Descending to AR15.com status

[Odin Bravo One]

It's been coming for some time, and anyone who has been a member for more than a few months has seen it. If you don't or haven't seen it.......look at thread title alone in the past year compared to the years prior. If you still don't see it..........eye doctor.......now.

Derp has hit PF.com like Katrina hit New Orleans, along with a healthy dose of full retard tossed in for good measure.

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Still, it was once a good place to share information with people, and get quality information in return. Now the signal to noise ratio has gotten so high, it is no longer worth the effort to sort the wheat from the chaff. I took a break for several months, hoping it was just me being grouchy and old. But since I started lurking again over the past several weeks, ultmately posting pet pictures, and in topics I have vast, detailed, and vetted experience in........I realized that not only am I grouchy and old, but the quality of the product/information sharing that was started years ago has declined, and it is apparent that incorrect, inaccurate, or flat out retarded information has become the standard, along with people completely and grossly unqualified to speak on topics, self-annointed as experts, talking out of their asses is the new normal.

To the new shooter looking for information, they don't know the difference between someone who does, and someone who obviously does not know WTF they are talking about.

Bound to happen? Yup. Completely avoidable? No. But it doesn't make it any less frustrating or sad when it happens.

Still, recent topics and discussions on the board have reminded me why I left internet forums in the first place, why I initially decline participating in this one, and why continued participation here is like the meme below:

[dbateman]

AR15.com status... WOW.

I gave up on internet forums for a fair while, seems like you say there are too many people who know they're right. And they're only to keen to pass on incorrect information.
Then there are those that have been there done that but sick and tired of trying to correct people who know better.

The problem is everyone thinks they are an S.M.E.

I think P-F is one of the better forums around. There are some pretty switched on people here.... And a few not so switched on.

[Tamara]

Fine, I'll shut up.

(I do think it's an inevitable side effect of an internet site's growth. Deep is the hydrogen of the World Wide Web. Plentiful and able to permeate any barrier.)

[Jared]

I think that full on ARF-derp is a bit too harsh, but I've been noticing a downward trend for a while. Really, there's only a handful of posters that I feel are doing a lot of it, but I can't really see where they've broken forum rules. Maybe they and I just value different things when it comes to all of this stuff. There are still posters here that I perk up and pay attention when they post, and they make it worth it to me (you are one of those Sean M.)

It seems like any time a forum grows past a certain size, it takes in enough members that have different "values" from the original membership that it does cause quite a change in the forum's "feel." I'm not an original P-F'er, as I found it kind of by accident, but I do remember how it was, and can see how it is.

[DocGKR]

It is quite sad when people don't know when to shut-up and just listen to those with vast practical experience. Those individuals with real world wisdom generally have better things to do than repeatedly dealing with clueless and often dense, disrespectful fools, so the sad reality is that the true experts stop participating in public venues, thus depriving fellow citizens of an incredible resource, all because of a few ignorant idiots who don't even realize how little they know. Dunning–Kruger effect in action...

[Hunter Rose]

Why not take a proactive approach and unmercilessly moderate the "derp" out?

I've been a lurker from the beginning of PF.com. I don't post a lot because my profession is only tangentially related to small arms. However, I truly enjoy reading the posts by the various SMEs on his board, have learned a lot, and have become a better shooter because of PF.com. One of the things that drew me to PF was the high signal to noise ration. I would view it as a valuable resource lost if true SMEs are run off due to having to deal with posts/criticisms by those who aren't intelligent/mature enough to admit the limits of their knowledge and post accordingly.

The troll posts or those posting beyond their knowledge are pretty easy to see and jump right out. When it occurs, why not lock their accounts for say 30 days or ban them outright? Be merciless in the beginning and the rest of the crowd will get the hint. Sure, some people will get pissed off but who cares? The ones who cry the loudest probably weren't contributing much anyway.

I'd much rather be able to learn from viewing discussions between vetted small arms experts, professional shooters law enforcement, etc. than sacrifice pistol forum to the "free speech" and fit/finish crowds. There are plenty of other forums for that.

[hufnagel]

If maintaining a high signal:noise ratio (you had it backwards, Sean; high S/N is good... low S/N is bad. ) is the goal, and THR'esque moderation is (the? an?) answer, then I say go for it. Perhaps leave Romper Room as less moderated to allow some of the more "silly" threads but still keep the FUD from overwhelming it.

If it doesn't work then It can be abandoned and a new approach can be selected.

[TElmer2]

I joined this forum mainly because of the high signal to noise ratio. I mainly lurk as I'm not a S.M.E. but it has been a great resource in regards to dry-fire, how to approach a practice session, and having SMEs speak on how to handle various things that could "get someone killed on the streets". Honestly, there has been a slight decline but I do think that this forum is still one of the better ones if not best ones out there for various types of information.

I would have no problem with a higher level of moderation to clean out the derp, fuddness, or arrogance shown by some. I hope our SMEs choose to stick around because the information is appreciated by those who simply read and absorb the information given.

LL, Sean M., DocGKR, OragamiAK, ToddG, and TCinVA are just some of the few that I appreciate reading posts from. As far as this site as bad as ARF.com...negative ghostrider.

[Chance]

I would have to agree that this site is still amongst the best out there in terms of SNR. It's inevitable that idiots will wander around at some point, and it's a shame when people who actually know what they're talking about are discouraged from participating.

I've seen a feature on some sites where, if enough people "down vote" a comment, it's hidden with a notice of something like, "This comment has been voted as not contributing to the discussion" and then there's an option of seeing it anyway. Is something like that possible here?

[ST911]

Perhaps leave Romper Room as less moderated to allow some of the more "silly" threads but still keep the FUD from overwhelming it.

Tone and content of non-specific general discussion areas have a direct impact on overall board climate. Add some contentious topics such as gay rights, LE anything, drug legalization, a high profile national event, and election cycles, and it's a circus. There have been a number of those lately.

I think of general discussion areas like an forum septic tank. You kind of need one to handle all the crap that you don't want elsewhere in the house, but when they overflow the guests you like go elsewhere.