Just a personal view point here.
I have peronally felt that there has been an undercurrent of malfeeling here for at least 6 months now. Around xmas i made a sort of promise to myself that I wasn't going to bother with logging in and posting anymore. I failed at that, mainly because I keep coming back to view the forum in case there was anything interesting. What i have noticed is that there seems to be a steady stream of unhappy people posting. This really is an indication that something is wrong somewhere along the line.
I got to thinking about what might be wrong, and the following has occurred to me :
1) The very nature of the place has a large effect. If it were a simple members only site, you would probably find after a while that everything would balance out. A few would leave over time,but you would actually form a community.
2) The current aim of interesting people in bushcraft , inevitably encourages new members, with all the usual new questions - repeated.
3) This leads to the point that there is a case of people reaching a certain point where they cannot or do not want to gain anything from being here.
4) You arrive at the stage where it becomes obvious that there is a transient nature of the place. You can be a newbie here, and learn a lot. After a while, you reach a point that you cannot learn much more because the information is so repetative. Thats when people move on.
The people that remain, i believe, are of the following :
a) Folks that have a genuine interest in helping others.
b) Folks that have formed genuine friendships ( with all the personal loyalties that go with this )
c) Folks that can use this place as an arena for blowing there own trumpets. For boasting about how everyone else is wrong because only their version of bushcraft is the correct way. There is nothing worse, in any subject, than people who are so analy retentive about their chosen sphere that they cannot allow anothers personal view point.
The way that they feel the need to trash others opinions, while firmly laying there own.
"in my own opinion
".
Yes, this above quotation can be seen quite often in the forum, allways with a stupid grin attached, in the most condescending manner possible.
There has been a lot of mention of "moderators do this, that or the other".
I really don't think the moderators are to blame for anything here.
From what I have seen in the past couple of years, they have done an amazing job. Unpaid, unthanked and unappreciated.
The real problem is the minority of ****s who really should leave of their own accord, but obviously have nowhere else to go.
But that last bit is my personal, emotional feeling having got back from the pub after a gallon of beer and some shorts. This is what i have felt over the last 6 months, but couldn't be bothered to say.
So my recommendations are this :
Recognise that the intention is actually becoming reality. New people are coming here, and you may have reached your learning peak. Move on !!
Recognise that you are either in a clique (or not. in which case - move on)
Get rid of the moronic rep system. There too few people here who are adult enough to use it properly, and it's too limited anyway. This is from personal experience. I am just glad the the idiot that repped me has no reputation to speak of anyway. Even though he was one of the first to complain about receiving neg rep himself. He was still happy to do this to others, just because he had a different viewpoint.
And ignore the anally retentive, bushcraft snobs. They are not worth listening to. Unfortunately they seem to have the loudest voices. Usually with a stupid smile at the sig.
And to anyone who says " If you don't like it, then leave".
I say "okay".
Moderated to exclude profanity -->**************************************<--