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If you do not have something nice to say....

5K views 73 replies 27 participants last post by  gpa&hisguns 
#1 · (Edited)
...then say "nothing at all"...so I am saying OUT LOUD AND IN CAPITAL LETTERS...

...NOTHING AT ALL...

When did Graybeard Outdoors become the Face Book/Twitter/My Space/whatever for all things PERSONAL? It is like a bunch of little girls descended here and took over.

Can we not stick to the web site's founding premises of GUNS< HUNTING< SHOOTING< CASTING< CANNONEERING< and OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES (to name a few)?

The Forums have taken a tack that includes EVERYTHING under the sun and it is CHAFFING ME to the point of WRITING IN CAPITAL LETTER irritability.

I leave it to you to find the right path as I have pointed the way.:mad:
 
#2 ·
Huh, in all the categories you listed, I've seen nothing but nice.
In a couple of others, things do get heated at times, but a thread can be ignored.
Personally, I never enter a thread started by one of the new trolls, and if I enter a thread where folks are arguing with one of those trolls, I leave and don't go back.

I think most folks do the same.
That's my opinion only, YMMV
 
#57 ·
That is a good analysis. That's essentially what got me out of here.

My take on it is that two major factors have dropped my participation to near zero:

1) I used to enjoy the politics and a couple of other non-outdoor forums here because there was a group of like minded people that made thoughtful posts, and we were bouncing ideas off of each other. It was worthwhile because I gained new perspectives. Of particular value was that it helped me understand what other people like me think about the issues of the day. Now, the number of such posts has dropped below the critical mass that keeps me engaged.

2) The politics forum lost appeal when it stopped being a forum for exchanging conservative minded ideas and perceptions, and switched to being adversarial exchanges in typical low value political bickering. To put a finer point on it, posts by thoughtful people like NWbear and Guzzi contributed to the mix by adding a more left leaning perspective that was worthy of attention. The trolls (micronuts and calienturd sp?) redefined discourse on that forum so that it now reads like the typical adversarial political hacking found on unmoderated comments in places like Daily Mail and Fox News stories. It serves no constructive purpose. Not as far as I'm concerned, anyway.

I just popped in to take a look this morning, and I'm guessing I haven't made any posts in quite a while. Like somebody else in this thread said about themselves, I used to post quite a bit to keep things interesting, but I don't have time for that anymore. Actually, I do have time for it, but I'd rather do other things.
 
#5 ·
Id be all for it. Dump the political and religious crap. Problem is the forum owner makes his advertising money on post counts. When I started here I don't know if they even existed and if they did nobody paid attention. Now between those two sections probably half the posts made are made there. Hes sure not going to pull the plug on the money makers. I guess we are given a choice. Nobody makes anyone click on the religion section or the politics section. If everyone quit going there theyd dry up but I guess your kind of a hypocrite if you don't agree with it and still go there. You also have free will. If someone says something you don't like you don't have to reply.
 
#4 ·
I understand and if Bill still owned the site, the off-outdoor forums may have been history.
But you have to admit, the off-outdoor forums sure do raise the post count. :)

It wouldn't bother me if those forums went away, but since they are here, I can't resist sticking my nose in. :)
 
#6 · (Edited)
You have more sway then the rest of us. talk to the management. Id personally be all for the religion and politics sections going away. But would the management? Probably 1/2 or more of the posts are in those sections and are those fights and we both know post counts=$. They are both about impossible to moderate because everyone has such strong opinions on both of those subjects and who do you find that wouldn't let his own opinions direct his actions. Not me that's for sure. Id have to moderate 90 percent of the posts on both sections and that would even include my own. I left the religion section already because of this crap. I guess as far as the political sections goes I go into it knowing full well that its not the place to go if your feelings are easily hurt or your the type to run to mommy and tattle. I guess I see no reason to get angry about it. I do have the option not to click that mouse. Im not interested in cannons or outdoor survival, or the civil war, herbal remedy's wild eatables or texas, California, or New Jersey either so I don't bother going to those sections. I can honestly say ive never gone away from this forum or any other angry or mad. To many important things in the real world to save those emotions for. DONT MEAN NOTHING Landowner!
...then say "nothing at all"...so I am saying OUT LOUD AND IN CAPITAL LETTERS...

...NOTHING AT ALL...

When did Graybeard Outdoors become the Face Book/Twitter/My Space/whatever for all things PERSONAL? It is like a bunch of little girls descended here and took over.

Can we not stick to the web site's founding premises of GUNS< HUNTING< SHOOTING< CASTING< CANNONEERING< and OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES (to name a few)?

The Forums have taken a tack that includes EVERYTHING under the sun and it is CHAFFING ME to the point of WRITING IN CAPITAL LETTER irritability.

I leave it to you to find the right path as I have pointed the way.:mad:
 
#7 ·
Can we not stick to the web site's founding premises of GUNS< HUNTING< SHOOTING< CASTING< CANNONEERING< and OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES (to name a few)?
Sadly I have noticed the same thing. :tango_face_sad: i.e. The H&R forum seems to have gone the way of the H&R itself... as have many other forums. :tango_face_crying:

I decided some time ago to try to do my part in reversing this downward trend by attempting to stimulate discussion in several of my favorite forums. Note: This does NOT include the Religion or Politics forums! :tango_face_devil: Unfortunately my time is limited nowadays. I only took time to write this as Kathie is still asleep.

But I'll increase my efforts. Thanks for the motivator L_O! :tango_face_wink:
 
#8 ·
Just keep politics and religion in the places that are for them. It seems if someone posted about casting lead bullets someone would post an Old Testament passage the the discussion would be taken over by religious bickering. Everything has it's place but the taking over and bickering do more to turn people away from religion than most anything else.
 
#9 ·
I will usually click on "active topics" and look thru those. If I see something interesting, I'll look thru it, and may, or may not comment.
Cannons, H&R rifles, most survival topics ect. almost never draw my interest.
As far as the politics and religion forums, it depends on the topic.
I don't think either has any place on the other forums, or vice-versa, but I don't think doing away with any forums is a solution.
 
#10 ·
It is very sad as to how the forum has went as I have said before there are a lot of members that are no longer posting and there was a time when you posted for sale no matter what it was it sold now they just sit If you post a message seeking advise all you get is opinions as I don't think some who post read the starting post when I posted that my wife of 62 years had died someone post that I should get her in to rehab as they could do wonders and just count the post on a daily count and you will only have around 10 members where are the rest I suspect ran off by trolls. I am also about ready to leave but it is not only here it is on all the forums even 24 hour campfire has them and also cast bullets to name a couple.

Deaconllb
 
#11 ·
I joined the forum in 2012 after lurking for quite sometime. I seem to remember Around The O' Pot Bellied Stove being there for OFF-TOPIC discussions along with several other threads on specific topics that aren't specifically for outdoors, guns, and related subjects. Why all the fuss and frazzle now?



All I can say is if you don't like the subject matter, DON"T OPEN THE THREAD. Seems like a simple enough solution to me.
 
#14 ·
My title should have been followed by describing that I am speaking ABOUT ME (not having something nice to say).

The breadth of subjects on the OPBS has gotten under my skin lately. I try to read a few, here and there, those in which I am interested, rather than them all, as I both "moderate" and comment my own opinions. Moderation has been few and far between as you guys (and a few gals) have been most Civil to one another - the Forums appreciate that.

Please take this post and my opinionated comments with a grain of salt as I rub off a few of my own irritating and rough edges. Moderating threads to ONLY the "Outdoor issues" would be counterproductive to the spirit of the OPBS as well as overall post count. Being "heavy handed" in moderation is not my objective...though writing about what I ate for lunch, what I may do with the rest of my afternoon, what the dog is doing to the cat, how noisy the birds seem, replacing the brake shoes on the Honda, the litany of Honey Do's, how retirement is treating me, you get the idea...is what I have in mind to avoid too. YMMV...
 
#21 ·
what the dog is doing to the cat
I wish more people would start threads on this subject. It's one of my favorites.
To keep religion out of this post, I won't mention that cats are pets of satan.:tango_face_devil:
 
#16 · (Edited)
I get real tired of people that are thin skinned.....you know the kind that sit around the ole pot belly stove and only want to talk about what they want to talk about. 5 of us sat around the pot belly stove in my garage the other night and we talked about, guns, politics, religion, our dogs killing cats, about our retirements, about how to get out of honey do lists, how to adjust the clutch on a Harley 88 Vtwin and then guns some more. Nobody had something to say about every topic but everybody had something to say about some of the topics. There was a lot of jesting/ badgering going on and we solved most of the worlds problems right there in my garage. We had a lot of fun even though I lost badly at 5 handed call for your partner 4 point pitch.

I see this forum as kind of the same way. Most everybody lets their hair down and has a good time. We come from all walks of life and there are lots of likes and dislikes distributed across the broad spectrum of folk that post here. We can't all think alike and we can't all like the same topics. Read what you want to read and don't read what you don't want read. When I sit on the crapper at home there are a dozen women's health magazines in the rack next to the throne, a few hunting magazines and some reloading manuals. I can't remember the last time that I picked up one of those women's magazine but I sure don't care that they are there. It's exactly the same with some threads on this forum.

I know it's not in your interest that my dog is a cat killing machine but there were several folk that got a charge out of that story. Heck one even wanted to buy him.....just saying...........................
 
#17 ·
My biggest concern about the site is that the gun, shooting, hunting, fishing related forums aren't getting the traffic they used to. I attribute that at least in part to so many of us getting old and not doing those things the way we used to do. Since we don't do them, we don't talk about them as much.

I know that applies to me. I haven't gone hunting for several years. I also don't do all that much shooting but I have set a goal to shoot at least once each month this year. I set that same goal last year and it only lasted until April I believe it was before I failed at shooting each month.

Some of the folks posting here I kinda doubt if they've ever hunted and some I really wonder if they even own a gun.

Yes the conversation has shifted on GBO and away from guns, shooting, hunting and fishing to more general topics. The cannon forum might be the most active here these days, at least it sure seems like there are more threads with new posts daily there. The pot bellied stove forum, politics forum and H&R Centerfire forum seem to all be among the most used.

I find a lot fewer threads and posts that interest me than I used to. I've never had any interest in cannons or handi rifles. So I mostly don't read posts there. I use the "what's new since last visit" function and look only at a least of those topics with new posts since my last visit. Of those I only read the ones that the subject line interests me unless someone calls one of my attention as a problem.

Sadly I can't wave a magic wand and make things go back to the way they were. My youngest grandson broke my magic wand using it to beat a grizzly bear off me last time we were out on my range shooting. Hey that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

If rather than complaining about not likely some of the topics posted folks would just not read those and would instead start more threads about the kinda topics we used to talk about here maybe things would slowly turn back in that direction again.

One thing I see commonly condemned is turning threads having nothing to do with religion into religious threads. There is really only one person who is prone to do that. Yeah he knows who he is and I've PM'ed him in the past about doing that. So I'll start deleting posts by him or anyone who tries to turn threads not on the religious forum into a religious discussion and encourage moderators to do the same. I have a religious forum here to discuss religion and a politics forum to discuss politics. So let's confine those discussions to those forums.
 
#18 ·
If rather than complaining about not likely some of the topics posted folks would just not read those and would instead start more threads about the kinda topics we used to talk about here maybe things would slowly turn back in that direction again.
That was my point, not that I complain about what others post, but I darn sure could start more threads! I've done little more than read here lately. :tango_face_sad:
 
#19 ·
I think too many of us have slipped into that mode Richard.

Generally speaking if there is a thread with a topic of interest to us we'll read it. Some will post to it and some will only read it. But thread starters are kind of the life blood of a site like this. If no one is posting new threads then not much posting happens.

For the site owner a view is as good as a post or a new thread in that each ad view pays them some amount of money. But more new threads mean more new posts and in turn that means more of those views that pay the bills for the site owners.
 
#20 ·
My kids started The Who would win in a fight game tonight Trump or obama? I said Trump would rip him to pieces. Well what if obama had a machine gun and Trump had a sword? I said still Trump because obama is a liberal and has no idea how to use a machine gun. They laughed. Who would win Trump or George Washington? I told them George Washington as he was a soldier who had killed many and charged the enemy with bullets popping through his coats. I told them that George Washington was close to 6’4”s tall and one h.ll of a man and if it weren’t for him and men like him there would be no USA...
 
#23 · (Edited)
I can empathize with you about your friend.
The best friend I ever had killed himself over in Ft. Myers.
I still think of him often and it's been 49 years.
 
#24 ·
Yeah Richard I do understand the situation. My best friend, shooting and hunting partner, died in 2001 and honestly I've just not been in the mood to do much shooting or hunting since. I hardly know what to do with my Friday nights anymore as they were mostly spent at his house and then Saturday was shooting or hunting day.

Retirement takes a bit of getting used to. I'm kind of a professional at it now as I've been retired 24 years now.

Adjusting to retirement does come and it does get easier. I can't say the same for the loss of a best friend. I don't think the pain of that ever goes away.
 
#25 ·
I've been here since May of 2003 (6 mos after Graybeard himself), and I'm relatively young for a regular, but I've done my time as a moderator for GBO so I know how it can be. This site has gone through a lot of changes over the past 16 years- I came here because it was THE Contender site. Tried to move to H&R - never caught the bug. Because of my duties, I go for years without touching a gun, its been over a decade since last I hunted, but its most of what I think about, read about when I have down time at night. My wife will look over at me in my side of the lazy boy and ask what I'm reading; "ballistic tables for handloads comparing the 6.5x30-30AI to ..." She rolls her eyes, and says she should've guessed. I came here and still come here to read and learn first, comment second. But there's less and less on here for me to read and learn from, sadly.

Men my sons' age don't enjoy forums, they go to youtube. Largely because when they google an outdoors topic, youtube will score on the front page of results due to high view counts. The only time GBO scores on the front page is maybe for cannons, or the occasional wildcat caliber. If we want to keep GBO vibrant and healthy attracting younger outdoorsmen and women as new members, we have to be talking about something relevant to them. They get plenty of politics and religion on their social media sites - the one thing GBO has that social media doesn't is collective millennia of experience in the minds of the members. But its only useful if its posted.
 
#30 · (Edited)
Well team I’m just a month behind you. Join date 6/2003.

I can live with different opinions but we have a few here that will stab you in the back. That I can’t live with. They take what a guy says and twist it to their version. As long as that’s tolerated there will not be peace on this forum.
 
#26 ·
Bill is right about age, and change. I haven't had a hunting license in 3 years until about 3 weeks ago. I went coyote hunting by myself last night for the first time in about 9 years. I came home about 2 hrs. It just ain't there anymore.
All those injuries I got during my career have come back to haunt me. I hurt all the time.
I quit my part time job Saturday because of the push to sell Harley Davidson has just gotten stupid.
I'd just rather tinker with my jeep and poke around back roads.
 
#27 · (Edited)
GBO is a 24-hour campfire through which I have met some of you face to face and "know a smidgeon" about a few more of you by your opinions here. We leave a little bit of ourselves in what we write and take a little bit with us from one another when we depart - like the simple pleasure of coming and going from a good fire.

There is a spark in the voice over of Kevin Costner's narration at the end of "Dances With Wolves":

With Ten Bears, it was always more than a while. There was purpose in everything he did, and I knew he wanted me to stay. But I was sure of myself. I would be an excuse, and that's all the Army would need to find this place. I pushed him as far as I could to move the camp. But in the end, he only smiled and talked of simple pleasures. He reminded me that at his age, a good fire was better than anything.
GBO is a simple pleasure and a good fire. Outdoor activities are relevant in 2019.

I was thrilled and saddened simultaneously at age 65 when I achieved a FREE FOR LIFE hunting license (good for FL). The State's deer hunting reporting and antler restricting rules have tightened so much that there will be no enjoyment in this "aging out" achievement. A Federal Duck Stamp is still required to be purchased though the effort of boating in the dark, skulking through the mud, and winter cold to shoot up to six (6) of the tiny critters, which I give away because I don't eat them, is probably behind me now.

One of my "glory days" readings is from a series of Jon Young's Wilderness Awareness School cassette tapes entitled "Seeing Through Native Eyes". A young African man, the son of one of the Awareness School's Founding Fathers, strikes out from his village into the African plains. The young man comes across a nomadic tribe elder that is sitting under a tree. The elder has told his people that it is his time and they pragmatically have left him there. The young man shares his water and stays with the elder until he passes. It is thought that the spirit of that elder passed into the young man who wanders from that day, never sets foot in a building again, and learns instead the skills necessary to thrive in the outdoors.

How interesting to "romanticize" a life of constant wandering, hunting, and THRIVING. Modern men have lost their Native Eyes. We that hunt, shoot, kill, and eat are at least still in tune with the natural rhythms and cycles of wildlife in their environment.
 
#34 ·
I joined because of the firearms and reloading sections to see if I could learn from other's experiences and have. There is little going on there now and in a bunch of the other subjects to be found here. We are an aging membership apparently and seriously slowing down. I certainly have. The only action seems to be in the political and pot-bellied forums with very little to nothing going on in the others. It not just GBO either. There is another forum that I joined a while before GBO and it's following in GBO's footsteps. New blood is needed but new blood seems only interested in facebook and youtube.
 
#35 ·
I’ve heard that GBO has a Facebook presence but have not checked that out. I only use FB to keep in touch with a few friends scattered around the world.

Does anyone know how active FB GBO page is and does it generate any dollars to the forum owners?
 
#36 ·
Join dates back in the 2003 time frame aren't always what the seem.

We started the site around mid '97 I think it was. We went thru several forum software iterations before settling on the one we had when I sold out the site. Twice those software changes required folks to register again as there was no way to move the accounts to the new software.

The last of those I believe were in the 2003 or so time frame and so any join dates in that time frame might just be when ya re-registered rather than your initial join date.

Early on the site really had nothing but some of my thoughts and data I posted. Stuff about Contenders and load info for some of my favorites and such. Then we signed up for a free forum software deal but found out that when the number of posts reached 200 they began to prune them and pruned oldest first even if that meant the post that started a thread was deleted while newer posts to it were still there. Not good.

So Matt wrote a forum software himself and we used it for a few years until we went with a commercially available software. Matt's software was a cascading software which I always liked best and really still do. But no one else other than me seemed to prefer it so to get in line with what other site were doing we changed and that required the re-registration of everyone. Those 2003 dates are to a large extent older members registering again due to the software change.

Anyone still remember back when you had to click on the front door of my house to enter the site and when you entered you heard Amazing Grace playing?

In '97 when we set up the site I was only able to find maybe a half dozen similar sites on the entire internet. I was a member and active poster to all of them. Shooter's.com, the coffee shop and huntinfo.com were the main ones I remember.

Several of us who were regulars in those days on those early sites set up our own sites around the same general time. I don't know what order but I remember Rick Bin set up the 24 hour campfire, Marshal someone set up hunt america, I set up GBO and Jesse set up his site. None of the original sites are still active but other than hunt america I think the rest of the sites we old timers set up are still active.
 
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