What Do I Think of Survival Forums?

This article is dedicate to all you survival forum addicts, wannabes & pack rats. But first let me tell you what I think of websites.. To me they're like someone's private home, office or store with all the windows & doors wide open and anyone can come in, look around and leave whenever they want 24-7-12

But when it comes to survival forums.I compare them to "bars & taverns." And like real bars and taverns, depending on where you sit you can usually tell who the regulars are, the boozers, losers and who the "bar flies" are too. They're the ones who don't seem to have a life and spend most of their time in bars drinking and yaking away until there's no one else around except the bartender and maybe you.

Well in forums these types of individuals are called "forum addicts." They're usually people who have very few real (off-line) friends, no social life and they are only comfortable talking to people on-line and in forums.

How can you tell if someone is a forum addict? That's easy, by the number of entries they post on a forum from sun up til sun down X the number of days X the number of weeks X the number of months, etc.

Are you one of them, a forum addict? Well let's see.

a.) Do you wake up every morning and one of the first things you do is go online to see what someone has posted on your favorite forum?

b.) Do you find yourself constantly monitoring or logging on & off your favorite forum trying to keep up with the latest postings?

c.) Do you find yourself staying up late almost every night and being one of the last ones to log off & out of a forum?

d.) Do you spend more tme on a forum than you do with your family and friends? And I'm not talking about the ones you met online.

e.) Does your spouse, room mate, parents, co-workers or girl/boy friend constantly nag you to get off the computer and stop spending so much time in fourms?

f.) When someone posts something on your favorit forum do you find yourself always wanting to add your comments to it?

Well if you answered "yes" to all or most of these questions. Then yep, you're probably a forum addict and so you probably don't have very many (off-line) friends and no social life either. And like all addicts, regardless if you're a drug addict, booze addict, food addict or whatever. As "Dr. Phil" would tell you.before you can be cured of your addiction you must first admit to yourself that you have a problem. And second, you must want to stop your addiction. And unless you're willing to admit you have an addiction problem and you really want out of your addiction, you're going to remain an addict.

Now don't get me wrong or put words in my mouth, I am not saying everyone who hangs out in a forum is a forum addict. Re-read what I wrote above and if you fit the description. then deal with it and admit it you're a freakin forum addict. And then what you need to start doing are some exercises called "push-aways." Which is nothing more than pushing yourself away from your computer and spending more time outdoors exercising "your legs" and less time indoors exercising "your fingers" and probably getting fat and overweight too.

Believe me, I know what it's like to be addicted to forums & chat room because one of my grown daughters was one of them. And her addiction not only ruined many years of her life but made our lives (my wife & I) miserable too. And what I just described to you (above) is exactly what she went through as a forum & chat room addict. She had no real (off-line) friends, no social life, no self esteme and spent all her time in her bedroom on forums & chat rooms from sun up until sometimes "sun rise" the next day.

And because she was addicted and not going to bed at a normal time, she was terrible to be around with in the mornings. You couldn't say good morning to her. Not to mention, she was rarely ever happy at her job nor at any job she has ever had. The only thing she looked forward to was coming home and logging onto forums & chat rooms where other addicts (and losers too) hang out.

But now that she has (finally) moved out of our home (October 1 st 2008) after living under our roof for 30 years (Thank God), she now (finally) has a social life and (finally) a boyfriend and spends less time on her computer and in forums & chat rooms. (Or so she tells us.)

Now I'll be honest with you, yea I sometimes register and log onto forums, but the only ones that I feel comfortable on are on military related forums where active duty and retired soliders (like me) like to chat and hang out. But from time to time I'll also log on and visit some survival forums too, but only because.

1. I'm bored due to some bad weather outside or because there's nothing worth watching on television.

2. I was invited by some people to participate in a forum discussion and they wanted my input & opinion.

3. I want to spread the word and let others know about a new tip or product that I just posted on my site.

And so these are the only reasons why I log onto a survival forum because I am not crazy about hanging out in them. Why not? Well mainly because of some of the know-it-alls, wannabes and yes, the addicts who hang out in them. And also because of some of the moderators who control these survival forums too.

Now to me a forum moderator is like a "bartender," he's the guy who is suppose to make sure no one gets out of line and misbehaves or he's suppose to throw their asses out. Yep, the same rules that apply in bars & taverns are the same rules that (should) apply in on-line forums.

But sometimes a forum moderator lacks the intestinal fortitude (balls) to tell someone to pipe down, chill out and behave. And sometimes they intentionally allow things to get a bit out of hand to spice up the forum. Why? To increase viewers, especailly if the moderator is the website owner and has a store page too.

People who belong to one forum are usually registered and belong to several and are logged onto all of them at the same time. Really. And whenever there's an interesting discussion going on in one forum such as a heated debate or an exchange of heated words someone from one of these forums tell the other forums what's going on in that other forum. And then everyone, from registered forum members and unregistered viewers will jump over to that forum thus bringing in more visitors and potential store customers and sales.

But not all forum moderators do this, only a few. Which I gotta tell you.unless you are the owner of a website, have an online store and a forum too.. I don't know why anyone would want to be a forum moderator unless you're being paid to be one. Other wise to me there's very little difference between a "forum addict" and a "forum moderator" unless of course you're taking turns being a moderator with someone else or several people.

And another thing that I don't like about survival forums are the Johnny-Rambo-know-it-all "pack rats." These are the clowns that whenever one of their fellow forum buddies gets into a disagreement with another forum member these other dudes like to pile on and back up their fellow pack rat buddy. Even if they know he or she is wrong and out of line. And what bothers me about this are all the other forum "by standers" who see what these hoodlums are doing and very few [by-standers] come to their aid and backe 'em up.

Well I guess like real people on city streets.when they see someone being abused or attacked most people will chose not to get involved for fear they may become the next victim. But in a freakin forum? What's up with that? Why be so afraid of some "humming bird assholes with alligator mouths?" These are the same clowns that usually like to talk poop about someone on a forum, their tips, ideas, etc and if that person doesn't post a reply back on the the forum these little ass-wipes think they put'em in their place or scared'em off.

Oh please, give me a break, what childish little immature minds some people have. If someone should post something negative about me in a forum, which they have, I will usually (well, most of the time) ignor their postings and not waste my time replying back. Unless I don't have anything better to do with my time, which is rare because I am usually quite busy running this site, my online store, spending some quality time with my wife, my friends and in taking my German Shepard (Queenie) for some long walks up in the woods not far from where I live here on Lake Garda - Italy.

And for those of you who are addicted to forums, this picture here pretty much sums up what I think a lot of you addicts are, a "bunch of chimps with no life."

And so there you go boys & girls, that's what I think of most forums, until my next article kiddies..

Yours truly,

"Army Ranger Rick"

PS: To anyone who is physcially challenged and or confined to a bed or wheelchair, my comments about forum addicts is not intended nor directed at you. But instead towards those who are not physcially challenged and are not confined to a bed or wheechair and are wasting their lives 24-7-12 on forums and need to "get a life!"