
Either 1 B5971 alphanumeric Nixie tube or 1 NEO 5000 plasma display. Your choice. If we get more than 500 entries, you get both prizes so please invite your friends.

Rules:

1. Contest is open from now to September 1st, at 12:00AM, Central Standard Time.
2. The winner will be selected at random.
3. One entry per person.
4. I will ship worldwide but if there are any customs fees, they are your responsibility. I will only ship to counties that I am not legally prohibited from shipping to (from the United States.)
5. If I detect fraud, I reserve the right to cancel this promotion.
6. Winner will be contacted via email
7. I reserve the right to tweak the rules to prevent abuse or other problems.

Got my fingers crossed for that NEO 5000! Also hoping you get lots of new registrations!

Me too. But right now, your odds are looking pretty good!

Not so fast! ;o)

...it's now 50:50!

Two. Two contestants. Ah ah ah ah

Wait, wait! The odds are now 33.33! I already have a NEO5000, but I never broke down and bought a 5971 from AskJan. How else can I be the first person to build a one-letter word generator... the word list is so short, you can actually fit it into the EEPROM memory of a PIC 16F84!

Interesting tactic to try to solve the Great Nixie Tube Forum problem, by the way. I know Dieter had a go at setting up a Nixie forum several years ago and I tried it too, back in 2008. It would be nice if Neonixie-L actually had the ability to add new mods so that the entire admin process was not resting on one person, or at the very least could get rid of the infernal 12-24 hour wait period between when you post something and when it appears in the mailing list.

I didn't know that you and Dieter tried setting one up a few years ago. I like the Yahoo forum but the delays are annoying. If this catches on, I'm happy to add more mods if needed. I prefer to allow anything to be posted and only remove it if needed

I have hopes to give away a full nixie clock in the near future...this is a test to see how successful it could be.

BTW, are you one of the people behind decadecounter.com?

Brian

Yep, I am one of the developers from decadecounter.com. We had a PHPBB forum on the site for about six months over part of 2007 and 2008, but it was little used and there is nothing more depressing than a website with an attached dead forum, so we went ahead and took it down. Dieter had a forum on his site for years, but I am not sure if it is still there... he may have gotten rid of it when he eliminated the Chronotronix brand.

The Neonixie post delay time actually seems to have gotten substantially better in recent years; when I first joined it could sometimes take 2-3 days for a post to show up. The 'Nixie Forum' topic seems to come up at least once a year on Neonixie, and there is always much debate over it... who is going to run it, where will it be hosted, what software to use, etc.

So, having now looked at the other threads in the forum, I noticed that you have several more 5971's up for trade on another section of the site. Do you have any minitrons yet? I have a spare grey-face 3015F in perfect condition that I might be convinced to part with in a trade.

I thought your username looked familiar!

Dieter's forum link now seems to go to Neonixie. I don't recall if it always did that or if he changed it when Chronotronix was taken offline.

I didn't know that decadecounter.com had a forum for a while either. Apparently lots of us have had this idea

I'm not trying to replace the Yahoo group. There is a wealth of information there if someone is willing to search for it. I'm looking to create something a little less formal that allows for different sub-forums (for sellers, general discussion, etc..)

Thankfully one of my biggest complaints about the Yahoo group was fixed. I didn't like how the messages were visible only to registered users. The photos still require membership, but the text is now visible to the world.

As far as the trade goes, I am going to pass. I have a few of those minitrons.

Brian

At some point they enabled 'post w/o moderator approval' for me on neonixie-l; I think if you personally petition the moderators for this status, they will grant it.

Yes, neonixie-l is a little antiquated, but it is a great resource w/a very high S/N ratio still to this day.

..c

PS) I disqualify myself from the contest. I have too many unlit nixies as it is. And an unlit nixie is a wasted nixie, ASFAIC.