What is the pistol-forum ethos?

[Tamara]

What would the active members of the forum say is the ethos of p-f, here in 2022 A.D.? (Defining “ethos” here via the Oxford dictionary as “The characteristic spirit, prevalent tone of sentiment, of a people or community; the ‘genius’ of an institution or system.”)

I get that I’ve been largely absent since 2017 or so, and I might be out of touch with the current tone, so the input from the currently active members is of interest to me. This place had a certain vibe, relative to other gun fora, back in the early ‘teens, but that might have changed?

[Blades]

Read more, post less.

[Tamara]

Read more, post less.

Duly noted!

[Duelist]

It has probably changed in a noticeable way to those who weren’t necessarily involved as much in recent years. Todd passing, Tom turning the reins over to LL, new members and their personalities, old hands reducing or dropping involvement, all are changes that I think have brought changes. Those unavoidable changes are not all necessarily bad, but it is a bit different.

For myself: When I first joined the site, I don’t recall needing to ignore many, if any, members. Now, maybe one newb a month will pop in and show a need to be ignored, or someone will exceed the acceptable jerkface level/go off their meds/do a bunch of drunk shitposting and I’ll just actively avoid them for a while without adding to the ignore list.

I miss old Tam, who would conduct fire missions on jerkfaces at that old forum she used to moderate.

[blues]

Personally, I fail to see how this discussion will promote anything positive...especially in an "us vs. them" or "what used to be" sort of way.

I think the majority of members that I deal with here are people I would enjoy getting to know and have a beer with. And there are some notable exceptions...and I try to avoid them to the extent possible. It's not always possible.

Granted, I've only been active here since 2016...but in that time I've seen my share of both good and bad...the departure of some of the good...as well as some of the bad.

It's easy to dismiss newer members until they've been vetted by both time and their contributions, and I think that's natural for any group. I tend to judge folks on my ability to read their posts without doubting the veracity of their words or experience, and not having my b.s. meter pegged. I think I'm pretty good at that and trust my instincts.

[Welder]

I have often felt an overwhelming spirit of collective push for understanding and excellence here, focused on pistolcraft but obviously extending in other directions based on each member's application of those same principles to their particular life. The willingness to take an idea, twist and turn it in your mind's eye, looking honestly at it from all angles, some of which are unflattering, seems to be key. Thus the relatively lackluster showing of extremism here, even in more recent times.

ETA that while extremism here does seem to be on the rise, I don't think it's keeping up with it's same rate of rise in the general population. I appreciate that.

[RJ]

I'd have to think about this for a while.

For me, I am less active here now, than I have been since I started. This is partly my interests in discussing other, brand-specific firearms, with other brand-specific owners. This is absent here on p-f.

Partly it's because the way I have a very hard time physically looking at the eye-watering white background and orange type face. I understand this is personal for everyone, but I find it extremely difficult to read, when other more modern web-fora offer a built-in "dark" mode setting which, once enabled, allows a very high contrast.

Partly it's because I believe the signal to noise ratio has been diluted. I think the signal is still there. Some members still post valuable content, which is very thought provoking. However the noise has increased. I address that by liberal use of the extremely useful "ignore" features, for both threads and members. In a week or so I will do my annual "restore everyone on my ignore list" and try again fresh for 2023. I'm sure it will not be long before I add more.

I also take extended breaks from p-f, spending time on other discussion groups which match my current interests. Some are pistol-related, but others relate to other hobbies I have. I don't find I've missed a lot here when I come back.

To me, p-f used to be for "students and teachers of the pistol". I think that strikes a chord of humility. Today, I think that humility is gone, in some measure, and replaced by hubris, in equal amount. I don't perceive that as a positive.

[okie john]

What would the active members of the forum say is the ethos of p-f, here in 2022 A.D.? (Defining “ethos” here via the Oxford dictionary as “The characteristic spirit, prevalent tone of sentiment, of a people or community; the ‘genius’ of an institution or system.”)

I get that I’ve been largely absent since 2017 or so, and I might be out of touch with the current tone, so the input from the currently active members is of interest to me. This place had a certain vibe, relative to other gun fora, back in the early ‘teens, but that might have changed?

I'm on PF daily. Overall, it's still the best online source of information for people like us, probably because the bullshit filters have remained so strong. Individual members have come and gone, including the occasional knucklehead who comes on too strong and gets tuned up accordingly, but I don't know that the ethos itself has changed much in the time you mention. We still focus on developing and refining the skills and mindset required to win fights, plus posters help each other and work together on important things together behind the scenes.

Are you seeing/feeling a difference?


Okie John

[BehindBlueI's]

Well, yes, of course it's changed. Nothing with a human and social component remains unchanged for 5 years. It's not better or worse, it's just different. Do you have the same conversations with a friend of 20 years as you had the first two weeks you knew each other? Right.

As far as conversations, many of them have just already been had. When something new and of interest comes up, say the "see what you need to see" thread that's ongoing then you see the technical deep dive and the working through problems and ideas to reach a better outcome. The thing is, this is now a mature forum and many of those conversations already occurred. So you see more other stuff and more rehashing of easier topics that are of interest to newer shooters, more sexy collector pics, etc.

[Tamara]

Personally, I fail to see how this discussion will promote anything positive...especially in an "us vs. them" or "what used to be" sort of way.

I get where you're coming from, but I certainly don't intend for my post to have come across that way. Seriously.

Every internet subculture has a certain vibe, and I'd been away from this one for a while, so I was curious to see if anyone could sum it up. I don't think there's a right or wrong answer.