What has changed - or is it me????

[kgd]

I'll be honest - lately, there has been a cluster of posts and threads that involve some kind of lamentation of the demise of the good ol' days / expression of frustration over perceived social decay / commentary on the behaviour of 'sheeple'. These posts tend to turn me off, as they often involve generalizations, us-them distinctions, and little in the way of proactive solutions. When the ratio of "trip report - took some newbies out for a great time in the woods" to "people are soft-bellied sheep and things aint what they used to be" discussion tips towards more of the latter, I start to tune out a bit.

But that's just me. And, on balance, this forum is still all kinds of awesome.

Best,

- Mike

Ha ha - a criminologist is a people lover, who would have thunk <---

 

[pitdog]

I'm afraid I stopped posting my usual threads because I received a friendly e-mail advising me not to post threads that were off topic. I must be honest and admit that I find this direction confusing, nearly all my threads included some info on wild edibles, obtaining fatwood or starting fires I took this to be relevent info ?

 

[dougo83]

I'm afraid I stopped posting my usual threads because I received a friendly e-mail advising me not to post threads that were off topic. I must be honest and admit that I find this direction confusing, nearly all my threads included some info on wild edibles, obtaining fatwood or starting fires I took this to be relevent info ?

I am sure it means precisely jack to the powers that be, but I always found your posts to be informative to some degree. Sure, there was a great deal of it centered around the dogs, but I almost always managed to come away with something.

 

[kgd]

I'm afraid I stopped posting my usual threads because I received a friendly e-mail advising me not to post threads that were off topic. I must be honest and admit that I find this direction confusing, nearly all my threads included some info on wild edibles, obtaining fatwood or starting fires I took this to be relevent info ?

It always has been confusing to me.

Is it Wilderness Skills AND Survival Skills Subforum or is it The Wilderness and Survival Skills Subforum.

I always viewed it as the later. Appreciation of wilderness and its beauty, whether that be a little stroll in a some secluded city green space or backpacking in secluded wilds. The glue that binds us together is an appreciation of wilderness. Perhaps the urban survivalists feel excluded from this? I don't know and haven't given it much thought.

What drew me to this place in the beginning was all the nature walks, hiking and wildlife photos. We seem to have less of that kind of input now. I think it was EMT-LEE who once said, one of the great things about this place is that I know most poster's real names, what they look like, what their pets look like and even some of their families. We feel like we know one another. This is in part I think because of so many of the photo-threads out there, self portraits and shots of our homes, pets and in some cases families. I think it is vital to keep that companionship alive.

Lets face, constant talk about skills gets kind of boring without the latter. Especially after you mastered several of them. Why do I choose to help folks and show them things? Because I want them as part of my community, I want them to respect the same things I do. I want to have somebody I can talk to in a more meaningful way than Whine And Cheese.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

A thread with nothing but pictures of hiking trails to a lake or a view out over the mountains is more valid as Wilderness & Survival Skills than "eating humans" or "eating cats and dogs". The whole idea of W&SS is what we like about the wilderness and how we go about enjoying it.

Arguing back and forth with insults thrown in belongs in Whine & Cheese. While I have been known to cut posts out of a thread and move them somewhere else, that's emergency surgery, and I am a reluctant surgeon. Too much like work.

 

[dougo83]

A thread with nothing but pictures of hiking trails to a lake or a view out over the mountains is more valid as Wilderness & Survival Skills than "eating humans" or "eating cats and dogs". The whole idea of W&SS is what we like about the wilderness and how we go about enjoying it.

Arguing back and forth with insults thrown in belongs in Whine & Cheese. While I have been known to cut posts out of a thread and move them somewhere else, that's emergency surgery, and I am a reluctant surgeon. Too much like work.

Well...I can't find anything in here that I don't wholehartedly agree with...

 

[Marcelo Cantu]

There is also the effect that our economy has had on our respective home dynamics. This has always been my indulgence and I find it harder to justify spending an extended amount of time here. Especially to SWMBO.

 

[Liam Ryan]

I'm afraid I stopped posting my usual threads because I received a friendly e-mail advising me not to post threads that were off topic. I must be honest and admit that I find this direction confusing, nearly all my threads included some info on wild edibles, obtaining fatwood or starting fires I took this to be relevent info ?

Are you kidding? Who sent you that message, was it a mod?

Always enjoyed your threads, you were showing the world one of the most beautiful spots that exists. That burns me up.:thumbdn:

Please continue to post more pitdog, I can assure you the views expressed in that message are not shared by anyone of importance.

 

[flnder]

More Maisy and the wilderness she travels in,please. Love the scenery,I mean Wilderness

 

[theonew]

Take a look at TGBU, I find it depressing. It used to be there was just an occasional Bad in a sea of Goods. Something isn't right :grumpy: How is this related? Not really sure but my gut tells me it is.

 

[Diomedes Industries]

As long as Pitdog has a damned shirt on - I like his posts!


I am totally kidding. I miss the pics too. A man who loves his kids, wife, dog, and outdoors can't be wrong.

TF

 

[Kiah]

A thread with nothing but pictures of hiking trails to a lake or a view out over the mountains is more valid as Wilderness & Survival Skills than "eating humans" or "eating cats and dogs". The whole idea of W&SS is what we like about the wilderness and how we go about enjoying it.

Quoted for truth.

I enjoyed the picture threads, even if I didn't comment much. If they're actually out, that's sad.

I haven't been posting here much lately. Not really 100% why, but I can speculate on a bit of the diminishing conversation. When I joined, Brian was the sole mod here, and he had a way of moderating without moderating if that makes sense. He kinda kept the forum on a balance point that tended to please most.

When Kevin came aboard, there was an almost immediate mandate to stop posting knife and gear pics unless they were being used for bushcrafty stuff. That ran a lot of makers like Fiddleback, Stomper, etc. off and stopped most of the regulars from posting up their new woods knives. This killed a lot of discussion. I know this forum used to be the my first stop after I pulled a new woods knife out of the mail, but I stopped posting pics after that, though the final decision on it was very ambiguous.

With Joe's recent sticky got posted, it opened up a lot of questions on what was and wasn't permitted, and was then locked to further inquiry. I imagine a lot of threads don't get started due to the poster not wanting to have to consider whether it's allowed. Not only off-topic stuff but pics of knives. Looking back through the forum I see atakach's "basic camp knife" thread was moved out of here, but Joe's "Introducing Terrasaur" thread for example wasn't. And the latter was much more advertising than the former.

Not trying to start a brawl, and I'm aware my thoughts are my own, but I think some actual rules and open discussion of those rules would lure many back here. As it is, it's a guessing game.

 

[mneedham]

Maybe there is a natural cycle of a forum like this.. For me, the golden age of WS&S was a couple of years ago, there was a core group of us that posted here a lot, there were differing opinions but no shortage of good will. WS&S has different content and vibe than it used to, I find myself over at Ramanon a lot these days...

 

[mneedham]

Quoted for truth.

I enjoyed the picture threads, even if I didn't comment much. If they're actually out, that's sad.

I haven't been posting here much lately. Not really 100% why, but I can speculate on a bit of the diminishing conversation. When I joined, Brian was the sole mod here, and he had a way of moderating without moderating if that makes sense. He kinda kept the forum on a balance point that tended to please most.

When Kevin came aboard, there was an almost immediate mandate to stop posting knife and gear pics unless they were being used for bushcrafty stuff. That ran a lot of makers like Fiddleback, Stomper, etc. off and stopped most of the regulars from posting up their new woods knives. This killed a lot of discussion. I know this forum used to be the my first stop after I pulled a new woods knife out of the mail, but I stopped posting pics after that, though the final decision on it was very ambiguous.

With Joe's recent sticky got posted, it opened up a lot of questions on what was and wasn't permitted, and was then locked to further inquiry. I imagine a lot of threads don't get started due to the poster not wanting to have to consider whether it's allowed. Not only off-topic stuff but pics of knives. Looking back through the forum I see atakach's "basic camp knife" thread was moved out of here, but Joe's "Introducing Terrasaur" thread for example wasn't. And the latter was much more advertising than the former.

Not trying to start a brawl, and I'm aware my thoughts are my own, but I think some actual rules and open discussion of those rules would lure many back here. As it is, it's a guessing game.

Kiah,

You might be onto something there....

 

[udtjim]

I must argue with Stomper that there is to much arguing here.

BTW, I am open minded and you best see it my way.:thumbup:

Only speaking for myself but some days us older guys don't feel as good as we used to, sometimes it's hard to not let it show through.

All in all, I find this a darn good place to spend my time, thanks to all of you.

 

[myright]

Hey fellas - thanks for keeping things civil - I really think there is some good discussion here. I really do enjoy all the threads with pics of hikes, camping, etc. adventures. While some may say that mere pics of a trail do not have anythign to do with survival I've seen a few threads that provoke good discussion about a certain picture and survival scenarios.

you guys remember Brian's scenario threads? That was pretty cool.

I'm guilty of not posting as much in here so it appears I am part of it also.

Jake - I hope all is well!

Let's keep this great place moving forward. I love this place.

 

[BarberFobic1992]

I have noticed it, although it hasn't deterred me from WSS by any means. I follow the simple practice of not informing any of the hard-headed undesirables of there unfortunate condition and refrain from posting in such threads, in hopes that it will slide down to page two. I think if everyone did somthing like this we'd see a cut-back in the irrational arguing.

 

[Diomedes Industries]

If you will allow some distinctions. A greek sense of arguing was to present a position and then defend that position with logical reasons.

An Modern sense of arguing is to get louder instead of more logical.


I think many people cannot sustain the former and devolve into the latter.


I also think many people cannot handle the former, see it as the latter, and lock threads that contain either.


TF

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Not trying to start a brawl, and I'm aware my thoughts are my own, but I think some actual rules and open discussion of those rules would lure many back here. As it is, it's a guessing game.

I like that.

I'm going to start a thread and sticky it -- "Less heat, more light" -- and start it off with this quote. Maybe we can get a discussion going that will let the members work out the rules, as we did in the Political Arena.

 

[SpookyPistolero]

More rules is not necessarily gooder. I think many come here for the pleasant, open atmosphere. It would be sad to me if 'all the sudden' this place devolved into needing more rules to maintain civility.