Descending to AR15.com status

[Erik]

OK I can do all that later today if it's helpful. In any event, my main point is/was that even with a full bio, I wouldn't have expected Sean M's knowledge to go to effective concealment and it bothers me to see somebody called out that way because they wouldn't have either.

[orionz06]

It looks like rso-tac is going to send me the capture. I could be mistaken, but it sounds like a permission issue.

Profile not accessible for the plebs.

[Jay Cunningham]

One last thought in case I miss my chance at getting things off my chest: I have no earthly idea why Jay is still staff here. His most frequent contributions are insults of members, sometimes slightly veiled... but only slightly. He loves to thread shit on a constant basis with snark and condescension that is neither funny nor contributory.

On the rare occasion he starts a discussion topic, he ignores replies he doesn't like and will chime in with bullshit like, "c'mon, guys - let's use our brains." If you do happen to magically hit on the "correct" answer that he has pre-determined, he offers you a condescending 'attaboy' like he's your second grade teacher.

I have no way of knowing what's in another man's mind, but his posts give me the impression that he holds 99.99% of the membership in utter contempt. So why retain moderator status over people you hate?

When I once called him out in a thread, he ignored me, and I was encouraged by another staff member to "take it to PM."

I discussed this, months ago, in detail, with Todd. I have no right to speak for another man, so I won't discuss his end of that conversation.

I'm surprised he's still staff here, but he is, so at the end of the day I consider that tacit approval of his treatment towards the membership. While I rarely cross paths with him any more, said tacit approval is just one of the reasons I feel less and less comfortable here. And since he is staff, the forum software won't allow me to add him to my ignore list (at least the last time I tried).

Again... It seems like different rules for different people, and some of the people who should be "setting examples" are indeed setting them... in a pretty fucked up direction.

The reason that I seemed jaded and snarky is because I had become jaded and snarky.

Let me first start with a little lighthearted snark:

I have… seen things you people wouldn't believe… Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. - Roy Batty

At the creation of this forum, Todd approached me and asked me to be a founding Staff member - I initally refused. I had had enough of gun forums and industry drama, and didn't want to put up with all of the headaches and irritation that went with it. But I relented after a few days thought and agreed to come aboard. Our goal was to build a better thing here using our combined experiences. I think we did.

But after a while I began to grow disillusioned. Lots of thread topics bored me, lots of people seemed to chatter incessantly in every thread, no matter the topic. It's not that they were doing anything wrong - this is a discussion forum after all - it just began to bug me. The the blog crossovers started, and then the Facebook crossovers started, and now it was like a 3 dimensional chess tournament of chatter inside my head - all I saw were never ending streams of ones and zeros in a green waterfall display.

I reached the feeling of it all being pointless... and it would occasionally surface as snark, when I even bothered to post at all.

However I'd like to think that I've come out of that dark tunnel. I had a conversation with a good friend very recently about my own (very) little shooting business - and about reaching new shooters and holding onto alumni - and he pretty much just straight-up told me "Dude, you used to be highly visible but you've unplugged. You've just pretty much just gone full snark."

Well, he was right. I let it all drive me almost crazy. But I'm out of that dark tunnel and back into the daylight, and I'm ready to step back up and contribute. I took a class from Super Dave Harrington one time. Just like everybody else, I'd heard all manner of stories about Dave. I half took the class just for what I thought would be the entertainment value, as I'd been led to believe that Dave was some sort of sociopathic retarded monkey. What I found was a thoughtful, skilled, and most importantly POSITIVE individual. Dave told me that his mission statement was to be a positive influence in other peoples lives.

I think that's a pretty good mission.

[hufnagel]

nyeti: I believe you're referring to the internet equivalent of a smack upside the head. Or as I like to call it... pressing a person's mental reboot button. We all need it sometimes; hell it seems as of late I've needed it more than I thought.

[JV_]

even with a full bio, I wouldn't have expected Sean M's knowledge to go to effective concealment

I'm not sure how you could read his full bio, at least the one that I can see, and not include concealment.

If we have a simple permission issue to work though, let us do that before we get too deep in to this one issue.

[LittleLebowski]

I took a class from Super Dave Harrington one time. Just like everybody else, I'd heard all manner of stories about Dave. What I found was a thoughtful, skilled, and most importantly POSITIVE individual. Dave told me that his mission statement was to be a positive influence in other peoples lives.

I think that's a pretty good mission.

That's how I feel about my recent EAG class after hearing so much negative press about Pat Rogers at another forum. Positivity can be infectious. I highly recommend hanging out with positive people.

[orionz06]

The reason that I seemed jaded and snarky is because I had become jaded and snarky.

Let me first start with a little lighthearted snark:

I have… seen things you people wouldn't believe… Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. - Roy Batty

At the creation of this forum, Todd approached me and asked me to be a founding Staff member - I initally refused. I had had enough of gun forums and industry drama, and didn't want to put up with all of the headaches and irritation that went with it. But I relented after a few days thought and agreed to come aboard. Our goal was to build a better thing here using our combined experiences. I think we did.

But after a while I began to grow disillusioned. Lots of thread topics bored me, lots of people seemed to chatter incessantly in every thread, no matter the topic. It's not that they were doing anything wrong - this is a discussion forum after all - it just began to bug me. The the blog crossovers started, and then the Facebook crossovers started, and now it was like a 3 dimensional chess tournament of chatter inside my head - all I saw were never ending streams of ones and zeros in a green waterfall display.

I reached the feeling of it all being pointless... and it would occasionally surface as snark, when I even bothered to post at all.

However I'd like to think that I've come out of that dark tunnel. I had a conversation with a good friend very recently about my own (very) little shooting business - and about reaching new shooters and holding onto alumni - and he pretty much just straight-up told me "Dude, you used to be highly visible but you've unplugged. You've just pretty much just gone full snark."

Well, he was right. I let it all drive me almost crazy. But I'm out of that dark tunnel and back into the daylight, and I'm ready to step back up and contribute. I took a class from Super Dave Harrington one time. Just like everybody else, I'd heard all manner of stories about Dave. I half took the class just for what I thought would be the entertainment value, as I'd been led to believe that Dave was some sort of sociopathic retarded monkey. What I found was a thoughtful, skilled, and most importantly POSITIVE individual. Dave told me that his mission statement was to be a positive influence in other peoples lives.

I think that's a pretty good mission.

You were chasing the naked Indian around for a bit.

[LittleLebowski]

OK I can do all that later today if it's helpful. In any event, my main point is/was that even with a full bio, I wouldn't have expected Sean M's knowledge to go to effective concealment and it bothers me to see somebody called out that way because they wouldn't have either.

Oh, his bio works just fine for that.

[LSP972]

I don't think that all is lost here although the life cycle thing is accurate. My preference would be that the LE forum be either very narrowly defined to areas specifically relevant to the subject matter of this forum or get rid of it. If it is just going to be general cop current events forum, I want no part of it.

My thoughts exactly. Well said, sir.

.

[Sparks2112]

I'm not sure how you could read his full bio, at least the one that I can see, and not include concealment.

If we have a simple permission issue to work though, let us do that before we get too deep in to this one issue.

TLG said something to me a couple of years ago about Sean before I had met the man and he became one of my better friends.

"Sean is the only instructor I know who if he told me to change something I would change it BEFORE I asked why."

Pretty big endorsement there. For what it's worth I share that opinion.