Friday, March 26, 2010

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.

1 comment:

  1. I completely agree with you. I've been on boards where the content is not as important as how you spell. I've been on boards where if you differ in view from the mod, you are "banned". I think such places are little dictatorships and do more harm than good. In todays world, blogging and forums are important, and you can learn a great deal, but not if everyone is bickering. I don't care who is the biggest or the best, I care about what I can learn or share. People need encouragment, not put downs. People want to join with like minded people, not have the resident troll pick apart everything. I discourages me to the point where I don't want to go there...imagine a new person who wants to learn how to prepare stepping into the middle of all that crap? It gives all preppers a bad name.

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