Which I think is what started this all off.......
If you actually go back and read what started this topic, which obviously a lot of people have not bothered to do, it was FRANK bitching about the quality of material being posted or discussed "somewhere".
When that questionable material was being posted somewhere else, by someone else, all of sudden the pitch forks and torches are out. Lets burn Rex at the stake for hearsay!
I bring up questionable material being posted here, and a possible solution to help with that, and then all of sudden it is a completely different story.
It's all a bunch of BS as long as it is posted somewhere else, but everything here is all peaches and roses. NICE DOUBLE STANDARD!
Vetting people is a common everyday occurrence, I had to vet myself a number of ways in the last couple of months to get access to a number of things.
I never proposed a vetting process other than, provide some form of documentation which shows that you have some form of "credentials or experience" when it comes to precision long range shooting, or a supporting role. Hold a NRA ranking, PRS ranking, or some other form of competitive ranking. Documented prior MIL or LE service/experience. Subject matter expertise, equipment manufacturer, and the list can go on.
The point being, not every swinging dick should be granted the PRIVILEGE of posting here just because they think they need to. Going back to what started this lovely topic, PEOPLE POSTING STUPID $#!@, because they have no freaking clue what they are talking about, but they are all free and clear to do it!
Just because you can't post here, doesn't mean that you can't come here and learn. Once again, you should learn first with your eyes and ears, which anyone could do here. You don't have to be a member to read the Forums. Then once you have spent some time reading and applying what you have learned, then you will have earned/achieved some form of "credentials or experience" to show that you should be given the privilege to post.
That system would actually motivate people to go out and do something and succeed at it if they wanted the ability to post. The current system enables "key board commandos" who sit on their asses all day posting stupid $#!@ without actually having done anything other than wasting many people's time having to deal with their stupidity on the Forum.
If forum membership was to come down to only a handful of people being accepted, as many people have suggested, it wouldn't be because of any vetting process that I would have recommend. The "credentials or experience" required for access could be adjusted accordingly based on how the membership make up is going until a good balance is achieved.
If you address the problem on the front end, it would greatly cut down the exposure on the back-end. This would greatly reduce the Mods having to be police officers, baby sitters, and peace makers. If the Mods have what it takes to Moderate the forums, they just as easily have what it takes to assist with vetting new members.
You can take anything to the extreme, which is what a number of people have suggested that I am recommending, but it was NOT what I actually said.
Great example of what goes on around here on a daily basis:
TOPIC -
ID Removed said:
How many sheets of printer paper between floated barrel and stock? ...to keep the stock from contacting when the barrel heats and "walks around" (as I've read it anecdotally put)?
Question gets asked, which anyone with any degree of knowledge would not have to ask. Question has been previously asked a number of times on the forum, or could be found in numerous other resources, so the answer is there if you bother to LOOK FOR IT and READ. But why take the time to make any effort, just hit that post button, and bring me the answer on a silver platter! This is a prime reason why the retarded $#!@ that Frank was bitching about exists! People make no effort to learn from what has been proven to be tried and true.
Clueless people respond to the question with a clueless answer.
ID Removed said:
"A dollar bill is the standard measurement"
. This does nothing but perpetuate utterly useless BS, which the shooting sports are full of.
Then other members who have a clue, have to correct said clueless members.
Then this is where it gets good, what happens when the clueless members outnumber the members who actually know what they are talking about? Who do you believe? Well you have to believe me, no you have to believe me, and then the real fun gets started.
If said clueless members were not granted the privilege of posting, said clueless topics would not get started, said stupid responses would not get made, and members would not have to take the time to correct said stupid information.
I have watched:
- many topics where the clueless responses were pilling up, and no one in the know was responding, because they looked at the clueless topic title and just ignored it.
- clueless people, citing the posts of other clueless people, as support for their clueless arguments.
- full on wars break out in a topic because a group of clueless individuals were hell bent on not being made to look clueless and continued spouting BS until a Mod killed the train wreck of a topic.
As someone who has made their living as an Instructor for the last 15 years, I deal with this BS on a daily basis in just about everything that I do. Many students will NOT make the effort to learn from what is being offered to them, because it takes too much effort. Rather than listen to an expert, or consult a vetted source, they would rather Google the answer, because everything on the internet has to be true, and that is a hell of a lot easier to do! Which is all the SAME THING FRANK WAS BITCHING ABOUT!
It is far from being a perfect world, and it will never be. I gave my input on making improvements, which anyone is obviously free to agree or disagree with. Once again enough said!
