I'm an ass, and full of crap

[sailaway21]

This is generally a pretty friendly forum but hardly immune to controversy...not that I'd know anything about that...but some scary things are taking place. The scariest one for me personally is that I find myself starting to agree with the Portagee.

Here's how I see it. We seem to have a spate of recent posts on the order of; I don't have a boat yet, but..., I've never sailed offshore, but..., I've never crossed an ocean, but... and so forth.

Now those are all normal preambles to posts here and they often result in interesting threads. What is different though is that, when certain misconceptions are corrected, these posters are howling in agony because they feel their sacred right to their opinion has been infringed upon. I'm reminded of the old saying that it is better to be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.

Lest I appear too judgmental, close-minded, arrogant, condescending, or be convicted of taking a superior tone; I'd mention that the most convincing and helpful of posts made, in any thread, are of the nature, "here's what I did" or "in my experience". Let's face it, we come here for those with first hand experience in our areas of interest. Most of us do not care what you think, we're interested in what you did, be it fix your gel-coat or sail through Pentland Firth. Few of these prickly posters are going to find themselves in the company of AFOC's as a certain willingness to admit that one might be wrong is a requirement for membership. Far from even seeing that they might be wrong or misguided they alternatively seem to think that they should be respected even if they are wrong. What is up with that? The only redeeming fact in the whole imbroglio is that they've not even bothered to try to figure out whom they are lecturing. I'm reminded of a certain Ordinary Seaman who complained that the AB was allowed to leave the helm on the Iron Mike while he was required to hand steer. The fact that the AB knew how to steer seemed irrelevant to him. (g)

I'm speaking only of the sailing forums, of course. You can say any foolish thing you want in Off Topic as far as I'm concerned.

[cardiacpaul]

Geez, thats a little harsh, donchathink?
Hell, I'm wrong most of the time, just ask TheCuban and thekid.
I don't know what to think, never have... I can't think for myself, my mind is made up of baubles, trinkets and post toasties. I'm lucky to just make it thru the day unbloodied.

[ckgreenman]

Gee Sway, I wonder which thread(s) you talking about (g).

I'm the first to admit that I don't have a helluva lot of experience but you know what, that's why I'm hear. To talk to and learn from those that do. I'm also very quick to admit when I'm wrong and only adamant about things of which I have first hand experience or or are blatant examples of a lack of common sense.

I say just make your point, if they don't listen to reason, click the ignore button.

[sailortjk1]

He will not be back.

Looks like our buddy Runner crossed the line.
Thats too bad.

[Sapperwhite]

What did I miss. I've been out for a few days partaking in some debauchery and signing on a new Hylas 70 (the one at the show meet my standard). My girlfriend liked the Valiant42, PSC40 and Malo37, she has good taste in boats.

[chucklesR]

Sapper,
Clearly I've been running with the wrong crowd, when I walked down C dock and saw that Beautiful Red Hylas 70 all I could think was 'I need someone to adopt me'.
The only thing I signed was slips to put in for give-aways

Wanna be my daddy?

[sailortjk1]

Sapper, same stuff different day.
Guy comes along last August, buys an Aluminum Dinghy with no experince in boating what so ever and admits it. No big deal, except 2 months later he is telling Alex he don't know his stuff and Jeff H the same about designs. Well thats it pretty much in a nut shell. He most have crossed the line cause cam did him in, I think.

Good luck with the new purchae.

[camaraderie]

Sapper....clearly she has good taste in sail-boats and bad taste in sail-ors!

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by sailaway21

A French sexual device for the impotent.

One has to ask Sway how he knows???

[smackdaddy]

Originally Posted by sailaway21

This is generally a pretty friendly forum but hardly immune to controversy...not that I'd know anything about that...but some scary things are taking place. The scariest one for me personally is that I find myself starting to agree with the Portagee.

Here's how I see it. We seem to have a spate of recent posts on the order of; I don't have a boat yet, but..., I've never sailed offshore, but..., I've never crossed an ocean, but... and so forth.

Now those are all normal preambles to posts here and they often result in interesting threads. What is different though is that, when certain misconceptions are corrected, these posters are howling in agony because they feel their sacred right to their opinion has been infringed upon. I'm reminded of the old saying that it is better to be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.

Lest I appear too judgmental, close-minded, arrogant, condescending, or be convicted of taking a superior tone; I'd mention that the most convincing and helpful of posts made, in any thread, are of the nature, "here's what I did" or "in my experience". Let's face it, we come here for those with first hand experience in our areas of interest. Most of us do not care what you think, we're interested in what you did, be it fix your gel-coat or sail through Pentland Firth. Few of these prickly posters are going to find themselves in the company of AFOC's as a certain willingness to admit that one might be wrong is a requirement for membership. Far from even seeing that they might be wrong or misguided they alternatively seem to think that they should be respected even if they are wrong. What is up with that? The only redeeming fact in the whole imbroglio is that they've not even bothered to try to figure out whom they are lecturing. I'm reminded of a certain Ordinary Seaman who complained that the AB was allowed to leave the helm on the Iron Mike while he was required to hand steer. The fact that the AB knew how to steer seemed irrelevant to him. (g)

I'm speaking only of the sailing forums, of course. You can say any foolish thing you want in Off Topic as far as I'm concerned.

Oh man, this is funny. Face it, you're getting old Sway - and cranky.

It all comes down to the advice and how it's dispensed. If it's done with a petty, omniscient, and condescending tone - no one gives a damn what you have to say. Period. Even if they don't know squat and you are a seasoned pro. Why? Because they don't owe you anything.

If, on the other hand, it's done in a positive fun way - it's generally very well received and appreciated. There are a few great examples of these differences in the past few weeks.

You and Cam should really think about this a bit - because you guys are really turning off (or banning) a lot of the next generation of sailors. Why? Because they won't play by your rules.

The world's not going crazy. You guys are just trying too hard to control it. Ah, sounds like the '60s all over again! Peace out, man.

(You guys were there right? Heh-heh.)