I think it comes down to whether they have something you need, and vice versa. Does your current inner circle contain 20 stout men, with guns, access to water, food, medical supplies, etc? If so then you probably don't need to risk making any friends until after "the fall."

On the other hand, if you're a single mother with 2 kids and a week of food and water...you should probably form some sort of relationship with other preppers. Possibly some that have farms, weapons, or something else that contributes to your survival.

You're right though, there's no telling about strangers. Some preppers are just parasites who's admitted goal is to rob and kill to survive. Or they might have good intentions, but then you show up at their place after a disaster and they've changed their minds. I'm kind of on the fence myself. I don't have any prepper friends and I can't see myself leaving home to pitch a tent on someone else's land unless there's really no other option. I've got a half-formed notion to recruit neighbors and defend our street, but that will depend on whether there are sources of food (dropped from planes or what have you).

One thing I have taken to heart, advice from that guy who survived Bosnia (you know the guy? 😆 ) you won't make it on your own. You can have more guns and armor plating than Robocop and still be picked off by the sniper 3 blocks over. That or the mob of hungry foodies with gasoline and matches. Gotta have people watching your back.

It’s a important question, and decision we all have to make. I try not to make decisions based on emotion, or on Hollywood. I’m curious does anyone have any statistical data or historical evidence that says that going at it alone is better off than working as a group? It must vary from situation to situation and what your long term survival plan is… But eventually you have to trust a stranger. Is this network purely to exchange information or to find other like-minded individuals?

Here's that Bosnia guy. A very good read, if a bit terrifying: http://www.shtfpreparedness.com/interview-with-a-bosnian-survivalist/

Very simply put, 1 person can be prey to two people. 1 family is prey to two. If you think this isn't so, ask yourself, could I survive in prison without joining a group. I am better prepared than most on this site...and it means nothing if 10 armed people decide to take my place.

Ive met 4 quality people from this site that I would now trust with my life. They started as strangers but now they are close friends. To have a friend, first you have to be a friend. There are also procedures to building trust. Ive had people contact me that I immediately didn't trust. Others took several conversations before I decided I couldn't trust them. I jokingly say, its like internet dating. For every 6 people that contact me about the group, Only one will be worth meeting at a coffee shop. One of the types of people that I immediately discount is anyone that would do Anything to stay alive or keep their family alive (an excuse for lack of honor). I also discount anyone that has more invested in guns than in food storage and production. Those people arnt serious. Like any complex relationship, it takes time. At some point though, you just have to have built enough trust to jump in.

I consider "Other People" as the single most important prep without which, every other prep is a waist of time.

For me, the whole reason for networking with fellow preppers is to establish a relationship and develop trust before some hypothetical guano hits a fan. I don't believe anyone here is endorsing trust without first earning it. I was going to write that I didn't believe that anyone was endorsing "blind faith" but had to quickly correct myself as that is clearly not the case ;). As a species, we have been remarkably successful due in large part to tribes and community. I don't see this changing in the next several thousand years. Further, you have to ask yourself if surviving in a world where there is no community or trust would even be worth the exercise?

Antsy

b.t.w. I'm a big fan of skepticism...

Good points made here.
Could someone go it alone?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teruo_Nakamura
There are a few other similar stories from the end of WWII but the point is yes one can.
The next point as already mentioned is "it aint easy".
Should one be very cautious about those seeking out other preppers? Yes, but as already mentioned, if you want to have a friend, it helps to be one.
Every day that passes without SHTF is a day to live your life, be a good person and prepair a little. Put these together and when SHTF does come, you probably won't have to go it alone.

Good points made here.
Could someone go it alone?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teruo_Nakamura
There are a few other similar stories from the end of WWII but the point is yes one can.
The next point as already mentioned is "it aint easy".
Should one be very cautious about those seeking out other preppers? Yes, but as already mentioned, if you want to have a friend, it helps to be one.
Every day that passes without SHTF is a day to live your life, be a good person and prepair a little. Put these together and when SHTF does come, you probably won't have to go it alone.

Cool story there. There was also some hermit, I forget his name, finally caught last year. He'd been living in the woods since the 80s (still had the funky glasses), and was regarded as sort of a local Bigfoot. He broke into campgrounds and stole various things to survive. When they finally found his camp, the ropes for his shelter had actually been grown over by the trees.

You need to use common sense, spend some time getting to know the person on the forum, there are folks that I know I would love to meet (even if it was just to sit down and have coffee, and not to put him on the spot but cernunnos5 is so on that list LOL) There are others, I would personally choose to not get together with.

This is going to change based on your own values and view and your common style of thinking.

I have hosted five public get togethers for my local area, I have meet a few folks that I didn't click with, I have meet folks I like but I think we would both agree, that while we like and respect each other, we are not on the same path on how we would want to deal with things ideally, and I have meet a few folks that I have truly clicked with..

The ones that we clicked with made a point of getting to know each other more, we visit, we do work bee's, we offer to do things for each other and then we prove ourselves by keeping our words, and getting it done, we started a contact group, that allows us to interact in a regular way online privately, allowing that feeling of learning to extend past our get togethers.

I think it is like internet dating, learn and interact with those that you have things in common, meet publicly and carefully with those in your local area, and take it into live relationships as soon as possible but go as slow as you need to..

After that point, you are working on being friends (who also happen to be preppers)

I happen to believe there is strength in numbers.. and I don't think we can do it alone, I am firm believe in working with the right group of people is for me, the best choice.

I have to mostly agree with farmgal. I'm not sure about the internet dating, as I really know nothing about that. And yes I get it that in a SHTF scenario, people will be primarily concerned with their own first (just like how the instructions from the airlines say to put your mask on before helping your child - something that we all may gasp at, but reality is you can't help others if you don't make sure you're okay 1st) and maybe only with their own, until they realize that they will need help. But I do think that not only is there safety in numbers, but I know that as many skills as I may have, and as prepared as I may be, other people know things and have ideas that I do not. For instance, I can build just about anything, have a good set of long term survival skills, but I haven't got the slightest clue how to remove an appendix or use my new ham radio yet.

It's like making new friends. Most people don't live their lives in seclusion because they are afraid everyone is going to burn them, nor do they trust everyone to look after their house while on vacation. It starts off by talking with people, getting to know them, and go from there. Shoot, i'm sure that most people have a story or two about someone that they trusted that did something to break that trust (and they never saw it coming).

I think that it is wonderful that people share thoughts, ideas, previous experience and so much more on this site. And even though I have not really ever been in a SHTF (even disasters here in Alberta or the rest of the country - or the continent for that matter), I know that because of the type of person I am, I will make sure my family is okay, and help others as much as I can. Lol, and that's even after I've been burnt a few times by others. It's not going to stop me.

Just my thoughts (lol, and probably not worth 2 cents but I still get to share them).

I personally think that living in a small town, I couldn't make it alone with my small family. Thinking of all the chores that would be required just to survive (garden, forage, hunt, collect water, hand laundry, collect fire wood) while also considering security requirement, I think you really need to have extended family move in or then you need other people. Those can be Preppers you meet here or maybe the retired farmer that lives across the street, the nurse next door and/or the police officer that lives at the end of the street. Together, you can accomplish more by sharing tasks. That may mean that I have to share my current food stash with them, but if in return we can grow and can 5x as much food as I could myself, I might just be better off. Or maybe we can share the 200 candles we collectively have to light a room in 1 house instead of 3. Same with fire wood. Or that 2 adults provide security watch for the whole block instead of just me trying to sleep with an eye opened hoping no one comes in my house.

I think that other than a few hermits or recluse family, humans have typically sought some kind of societal arrangement through the times. A long term TEOTWAKI shouldn't be different. My point is that it's one thing to survive, but you need something to live for.

Thanks for the resounding show of support Farmgal. Ah Shucks.
One of the reasons I decided to stay with IPN and write posts here instead of posting on larger, more popular, more dramatic sights...was strategy. This would be the most likely place that I would actually meet local preppers and hopefully meet one or two people of similar caliber. If I was looking for other people that are looking for other people, eventually, I would type in a search that says, Prepper...and then Nova Scotia. That would bring them here (That's how I found it). For the privilege, I would be more than willing to share some of my prepper gems...and some of my most embarrassing stupid prepping mistakes...and unfortunately get into a few ugly cat fights. If I can get all hippy, This sight allows you to think globally and Act Locally.

OK. Here is the bad news. Trying to organise preppers is like trying to herd cats. It really helps to be completely obsessive..... or I would have given up on this crazy plan long ago. Sometimes it drives me bug nuts. What does it take to get people to save their own lives. Us preppers attract more than our fair share...of complete paranoid nut jobs. Sorting through them just goes with the territory. No getting around it, your heart will be broken. Every time I think of quitting.... I realise its the only plan that has a chance. If I quit...it means I am prey. Might as well sell the farm and winter some place warm drinking things with little umbrellas in them.

C5 rule of survival- 10 guys with rusty bolt action 22s beats a lone special forces guy, almost every time. ( I sometimes call this rule, The Hawk and the Sparrows.)
A few don't think this is true. Sooo....About a month back I went to a coffee Meetup with someone from this board. Turns out, he used to be on The Teams. I brought up the 10 guy rule. He simply replied, "Ya. Of course".

Ive lived the hermit life before. All I will say about it is Solitary Confinement is a form of torture. There is a reason most hermits are crazy.
Oh well, Im prattling. time to go to bed.

There are many great comments being said on this and I like to read lots of these just to see what people have to say.
Heres mine .... Not many people have had to be by themselves alone in the woods for more than a day or so, let alone for a couple weeks, a month or 2. Even if you are a family unit you are still relatively alone. Now add some fear, stress as you watch food supplies dwindle, little Billie broke his arm, Susy got tonsilitis. Start adding all this stuff up and thinking about how long could this actual SHTF scenario last, because if our fears actually bear fruit we could be talking about surviving years or decades before some semblance of normality might come back. Long before that comes about bands of Raiders will have hit the road to take what ever they can, because their hungry and there are lots of those woodsy preppers out there with food ammo supplies slaves to be taken. Yes some of us can survive for months alone or in a small family group but the longer whatever it is that screwed the world we knew goes on the less chance you have of surviving and keeping that stuff. its hard to wade through all the potential best buddies you may meet here and find the ones you can trust, with your life, but they are betting that same bet getting to know or accept you or any other stranger they have ever met.
We need groups because we need society to be a part of something , to have a little piece of mind, maybe close both eyes and sleep for a couple hours, some one to keep watch while others are harvesting crops and carrying them back to the community.
Yes do not share to much to fast, but if you wanted to be alone you wouldnt even be participating on this board, because thats not what real loners do, you might be alone and or like being alone but we need people to interact with, children need play mates, they will eventually need lifemates too, thats just nature. I base most of this stuff off of things I have seen or been through, and I strongly believe people need to work together and live together to survive, because when it all comes down to said and done survival really doesn't make sense if you are alone.

i think u have to give peaple the benafit of the dought.meet them for coffee.shake there hand,if u get a bad feeling dont talk to them anymore.if your a good judge of caractor you will know.

Those incapable of trusting are the most untrustworthy.