All considering Elrond, I too would like to know your qualifications, most of the people here already know mine. All I have heard from you is attacks, and no advice. What qualifications have you in Electronics if I might ask, since you seem by your comments that you are an expert in this field. Am I a know it all? some have called me one, But, no, I’m not. I’m am forever learning more. But what I do know, I pass on, if I am corrected on a article, that I wrote. I thank the person, and then, I check my facts To ensure that the information was correct or not. Any person who contradicts another persons article With Out Proof, is in MY opinion, someone NOT worth listening to. In other words, They are just hecklers from the peanut gallery.
Or as a few of us ex-militarytypes have been told, "Put your money, where your mouth is, or shut the F up" Have a nice day.

Elrond,

Thank you for posting your observations and your opinion on this. Your have made many valid points. I do not find any issues with what you have remarked on.

Is there an easy way to make changes that will encourage more members to start posting?? And if we find a way to make it more encouraging for more members to participate, what is a fair method of controlling members who decide to "break" the rules??

On one hand having open, unregulated dialogue is an example of total freedom of speach, but what happens when some member decides to violate others by not using enough self-discipline to NOT post a comment that serves no purpose except to attack others or their ideas.

On the other hand, if we have rules to try to model behaviour into an "acceptable" civil standard, are we restricting the flow of great ideas from those who do not want to be controlled, to be allowed to post.

I would like more input from the under 30 post members. Thanks again Elrond.

Cheers,

Mountainman.

I too must chime in on this one..And I ask the same question " Elrond " what makes you such an expert on such info, who are you to suppress any information, and who are you to say what is or isn't " IRRATATING "....yes we have repetitive threads and subjects , but so what...This is why new members wont post because members like your self try and suppress there information with posts like that, they are nervouse about being here , they may read your comments and figure why bother they will only [ be-little my contributions ]....So I ask what makes you such an expert on anything and who the hell do you think you are to add such a condescending post to this thread or any other thread.....

This thread was about why we have so many low post count users. So let me rephrase my two critiques that seems to have ruffled some feathers... If you strip the specific topics out of my point, you could summarize it as "people presenting facts/info without supporting references or sources". Of course your source could always be "I personally tried it/tested it". Hopefully that sounds a little more neutral for the purpose of this thread. I probably unfairly picked on those two topics, only because they are areas I'm familiar with. But really, for this thread, we don't need to worry about the topics I picked on so much as the underlying point.

Alright, want to know more about me? Well for most of my life I was on the road to a degree in electrical engineering; however during college I switched tracks and ended up with a business degree (BBA). Part of the BBA is studying economics too (part of why I'm a prepper... I know too much to believe it'll all be ok with fiat currencies 😮 🙂 ) I currently work full time as a software developer. I've been writing computer software professionally (including low level microcontrollers) for ~6 years now. I don't claim to be a physics PhD or anything. As per my earlier post, I stopped posting in those threads in which I could not provide any further real support to any argument/information. This was the thread to vent about why I stopped posting, so I did. But notice I'm not going back over there to start a flame war and I wasn't attacking any one person (uhem... you know who you are).

That said, I do have some good electronics/computer experience both hobbyist and professional. I do have a very thorough understanding of computers all the way down to an electrical level and all the way up to high level software. If there is any area that I can confidently comment on, its electronics and computers. So yah, I pick on the radio threads and electronics threads, because its what comes naturally to me. As per above though, I'm sure you could erase those two specific points make the more generic statement about "arguing without backup" in any area on this forum. I just don't know the other areas as well.

Elrond. Thank you for your reply and sharing about yourself. It help to put things in a clearer light. As well.. if I may be so bold.... Sometimes it isn't so much what is said but "how" it is said. Especially in this medium that does not allow any interpretation of tone, body language and nuance.
Cheers
JAB

Jab hit the nail on the head. Among other things this forum is a place where preppers help preppers. We MUST be tolerant of new members and their initial questions. If we treat them with understanding and respect they will stay. It's as simple as that. I hope as a result of this thread we all keep that in mind when posting.

Generally, I spend a lot of time reading and absorbing, and I only post if I have a viewpoint that isn't redundant with what someone else has already said.

My feeling is that most people on here generally know what they want to get out of prepping, and what they don't want to (or aren't willing to) do. I started a thread on physical fitness, and apart from a few voices of support (from people who already stay in shape), the majority of responses was lukewarm. A bit discouraging for me, as I'd consider it to be at the very least a top 5 on the list of prepping priorities.

I have to admit though, that the lack of posts makes it a vicious cycle. When I don't see anything new on here, I tend to log in less frequently, and therefore contribute less, etc etc.

Good points RabbitTeeth.

I am relatively a new-ish to these forums and i use the word forums for a purpose. This one and one other are the only two that show tolerance to newcomers that I have come accross so far. Some are outright hostile to the fact that you dare to intrude on there personal domain.

So I suggest that maybe some people should have a look around before attacking forums such as this.
I have become an active and hopefully, a useful contributor on here and will continue to do so when i have something appropriate or relevant to say.
I also read many of the posts on subjects that I know little about and this kindles the urge to find out more.
The only downside I have encountered is the odd troll - they are soon shown up as the vermin that they are and that's - that, back to business.

Like ranger2012, I welcome other forum members to point out any errors that I may make - I am not perfect - I also make mistakes - Just don't recall when. 😀

Speaking of trolling, I hear your not allowed to make an example. Why is it so. Making an example of attacks is not trolling. Neither is making a point. I just find it funny that its always the same people doing the blackouts on a name and attacking. So your going to get attacked! Want to play fair then respect everyone as equals and dont refer to them as zeros, which is the way I understood your title. If you ever said that to my face, that would be the last thing you would be saying for a long time! Having said that I am happy to see that the thread was resolved. ZEROS!

Lukewarm is a great description of how newcomers are treated in many forums no matter their subject. Experienced members have a natural tendency to reply to other people that are experienced, and sometimes consider not worth their effort to reply to somebody new.

Zero's refer to the number of posts beside the names / nicknames / log in names
Zero never did refer to the actual people, never referred to the log in names, if it did then the Excellent Mods or other people whom have been here for a couple of years would have flagged the message and it would have been deleted or re-written.

This post is in regards to an adversarial person who insists on being adversarial, who is now the first person to go on my foes list.

I encourage others to do the same, it is actually kinda cool, this feature, shows that the adversarial individual with troll like posts now has all their posts hidden from your view. There now only appears a very small line that says, INDIVIDUALS NAME who is currently on your ignore list. Display this post.

So, when they start attacking someone too much, or now myself again others will probably make reference to their Troll like posts and you may then choose to stoop to Displaying their Toll like posts.

GC, on a positive note; since this Topic has become more popular there has been an increase in in other Topics and Threads by new members whom are now stepping out of the shadows and posting. I believe your Query has proven to be positive and constructive to this online community.
Congrats, keep up the good work.

Fishin_E people have been responding to your posts, some posts get great responses and others seem to only get a few. Just seems to be the way it is.
Cheers to all especially the new people !

Edit:
Names with 0 posts,
you can go and see that there are a lot of them, who registered and then never logged back in, some are over a year ago. Those names that are a year or more old with no posts should be removed. Some in this Topic have stated they were watching from the shadows and did not post from 3-6 months, so lets remove names that are year old with no posts.

I totally agree with WildE. Time to wash off the dead skin. its not like they're paying members or anything, it time to get a true reading of our strenght of membership. It's better to have a few solid members, than a bunch of old studs. 😈

I totally agree with WildE. Time to wash off the dead skin. its not like they're paying members or anything, it time to get a true reading of our strenght of membership. It's better to have a few solid members, than a bunch of old studs. 😈

I completely agree. I personally don't see the point of keeping names that have had no interaction for a year.

WildE,
I also saw the "zero" thing the way you did...a reference to number of posts and not a reference to the character of the member.
As for the zero posters, well, I am currently considering one of them to be a member of my group.
Hmmm...
I also encourage potential preppers-to-be that I am able to get interested to join up and read for a while.
I have also noticed the percentage of new members who post within a small time span go up...an unexpected advantage of moderating new members!