Firstly, a confession.
I've been coming to this website for almost 5 years. Thats a long time for someone to drop into it on a regular basis and not join. It's mean spirited, rude but most of all it's incredibly lazy. I have my reasons of course, all freetards do but I think that I can break it down into two real reasons.
1- I've worked with computers since the late 80's, got into boards and forums at a time when you would set up a PC to download something and head off to make dinner and come back to find that after stitching all the parts together it was just p0rn. Not totally bad I guess, ( unless you ever saw goatse )but not good if you were hoping that it was really going to swing those extra credits in your work.
The more time I spent on the forums and boards, the more I started to hate them. They were run by petty, self serving overloads and if you didn't tow the way of the admins you would be flamed back to square one. And don't even start me on the trolls of the world.
So I started to lurk.
As more people started to go online, the easier it was. If you searched well, most questions had been asked before and so you found the info that you wanted.
Then I started to watch uncle Raymond of the tight shorty shorts and dusted of my old camping gear and started to reuse the stuff I learnt in scouts when look-in magazine was 12p.
I sourced books, looked for small replacements for old kit and hit some courses before I stumbled on your good selves. I started to read threads and found out about some very good kit. I got to pick up on some good tips and by and large found the overlords here to be a kindly lot. Yes I've disagreed with this and that from time to time but you should all congratulate yourselves for being a dam fine bunch.
The second reason is pure jealousy. I had in mind for my avatar a very specific picture. Something that sums a lot of what I get out of being outdoors but someone got it first just as I was about to join the first time round. I speak of the shambling shaman of course, dam yer eyes, maybe we should meet up one day and duel with knots at 10 paces.
Anyway, this is a tad long now but I'm known as either writing 10 words or 100, so a quick bit about myself.
Live in Leeds, don't have a car so use local woods, jump walls and keep out to the way gamekeepers. I leave no trace, am always careful and a site is normally better than when I got there. Slept out a lot in hammocks but have recently returned to the ground. Have never been good at fire lighting, so am happy to cheat but have nearly finished a firepit in the garden to sort that out once and for all. Not convinced on ventile, big believer in wool and in the ever on going debate I don't side with bear.
Thank you for all your humour and points of view over the years and I plan to be a fully paid up member before the summer is out.
Jbth.
I've been coming to this website for almost 5 years. Thats a long time for someone to drop into it on a regular basis and not join. It's mean spirited, rude but most of all it's incredibly lazy. I have my reasons of course, all freetards do but I think that I can break it down into two real reasons.
1- I've worked with computers since the late 80's, got into boards and forums at a time when you would set up a PC to download something and head off to make dinner and come back to find that after stitching all the parts together it was just p0rn. Not totally bad I guess, ( unless you ever saw goatse )but not good if you were hoping that it was really going to swing those extra credits in your work.
The more time I spent on the forums and boards, the more I started to hate them. They were run by petty, self serving overloads and if you didn't tow the way of the admins you would be flamed back to square one. And don't even start me on the trolls of the world.
So I started to lurk.
As more people started to go online, the easier it was. If you searched well, most questions had been asked before and so you found the info that you wanted.
Then I started to watch uncle Raymond of the tight shorty shorts and dusted of my old camping gear and started to reuse the stuff I learnt in scouts when look-in magazine was 12p.
I sourced books, looked for small replacements for old kit and hit some courses before I stumbled on your good selves. I started to read threads and found out about some very good kit. I got to pick up on some good tips and by and large found the overlords here to be a kindly lot. Yes I've disagreed with this and that from time to time but you should all congratulate yourselves for being a dam fine bunch.
The second reason is pure jealousy. I had in mind for my avatar a very specific picture. Something that sums a lot of what I get out of being outdoors but someone got it first just as I was about to join the first time round. I speak of the shambling shaman of course, dam yer eyes, maybe we should meet up one day and duel with knots at 10 paces.
Anyway, this is a tad long now but I'm known as either writing 10 words or 100, so a quick bit about myself.
Live in Leeds, don't have a car so use local woods, jump walls and keep out to the way gamekeepers. I leave no trace, am always careful and a site is normally better than when I got there. Slept out a lot in hammocks but have recently returned to the ground. Have never been good at fire lighting, so am happy to cheat but have nearly finished a firepit in the garden to sort that out once and for all. Not convinced on ventile, big believer in wool and in the ever on going debate I don't side with bear.
Thank you for all your humour and points of view over the years and I plan to be a fully paid up member before the summer is out.
Jbth.
