Is it me?
- Thread starter Bushwhacker
- Start date
I think also its a forum thing.. you come on and everything interests you!!!
Then you fine down your centres of interest: Gear, skills, chat, etc... pretty soon any queries you had on a special interest forum such as this have been answered... you've got your kit, found your boots, knives, stoves, packs etc...
Afterwards you chat a bit on films, TV, Youtube etc... but you start to find you have less to say... The subjects go around and come around to new members so after a while, rather than reply to a newbie you end up saying "Hey Dude there's a 'Search' function" ... and said newbie goes off to find another forum...
I also find there are less and less subjects I want to reply to, but I think its basically down to the narrow nature of our forum's subject matter... but this is true of all the special interest forums in which I participate. I think if to keep interesting subjects alive you need to want to contribute, for contributing's sake.
cheers
Gareth
Then you fine down your centres of interest: Gear, skills, chat, etc... pretty soon any queries you had on a special interest forum such as this have been answered... you've got your kit, found your boots, knives, stoves, packs etc...
Afterwards you chat a bit on films, TV, Youtube etc... but you start to find you have less to say... The subjects go around and come around to new members so after a while, rather than reply to a newbie you end up saying "Hey Dude there's a 'Search' function" ... and said newbie goes off to find another forum...
I also find there are less and less subjects I want to reply to, but I think its basically down to the narrow nature of our forum's subject matter... but this is true of all the special interest forums in which I participate. I think if to keep interesting subjects alive you need to want to contribute, for contributing's sake.
cheers
Gareth
This forum would be a very dull place indeed if we approached everything the same way, with the same opinions.
I'm guilty of the 'search function' post but then, there is a basis to that, people often don't look and its not that that bugs me, its the fact that they can learn so much more by searching, come across things they had never thought they 'needed' to know purely because most forum search funtions are all but pure tat and will throw a lot of spurious links back at them.
"to contribute, for contributing's sake." is also an easy pit to fall into, a lot of us repeat the same old same old just for the sake of it, in fact this is the first post in a long time that really has grabbed my attention. I do try and keep off stove threads, most here must for all thats sacred by now now that my favorite stove is the bla bla bla....then sometimes...I fall off the wheel and post the same old stuff.
Back on track a little, with so many posts going up daily, oft repeating what 'old timers' have seen all so often before, the odds are at first glance that things are boring; pick and choose I suspect is the only answer or take a break (as I will be shortly for a week or two) and catch up fresh from your travels.
How's that that for a drawn out rant
I felt the same way recently, there are only certain threads that i will avidly watch. But i have come to the realisation that what blacktimberwolf has said is very true.
I intend to start more threads about stuff that interests me and perhaps widen my horizons, which is after all why we started down this road in the first place isn't it?
Dave
RikI'm guilty of the 'search function' post but then, there is a basis to that, people often don't look and its not that that bugs me, its the fact that they can learn so much more by searching, come across things they had never thought they 'needed' to know purely because most forum search funtions are all but pure tat and will throw a lot of spurious links back at them.
"to contribute, for contributing's sake." is also an easy pit to fall into, a lot of us repeat the same old same old just for the sake of it, in fact this is the first post in a long time that really has grabbed my attention. I do try and keep off stove threads, most here must for all thats sacred by now now that my favorite stove is the bla bla bla....then sometimes...I fall off the wheel and post the same old stuff.
Back on track a little, with so many posts going up daily, oft repeating what 'old timers' have seen all so often before, the odds are at first glance that things are boring; pick and choose I suspect is the only answer or take a break (as I will be shortly for a week or two) and catch up fresh from your travels.
How's that that for a drawn out rant
You must be one of the most active members of this forum, and often I find myself reading your opinion... (whether I agree or not, depends.. but that is not the point)....I read your view because you participate.
My point was that to most our interest is limited, and our subjects also.... so you don't really want to reiterate for th x time, to the next newbie why you use X stove... I can agree as I'm the same..
But keeping a good forum going takes members who reply to all... this might be banal conversation, or a vital bit of info to a guy who needs to buy that pack for a trip!!! We don't know...
Yes the search button is the first I would try, but none of these work well and first hand info is so much better...
keep the forums alive!!
G
Good post and with that the wife and I are taking a bottle of cheeky red wine, port, crackers, cheese, fruit and pickles off to bed and watch some of out favorite episodes of 'The Avengers' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvmgrnsaE1U nighty night
I think I've started a fair few already and I'm not likely to start one that doesn't interest me.
I'm guilty of the 'search function' post but then, there is a basis to that, people often don't look and its not that that bugs me, its the fact that they can learn so much more by searching, come across things they had never thought they 'needed' to know purely because most forum search funtions are all but pure tat and will throw a lot of spurious links back at them.
"to contribute, for contributing's sake." is also an easy pit to fall into, a lot of us repeat the same old same old just for the sake of it, in fact this is the first post in a long time that really has grabbed my attention. I do try and keep off stove threads, most here must for all thats sacred by now now that my favorite stove is the bla bla bla....then sometimes...I fall off the wheel and post the same old stuff.
Back on track a little, with so many posts going up daily, oft repeating what 'old timers' have seen all so often before, the odds are at first glance that things are boring; pick and choose I suspect is the only answer or take a break (as I will be shortly for a week or two) and catch up fresh from your travels.
How's that that for a drawn out rant
The 'Search' button on this forum is also its weakest link. It is awful. New members and old member alike want to search a particular subject, or a subject of old, and they have sweet FA chance of finding it with the search function currently on this forum. It is absolutely awful, yet should be one of the best functions on the site.
This site should be THE ULTIMATE REFERENCE SITE in terms of bushcraft knowledge, but it can never fulfill that position without a halfway decent search function. Out of 10 it scores about a 0.0000005 in that category. I've no doubt we have lost many a member due to that.
Use Google's 'Search this site' button and you will have better results.
Instructions on how to set it up in this thread.
I see this site as a metaphor for life and as part of a natural cycle. What the OP is saying really applies to everything in life. You start by knowing nothing, go through the exhilarating process of leaning new things, become jaded as repetition creeps in and reach a stage when you feel you have nothing left to learn and become bored. The antidote to this natural process is change of mental pespective that comes with personal development: with this comes a different role. The dependant child becomes the independent adult, then becomes the one others are dependent on, eventually in old age becoming dependent again.
Newbies on the site have something to learn and often ask what experienced members think are damnfool questions. I resist this thinking and use these naive comments to test how secure my knowledge really is. In this way I have learned, and continue to learn, a great deal from newcomers to the site despite over 60 years of doing things which have come to be called bushcraft.
It is often difficult to realize how much one has moved on and easy to forget where on started. The OP clearly has a lot to offer and may not realize the value of this to others. I think he is at a state of change and if he sticks with it will gain a new perspective and renewed pleasure through more dialogue and less passive browsing.
I pick up a general sense of depression from the OP. Hardly surprising is it, with rotten weather stopping us from getting out, national financial turmoil and an uncertain future, hardship for those out of work and increasing stress and pressure for those in work. Perhaps life is a metaphor for the Bushcraft site. Have you tried the Mad About Gear link yet? New and refreshing!
Newbies on the site have something to learn and often ask what experienced members think are damnfool questions. I resist this thinking and use these naive comments to test how secure my knowledge really is. In this way I have learned, and continue to learn, a great deal from newcomers to the site despite over 60 years of doing things which have come to be called bushcraft.
It is often difficult to realize how much one has moved on and easy to forget where on started. The OP clearly has a lot to offer and may not realize the value of this to others. I think he is at a state of change and if he sticks with it will gain a new perspective and renewed pleasure through more dialogue and less passive browsing.
I pick up a general sense of depression from the OP. Hardly surprising is it, with rotten weather stopping us from getting out, national financial turmoil and an uncertain future, hardship for those out of work and increasing stress and pressure for those in work. Perhaps life is a metaphor for the Bushcraft site. Have you tried the Mad About Gear link yet? New and refreshing!
Personally I find loads to get me interested on the site - there is always more for me to learn, and I enjoy seeing other folks "makings" - they inspire more creative efforts from me...
OK some stuff is repetitious and some newbies ask some very basic questions - but they are new to the game afterall - giving them a constructive answer is polite and helpful (if you know it) ... as said, the search engine here seems to work on steam!
If I am at home I am nearly always on here - the best of all Bushy sites!
OK some stuff is repetitious and some newbies ask some very basic questions - but they are new to the game afterall - giving them a constructive answer is polite and helpful (if you know it) ... as said, the search engine here seems to work on steam!
If I am at home I am nearly always on here - the best of all Bushy sites!
"I pick up a general sense of depression from the OP. Hardly surprising is it, with rotten weather stopping us from getting out, national financial turmoil and an uncertain future, hardship for those out of work and increasing stress and pressure for those in work. Perhaps life is a metaphor for the Bushcraft site. Have you tried the Mad About Gear link yet? New and refreshing! "
I clicked that link and got this
[h=1]Not Found[/h] The requested URL /forum/www.madaboutgear.com was not found on this server.
Not very refreshing lol
I clicked that link and got this
[h=1]Not Found[/h] The requested URL /forum/www.madaboutgear.com was not found on this server.
Not very refreshing lol
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or in fact making it
