The grumpy old guy...

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I hear you OP, I got grumped at for asking the same question on two different forums. The grumper was the same guy upset because, according to her/him I was questioning her/his veracity
 
Somebody here said this much more eloquently, and I'm paraphrasing because I don't have the exact quote, something to the effect of "we've accumulated certain knowledge in this area, if we don't share it before we die, it's a waste."

I agree with that school of thought. I know certain things, spent time accumulating them, I enjoy sharing what I've learned with others new to the field.

And yeah, I certainly have achieved old guy status, and I can be grumpy at times, but not always. I hope.
 
Grumpy old men are grumpiest this time of year. As soon as they can get out shooting again they'll quiet down. Kind of like getting the kids to go outside and play after they are stuck in the house.
 
Information and experience have value, and most of us old guys are only too happy to share. If we sound grumpy, it may be because someone thinks they are entitled to it, or they reject it because it isn't what they wanted to hear.

Free advice is worth the cost. Take it or leave it but please don't kill the messenger. ;)
 
Isn't venerated one of those STDs? I thought they cured that with Salvarsan 606 a century ago.
 
I got into shooting more than 20 years before the internet became mainstream. “They” claim that happened in 1999. In that 20+ years I learned some harsh lessons.

  • Opinions espoused with vigor are still opinions. “Trust but verify” - Reagan
  • Gun counter clerks do not always know what they’re talking about.
  • Never accept reloading advice without referencing a manual.
  • The Dremel Tool is called “The Gunsmith’s Friend” because the Dremel Tool makes them a lot of money in the hands of novices.
  • Many Gun magazines, though very informative, we’re / are merely sales tools.
  • When searching for a gun the “best gun for your needs” are the guns “in stock” at the LGS that you are patronizing. Just ask them. Don’t be afraid to go elsewhere and see what is available.
  • If you go to an LGS and it appears they cater to a specific genre of firearms they is probably not the place to ask about other guns they do not carry. Example: Hunting store vs Tactical store.
  • Many folks that give advice on guns are very eager to get you interested in only what interests them. I guess it’s a kind of Ego Boost for some people.
There are more but I think you get the picture.
Pretty much all of these can also be applied to the Internet.

I remember when I got into Cowboy Action Shooting I had also gotten my first home PC. I went into the SASS Forums and started asking questions and immediately encountered a very helpful crowd interspersed with a few “Grumpy Old Guys”. What I discovered over time was all the things I listed above held just as true for the internet as they did in the Local Gun Store.

Another thing I found was many of the same questions get asked over and over by new people coming into the fold.

One has only to look back to where they came from to realize that none of us knew all the answers when we started, so why should we expect that of others?
 
Howland937 said:
So for the folks always willing to jump in with helpful info and encouragement, Thanks a ton! For the grumpy people that are sick of seeing the same questions over and over. Sorry
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On a forum like this you'll see the same question raised over and over again by different people. Even the ones who know to search to find out if their question has been asked and discussed before will miss where it as been dealt with. It is inevitable that a topic be touched on more than once and anyone familiar with forums should expect that.

We hope that folks search for previous discussions of their concern, but we should also be eager to help everyone that comes looking for knowledge. So it is a fine balance between not wanting to spoon feed folks who don't bother to search and embracing all questions, whether asked and answered the same month or one that hasn't popped up in a few years.

I approach it like teaching, every semester there's a new class with the same questions as before, but they're all interested in the material enough to at least ask (and occasionally you get a question that hasn't been asked in years or perhaps has never been asked).
 
Not all of my knowledge is gained this way but the knowledge I have gained through long periods of work, hardship, failure, and sacrifice is not something I will just communicate to folks. It cant be communicated. It has to be experienced. I get frustrated when someone wants to know what it took me years to figure out working at it and enduring through it. Kind of like when people ask what my time in the military was like. I usually give a BS answer but what I really want to tell them is to join up and find out.

I know this sounds much too dramatic for handloading information but the same principles apply. I don't want to tell someone how to do things at a higher level. I want to tell them how to get started and start learning on their own.

I am going to get a little crass and general for the sake of clarity. The most truly stupid people in this society are those who have the ability to learn but are either too lazy to gain knowledge, refuse to apply knowledge, or just refuse to use any of it. These are the folks who want things done for them.
 
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