Another missing guys thread

Jay

Some of the guys have left or been scarce. I get it. Seems like some others have been scarce lately too. Knitepoet, Just some Dude? Bisley had been scarce for a while. Always liked reading his stuff. Jerm pokes in now and then. Another I enjoy reading stuff from. Did I miss something about Patrick (pjames777)? He was fighting cancer and kindly offered words to me when I went through the crap with dad just over a year ago.

Buffy? He used to drop in now and then. Busy with work and family, I heard. 

I know there’s others who have been strangers and members have dropped out for various reasons. Kinda cool to hear from some of them again. 

Wambli Ska

Knitepoet left the forum for good.  He felt it was “time”.

Jay

Wambli Ska said:

Knitepoet left the forum for good.  He felt it was “time”.

Cool. His call. But hate to hear that. He was another one who was cool enough to offer his time when I was going through a tough spot, and I appreciate it. 

Zee

Wambli Ska said:

Knitepoet left the forum for good.  He felt it was “time”.

Weeeeellllllllll………..not really. 😉

Spk

Another decade or so, this place could well be 6 guys sittin' around talking in circles.

We need new people if old ones are gonna drop out.

I haven't seen Peg too much either, although he sometimes drops by.

There's quite a few gun forums out there and some of them are pretty "fun" and by "fun" , I mean they scratch and claw at each other like children but that's part of the appeal. Also on a lot of forums I've noticed, there doesn't seem to be a lower limit on stupid, ignorant, vapid or vacuous questions so there's always something amusing to talk about.

Just my own observations, not recommending anything.

Diver43

Justsomedude went MIA at the same time KP had himself erased. Took that rifle build thread with them.  

zorba

The glue that held this place together was Teach and the SE shoot. Teach got himself banned, and the SE shoot died, and folks just drifted away.

Varmintmist

It was active before Teach and the SE shoot.

One thing I dont get is why are the posts deleted? Someone wants to leave, fine, but other people put information in those posts.

CHIRO1989

You have to reach out, I bumped coolgunguy, Sixgun, Jerrybobco, and Jgunpilot around Christmas and lately and got responses, check on people if you miss them posting.

bullsi1911

This is the way of the internet.  Sites come and go- activity waxes and wanes.

It sucks when it’s one of your favorite places.  This and linkedin are my last bits of ‘social media’- and linkedin is just because I HAVE to be on there for work.  

I understand people leaving or fading away.  But the fact that we are not gaining members is a symptom of this being ‘old internet’ media.  The management of G&A could not care less about making this place better, offering value, or using this to generate revenue for the overall company.  It would not take much to make this place a beacon to shooters on the internet.  But… here we are.

CHIRO1989

Anybody that knows them, be nice to see how Antonio, Bisely, TimC, and Early are doing

sakodude

Diver43 said:

Justsomedude went MIA at the same time KP had himself erased. Took that rifle build thread with them.  

Which is a real shame. I was very interested in how that build turned out.

Linefinder

bullsi1911 said:

This is the way of the internet.  Sites come and go- activity waxes and wanes.

It sucks when it’s one of your favorite places.  This and linkedin are my last bits of ‘social media’- and linkedin is just because I HAVE to be on there for work.  

I understand people leaving or fading away.  But the fact that we are not gaining members is a symptom of this being ‘old internet’ media.  The management of G&A could not care less about making this place better, offering value, or using this to generate revenue for the overall company.  It would not take much to make this place a beacon to shooters on the internet.  But… here we are.

Couldn't have said it better myself. There is absolutely ZERO input from the G&A monolith. When our last Admin passed away, we mods weren't even informed. A few months later, Bullsi happened to run across his orbituary. We've not had an Admin since, though I've sent 6 emails recommending Jayhawker. Not a single answer, except one stating "I'll look into that when I have time". 5 prodding emails later....not even a response. This place has as much to do with G&A as rocks do to clouds.

Mike

Linefinder

zorba said:

The glue that held this place together was Teach and the SE shoot. Teach got himself banned, and the SE shoot died, and folks just drifted away.

I disagree with your first opinion, agree with the second before your next comma. After that....not that many members attended the last SE shoot. IIRC, even other longtime members seemed to think Teach wasn't much interested in it himself anymore.

Mike

FWIW....Teach chased off more new members than he ever welcomed. Trust me....I know.

Diver43

At the moment there are 7 members and 38 guests on this forum.  
what is wrong that some of these guests do not become members?  Anybody clicking through the threads will see that there is a wealth of information about guns and hunting.  Spmething is stopping folks from becoming members.  Any ideas?

Antonio and his family are doing well in their new home.  Still getting settled in with kids and work, but happy and well.

Bigslug

bullsi1911 said:

I understand people leaving or fading away.  But the fact that we are not gaining members is a symptom of this being ‘old internet’ media.

Well. . .I'm not joining any of the "new" Internet media.  What's that a symptom of? 

Jayhawker

Diver43 said:

At the moment there are 7 members and 38 guests on this forum.  
what is wrong that some of these guests do not become members?  Anybody clicking through the threads will see that there is a wealth of information about guns and hunting.  Spmething is stopping folks from becoming members.  Any ideas?

Antonio and his family are doing well in their new home.  Still getting settled in with kids and work, but happy and well.

We approve new members pretty regularly...where they're at? I have no idea...Some are trying to post stuff in the classifieds or are spammers...

Japhy

I’m a semi newcomer here. I don’t plan on going anywhere. This has been a great source of accurate info.  But the instant it goes Meta virtual with 3D goggles and amines I’m outta here

Spk

Japhy said:

I’m a semi newcomer here. I don’t plan on going anywhere. This has been a great source of accurate info.  But the instant it goes Meta virtual with 3D goggles and amines I’m outta here

Where dang lucky to have you Japh. I feel like dancing!

Yeah okay, I used old footage of Mike. 🤣

zorba

Spk said:

Japhy said:

I’m a semi newcomer here. I don’t plan on going anywhere. This has been a great source of accurate info.  But the instant it goes Meta virtual with 3D goggles and amines I’m outta here

Where dang lucky to have you Japh. I feel like dancing!

Yeah okay, I used old footage of Mike. 🤣

Get that guy a pole!

jaywapti

I'm still here, only to maintain my status as the oldest , & possibly longest member on the forum , and to collect my brick of 22s from Terminator012. About the only thing that really interests me is the new 270s with 1:8 barrels and high BC bullets, if i wasnt so damn old i have a beautiful Mexican small ring M-98 action that begs for a 26" 1:8 barrell and a super fancy crotch feather walnut stock. Maybe someone ( Zee ) will build and post the results, after all its for science.

JAY  

Big Al1

Mex 98 is my favorite action, but it's to short for a full length .270!! But a 7x57 is perfect!!

Zee

jaywapti said:

I'm still here, only to maintain my status as the oldest , & possibly longest member on the forum , and to collect my brick of 22s from Terminator012. About the only thing that really interests me is the new 270s with 1:8 barrels and high BC bullets, if i wasnt so damn old i have a beautiful Mexican small ring M-98 action that begs for a 26" 1:8 barrell and a super fancy crotch feather walnut stock. Maybe someone ( Zee ) will build and post the results, after all its for science.

JAY  

Gladly!!

Make_My_Day

Linefinder said:

zorba said:

The glue that held this place together was Teach and the SE shoot. Teach got himself banned, and the SE shoot died, and folks just drifted away.

I disagree with your first opinion, agree with the second before your next comma. After that....not that many members attended the last SE shoot. IIRC, even other longtime members seemed to think Teach wasn't much interested in it himself anymore.

Mike

FWIW....Teach chased off more new members than he ever welcomed. Trust me....I know.

I think most of us have an internet persona that's a little different than the "real life" one. Jerry had an abrasive persona on this forum, and I know that, because I was one of those newbies that was pretty much one of the objects of his and other peoples' wrath. After I met him at the 1st shoot that I attended, and I think that was in 2014, I found him to be a genuinely warm, friendly, and one of the most generous people I have ever met. We did some planned motorcycle riding for 3 days after that shoot, and had a great time together. The day after I left, Jerry was going somewhere on his bike and had a horrible crash that was caused by his rear tire blowing out at about 50 mph. Among other injuries, some portion of his foot was shaved off by the road. He still walks around with a cane. I imagine that the pain he was left with by the accident may have contributed to his worsening temperament on the forum, and left him with a reduced capability of taking care of what needed to be done in preparation for each shoot. Miss Mary was also having difficulties with physical issues. I seriously doubt that loss of interest in the shoot had anything to do with it. I consider Jerry to be my friend, and I am willing to cut him a lot more slack under the circumstances.

Also, with regard to "forum flight" I find it ironic that given the not-give-a sh** attitude shown by the operators of this forum forces a strict set of rules of conduct on the rest of us that's supposed to discourage members from chasing others away, when some are leaving anyhow. There used to be lots of content generated here that interested me. I am not that much of a content generator, but I did like a lot of the stuff that others posted. I used to come here multiple times daily, but now not so much.

I am not criticizing the current set of Mods, because they are only doing what the owners require them to do.

bullsi1911

The content rules here were not created by anyone other that the Mods, Dan Johnson, and slightly tweaked by Jerry Lee. The owners of this forum probably do not even know we put these in place

They are not overbearing, and are a lot more lax than most of the other forums on the net. And I can tell you that EVERY single one has a member (or multiple members) create a problem that caused the writing of that rule. 

Heck, I was even involved in some of the fights that caused the posting of the rules. 

bobbyrlf3

I've learned a lot from this group.  No interest in any of the other forums I've tried.  I don't post often, but then, I never have been a particularly frequent poster.  My life isn't nearly as interesting as the ones I read about here.  Besides, you guys are better than an encyclopedia.

Make_My_Day

bullsi1911 said:

The content rules here were not created by anyone other that the Mods, Dan Johnson, and slightly tweaked by Jerry Lee. The owners of this forum probably do not even know we put these in place

They are not overbearing, and are a lot more lax than most of the other forums on the net. And I can tell you that EVERY single one has a member (or multiple members) create a problem that caused the writing of that rule. 

Heck, I was even involved in some of the fights that caused the posting of the rules. 

I didn't know that. For years we have been led to believe by other members that it was the owners of this forum that were responsible for it, and that we had to please them in order to keep the forum from going away. I guess some were running interference to the truth. I didn't use the word overbearing. I said strict, and in my opinion it's better now than it used to be.

bullsi1911

I think it was more of a “we are protecting a home the is provided by the mothership.  Unless otherwise directed, we are trying to keep from too much poop being tracked in on the rugs.  Our fear (and confirmed at one point where a media person at G&A said that this place should not start costing the company money- because it does not EARN them any money, and if it becomes a net negative on the balance sheet… well, it’s easy to turn it off) that some sort of dumb fight here becomes a viral poo-storm on the internet, and the company pulls the plug.

It’s more of a ‘don’t anger the gods on Mt Olympus’-  Keep it kind, keep it civil, don't say something you would not say in front of a friend’s 9 year old daughter, don’t advertise.  

And we are really light handed in the moderation.  We let a lot of things slide.  I think there is more fear of us or “i don't think I can post this link…’ than there is actual real moderation.

Make_My_Day

I really am not intentionally criticizing anyone. I understand there has to be some rules, and I do appreciate that someone keeps order around here. The original environment that existed here when I first joined in 2007-2008 was quite repressive in my view. My first social media experience was in sites named "Propel" and "Facebook." Those platforms had a lot of latitude with what you could say, which I guess contributed to my opinion that there was too much censorship here. Currently I feel there is a reasonable amount of control to keep most people comfortable, myself included. My only purpose for making any comments about banning was in defense of Jerry. I think if a poll was taken at the time of his banning, the overwhelming majority of members here would have voted for retention. I personally felt that it was unreasonable to ban him, but I didn't see what his final comment was before the axe fell. I never knew him to use swear words or make threats to anyone.

Varmintmist

Make_My_Day said:

I think if a poll was taken at the time of his banning, the overwhelming majority of members here would have voted for retention.

I wouldnt bet the farm on it.

Wambli Ska

Make_My_Day said:

bullsi1911 said:

The content rules here were not created by anyone other that the Mods, Dan Johnson, and slightly tweaked by Jerry Lee. The owners of this forum probably do not even know we put these in place

They are not overbearing, and are a lot more lax than most of the other forums on the net. And I can tell you that EVERY single one has a member (or multiple members) create a problem that caused the writing of that rule. 

Heck, I was even involved in some of the fights that caused the posting of the rules. 

I didn't know that. For years we have been led to believe by other members that it was the owners of this forum that were responsible for it, and that we had to please them in order to keep the forum from going away. I guess some were running interference to the truth. I didn't use the word overbearing. I said strict, and in my opinion it's better now than it used to be.

Actually quite a few of Jerry’s rules came out of the mothership.   No one knew this but Jerry was NOT tech savvy and he depended on me heavily to do a lot of the background Admin work that he couldn’t do.  Things like editing the banned words list (you think it’s bad now, you should read what I started with), which took 5 hours of my life I’ll never get back, just so you guys could say shithouse and bitch here.  

Because of this I got pretty close to him, (Hell I had his user ID and password) and we had some lengthy conversations on the phone about the forum.  He was actually the reason I came back as GunNut for a while.

One of the biggest issues with Teach was his constant disparaging (and sometimes violent, like a mention of hanging) comments about gays and people of color that attracted corporate scrutiny, a highly undesirable state of affairs when you’re trying to keep a non profitable hangout open, especially one that attracts plenty of outside attention.  Notice the massive amount of “visitors” vs members here at any given moment?

Like many here I was rather fond of Teach and I could never reconcile the man I knew personally with some of what was expressed here.  I stayed out of this because of my relationship with him, but I know he was given a LOT of chances to rein in his behavior and cut a lot more slack by the moderators than anyone else would have.  So like others here, I love the guy I know personally but he could not stay here any longer.