Good manners vs anonymity

Well said Sfttailrdr46 … not to worry … most people on this forum are respectful and unusually mild mannered with a little bit of discrete mischevious behavior mixed in just to add a little spice to the topic. I think I know of the situation you are referring to and I simply moved on to another area. Life is too short to have to deal with such immaturity as that. I raised my own kids and it was a job, I'm not about to take on the project of raising someone else's kids. As far as second guessing yourself … well, someone much smarter than me once said that if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and talks like a duck then I deduct that it must be a duck. Your first instinct is usually correct unless you are not aware of some extenuating circumstance that led to the outburst … but even with extenuating circumstances, I do not think that it is unreasonable to ask that a man conduct himself like a man, not some knuckle dragging Neanderthal.

And then there is the other side of the argument … some people were never taught that there are boundaries that should not be crossed … and if they were never taught that then they have to learn it somewhere … it is to the benefit of the subject that he learn it in a interpersonal communicative way such as on this forum rather than by shooting off his big mouth to someone that might just pull out a gun and blow his stuff away. Sooooooooo in a way I guess that what you are doing is a great benefit to the subject rather than a detriment leading to some loathsome emotional trauma that could scar the poor soul for life.

Life does get complicated

John

I used to think that Tequila made people brave, now I think it's a Keyboard.

Smitty

I used to think that Tequila made people brave, now I think it's a Keyboard.

Smitty

Click to expand...

And often two are mixed.

All you guys make EXCELLENT POINTS !!! Smitty it amazes me how " brave" a man gets when he is hiding behind a screen name . 

A really good friend is a moderator on another gun forum and you are right ! It is a thankless job to be sure . Every once in a while I give a shout out to Michael and the moderators here ! 

Plan on buying Michael a Cold one at EBR this year . He and the moderators do a Great Job here !!!!!!!!!

All you guys make EXCELLENT POINTS !!! Smitty it amazes me how " brave" a man gets when he is hiding behind a screen name . 

A really good friend is a moderator on another gun forum and you are right ! It is a thankless job to be sure . Every once in a while I give a shout out to Michael and the moderators here ! 

Plan on buying Michael a Cold one at EBR this year . He and the moderators do a Great Job here !!!!!!!!!

Click to expand...

Joe,

I'm amazed that adult men will start the non-sense. When people cross my line I'm normally polite with a statement like "I'm sure you would say the same thing in the same manner to my face." if they say they would my followup is normally "When and where would you like to meet to discuss this issue?" Things settle down pretty quickly after that. Thank God there is a backspace on the keyboards, also very handy for back peddling.

Smitty

Being naturally inclined toward devil's advocacy and freedom of speech (including the voicing of unpopular opinions), with all due respect I'd like to take this opportunity to make some pertinent points and counter-points.

!) I am Ron Robinson. If not the individual alluded to in this thread, I could easily have been.

2) I agree with many points made in the original post and responses. Anonymity indeed enables cowardice, and the internet gives voice to many who would remain silent in the face of opposition.

3) I am not politically correct. My willingness to confront lying, cheating, corruption, criminality and BSing has extracted a personal toll several times. Such stubborn integrity is sometimes mistaken for, or perhaps more accurately, misrepresented as, bullying.

4) When I realize I'm wrong, I don't hesitate to admit it or apologize. I've done so several times on forums.

5) When I'm right, I stick to my guns... no matter the personal price.

6) I believe "political correctness" is largely responsible for such virtues as morality, honesty, integrity, courage and open-mindedness having become endangered concepts. For example, the terms morality and integrity have fallen largely into disuse these days (certainly as compared to while I was growing up). And though I recognize such virtues are much rarer birds than they used to be, I (personally) do not consider them yet extinct (obsolete); simply inconvenient.

7) I believe "political correctness" is largely responsible for a lot of folks losing their senses of humor, and humor also does not translate well in forum posts. That's why God invented emojis! 

8) I believe opposition to dissent is tantamount to censorship; hence this post.

9) The good news for the cyber-"bullied" is, assuming they're surfing the 'net from home, they're probably not far from a safe space. 

10) Respectfully and Sincerely,

Ron Robinson

Ron,

I agree, I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut when I hear flagrant Bologna spewing. Handshake deals and being a MAN of your (the imperial) Word is on the decline.

Smitty

Consequences. Real, immediate, palpable consequences. That is what is missing from our culture today. Robert Heinlein once said, "an armed society is a polite society". He was right. What seems to escape most people's attention is that the reverse is also true. Enabling bad behavior for whatever reason only encourages it. Yeah, I'm a white male of a certain age, but if I take exception to someone's rhetoric or behavior, it's not because their demographic.

I'm going to interject again, just to say it's good to know common sense and integrity have not yet gone extinct. Happy shooting, Y'all!

Damn I love air gunning.

Damn I love air gunning.

Click to expand...

Here here. Or is it hear hear? Either way I concur with your sentiment.

I think I was the second response on that thread. My response was a little ribbing and hopefully people are not so sensitive that my comment was looked at as harsh. I did see the later posts where people started bashing on each other and threatening people. I dont understand the people who go all out with a post and start attacking people on personal levels. If I am provoked on social media I still try to keep my responses from getting out of hand. I have had a couple slips and forgot I am suppose to be an adult. I do believe some people just look for an excuse to go full throttle in a thread. Anyway I apologize for adding useless info into that thread instead of passing it up. 

Edit: I spoke with Don today. It went completely different than I expected. He was a true gentleman. Talked about everything from Motorcycles to airguns to combat sports. My experience with GTA was not good. Don had nothing to do with it and I reckon I was out of line for lashing out via, guilt by association and/or proxy. I did apologize to Don. I felt that it was warranted. Nothing wrong with doing the right thing. Water under the bridge.





Quigly

Does this mean I'm not the a-hole originally alluded to? BUST MY BUBBLE!