The challenge in the prepper community!!!

One of the things that seems to be prevalent in the community of preppers as a whole these days is an attitude of being full of their own self-importance. By this I mean people who say one thing and do another. If a person is talking or writing de-grading information about another forum board or web site that is trying to teach others and get the information out to the new people coming in to our community, then I think this qualifies as talking out of both sides of your mouth. Either you want to help people learn or you are trying to carve out a little empire for themselves. When you get mad at people who belong to many different forums and sites because you feel like they owe their allegiance to you but at the same time espouse that you are all about helping people learn somehow those scales don't balance out. Either you are all about helping people or you want everyone to know and see you for the perceived good you think you are doing. I will give you an example of something that has come to my attention in the last few days, that perfectly says how I feel about this subject, with the inter-action between two different forum boards and their associated web sites. In this article found here, http://www.americanpreppersnetwork.com/2010/03/preppers-and-survivalists-all-newbies.html, you will find the owner of the site talking at great length about how others treat the "newbies" in our community. But, if you look at other post on this blog you will find no shortage of his bragging about how many times he or one his cohorts has been published in this or that newspaper. Sir, I would say to you, stop all the back-slapping and get on with the teaching your site proclaims everywhere you can possibly find a place to put it. Another example of this person's attitude toward other boards and sites is this, there is a thread on another forum board about some members of this "American Preppers Network" that got interviewed for a BBC article that was only saying that the amount of preps these two individuals were talking about are not nearly enough for the average person or family, but yet I heard through the grapevine that this man told his members, who happen to be members at both, that they and the rest of the people who posted to the thread were "jerks" or worse. You can find this thread here, http://www.preparingforthefuture.org/the-bbc-does-american-preppers-t5890.html, read and then judge for yourself whether these proclaimed preppers are prepared and if anyone who posted to the thread did so in a bashing manneras this guy says, or were simply pointing out that two or three months was just a starting point. I'll leave you to be the judge.

Have you ever been mis-treated somewhere?

Sounds like an unlikely title doesn't it? Let me expound on the subject a bit with today's post. This preparedness/survivalist community is not so large that anything stays hidden for very long. What I mean by the title is this, have you ever been to a forum board where you felt not wanted? Were you hammered on every post by the "regulars"? Were you made to feel like an outsider because you weren't in their "clique"? Have you ever been to a forum where you got hammered because of your religious beliefs, or lack there of? Have you ever watched as a forum board was torn apart by over-zealous moderators along with cliquish members being hard on people who didn't agree with them? In my many years in this community I have seen all of these and more. And every single one of these profess to wanting to help new people and get the word out to all. Also to be a place for like-minded people to get together and have a free exchange of ideas. All laudable goals in principle but not always put in to practice. Is this community so large and strong that we can treat others, especially new people, in such a way as to make them feel un-important or worse unwanted? I don't think so. I feel that in these times we need every member and all the new people we can get. We should welcome them and greet them with open arms because if we don't stand together, you know the rest. What say you people, am I wrong?
And lest you think I'm picking on forum boards let me touch on web sites from our community. Have you ever been to a preparedness site and found any or all of the following? Have you found an owner with what I call a "Hitler" complex, you know the kind. The ones who are always talking about "I did this" or "I got interviewed by this person" or "I was the first to do this" or "I'm the biggest and best" or "you get the best information here". And I have found that more often than not these same people also put right on their front page that all they want to do is help spread the word and help get people informed and up to speed on preparedness. To my way of thinking these type of people are walking oxymoron's because you can't be both, at least not for very long. Think about these things as you travel to the different sites that make-up the preparedness community.
I think I would be remiss if I stopped here and left you, the reader, thinking everyone in our community is like this, because that just is not true. These types of sites and people are in the minority and thankfully not the majority within the preparedness community. There are many great sites and forums out on the net that do welcome new people and do have a free exchange of ideas. One of the best examples I can give you is James Raweles "Survival Blog". I've never heard him say he has the biggest or the best, but I think he is near the top in both categories. But, you see he is doing it the right way and he doesn't have to say these things. His readers say it for him. So in closing remember, there is a lot of good but there is some bad. You will have to judge both for yourself.

Preppers who "Talk the Talk" but don't "Walk the Walk"

It has come to my attention that there are some in the "prepper" community who say one thing but their actions are something entirely different. I think it is high time for these people to have their actions exposed to the light of day because they have been hiding behind their "Internet Veil" for way to long. I think it's time for the old Bible verse, "Be sure your sins will find you out." to make a comeback. The sins in this case are many and it will take me a good number of post to bring them all to light, but rest assured I will bring them all out of hiding and expose these people for the weasels they are. You may also rest assured that I will lift the veil and name names and point out the many wrongs committed by these people and how they have duped people into believing they are the real deal, when they actually have ulterior motives that benefit themselves only. There are many in the prepper community who are trying to help people and in this case it is just a few bad apples. It is now time to throw these bad apples out of the barrel before more damage is done to the good apples. So, if you have been doing things such as taking someone else's ideas and claiming them as your own, trying to use another's well earned and deserved reputation to promote yourself or anything of this nature, be sure you will be exposed here. It is high time these underhanded shenanigans are made known to all preppers so that they will know the truth for themselves.