why i love the high road

Agreed, i havent frequented so many firearm related forums, but i do frequent many various forums and this is one of the only ones that is very pro-new member, and will answer just about any question without being like "OH MY GOSH this question is SOOOOOO dumb"

rozziboy18 said:

i have ben to many many gun sites in my time, but this one is my favorite. when a "greenhorn" as they get call everywhere else, comes here and asks questions about shooting sports and ect.. you guys treet them with respect and offer up good sound advice and fall back to your basics of safety,experiance, and true hard earned knowledge. i cant tell you guys how many threads i have read on here and safty is always pointed out. being said, i wouldent have a problem buy any of you guys a beer, if we found ourselves at the same bar.

thanks for being you thr members!

brandon.

ps. i frequent the smokey mountain brewery in pigeon forge on fridays.

Click to expand...

Only because the Mods make us!

Well, the rules that are in place attract some people (us newbies) and send away others (trolls). I was thinking the same thing today, Rozzi, I've asked several questions here that I felt stupid for asking, but I was given answers by people.

amazing collection of fine knowledgeble people.

From time to time, there will be members that think the moderators are too strict. In the long run, that cuts nearly all the cheap shots and ridiculous behavior.

There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.

I can understand a lot of what the newcomers are going through, because I have taught (and am still teaching) myself everything about guns, and general handywork. In part because my family has never been very hands-on, rather paying people to do the work.

So I have a vested self-interest in maintaining that my first sentence is true.

this is a great site.

Why I love THR...

I love it because we get to talk about my favorite subject!!!

GUNS!

Not here, but in other times/places in my life, I remember asking questions about things, and being made to feel like the "Mental Midget of The Century".

Now I will also admit to sometimes being Mr. Wise N. Heimer (AKA Intelligent Mule), but I do try to reply to folks questions with dignity & respect...just like I would like to receive when I asked about things.

Skribs said:

Well, the rules that are in place attract some people (us newbies) and send away others (trolls).

Click to expand...

While I enjoy THR, the rules seem more like guidelines and open to interpretation depending on which moderator is reading which post.

So while my experience is positive overall, I've seen a couple of situations where a moderator has injected their own personal feelings into enforcing the rules.

One line in particular from the rules section stands out to me:

"Share what you know, learn what you don't."

It sums up my experience with this forum pretty well.

It is a very welcoming and educational site that has taught me a great deal.

If I have one pet peeve, though, it is that a great many people would rather post their questions without using the search function first. I doubt anything more can be added to the 9mm v 45 ACP debate or how to pick the best bear handgun. Drives me batty.

I lurk here,as often as I can, My wife does not believe that I spend so much time on line, just reading about guns. Since I no longer work I just have too much free, I spend my time at THR, and do a lot of reading about weapons. Because of health reasons I don't shoot as much as I like to. I found THR to be The Best, and most helpful gun site on the web. Thank the good lord that I now live in a gun friendly state

hso said:

Once you realize that what most everyone starts out knowing about firearms and firearms issues comes from their exposure to entertainment sources (Hobbits aren't real either) or hyperbolic news sources (crisis of the day) you start to feel a lot more tolerance and a desire to help folks understand the facts and truths around firearms.

Click to expand...

Wait! What?

But, but, what about the Easter Bunny, he's real, right?

Santa posted his wish list last year...

There are no stupid questions,

Click to expand...

I disagree.
I really worry about the intelligence behind a post that asks "What did I just buy?" or "I just bought a gun, what is it worth?"

I too disagree about there are no dumb questions, I know dumb questions from the rest because the dumb questions are the ones even I can answer.

It's a great site because of all of you.

Thanks. Glad you noticed! That is exactly why most of us come here every day! Its a good(fun) and knowledgeable group. I learn far, far more than I could ever hope to contribute.

Mark

THR is my favorite forum for a number of reasons; I think they have all been mentioned.

Ive actually left 2 other well known forums which i wont mention by name.

The first several times had moderators pm me to use the English language better and punctuation and even gave me corrected posts to show my errors.
My spell check wasn't working at the time as i was Beta testing Windows 7 for Micro Soft and it didn't work on Opera browsers yet.
After my 4th pm to speak more elegantly and intellectually i told them:
"I am who i am, Ive done everything personally possibly to meet the forums expectations and nothing i do is good enough, So please ban me on my request so you don't have to do it your self."
Im 40 years old and have a pretty decent education and all my post were of a serious nature so i wasn't there acting a fool.
So ive now been banned from TheFiringLine for i think 6 months now.

The second place would send PM's but for different reasons and it went on a point system. After being there 3 weeks i was hit 3 times and about to be semi banned for a short time for several different reasons.
One was posting a thread in the wrong place, Which was a questionable at best. And a one for using the word "Butt" and i forget the other.
So i wont be going back to XDTalk either.

In all honesty i see myself as your average 40 year old who while not a professional im not a ignorant person who takes time to make a ledge-able post and enjoy speaking to like minded people without feeling im in Middle school again and in all honesty i got into less trouble there than i did one these 2 forums.

So thank you HighRoad! I can relax and not feel like im being watched and inspected so a mod can punish me for things i absolutely cant help.
So i take extra time now and work even harder to be a better poster here as i sure as heck not going back to those two places.

I was a mod for a number of years on a large forum. Without management the thing would have become a snarled mass of confusion. The hours I spent moving posts around, organizing stuff, and helping great folks was stupendous. Being a mod is a lot of work and often thankless. The mods here seem to do a great job while maintaining a low profile. It's a great place for learning with lots of mighty helpful members. My kudos to THR... whoever the dude in charge is, he/she has got it right.