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01-02-2021, 16:05
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Mount Vernon, WA
Boat: Alajuela Crealock 37
Posts: 80
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BEWARE THE FORUMS
HAVE AT IT MATEY!
Got this from a favorite site o’ mine...
“#11 Beware The Forums
If ever there was a cauldron that boils up “the sum of their fears” and then serves the result up in an ugly soup of terror, it’s the modern sailing forum, in which posters keep adding their own fears to a subject until the thread is scores (or even hundreds) of comments long.
Much of it is simply oft-repeated memes without much rational thought about validity. And a distressing amount of it is simply other cruisers trying to puff up their egos, or dampen their own fears, by telling the rest of us how smart and well prepared they are.
So sure, we can learn stuff from forums, but we gotta filter it…big time.”
Whatcha think peeps?
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01-02-2021, 16:37
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Dover
Boat: Endurance 35
Posts: 26
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Re: BEWARE THE FORUMS
Ugly soup of terror is a great description! Nevertheless it's interesting to see varied opinions. I find myself reading until I see someone who agrees with me... then I feel vindicated.
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01-02-2021, 16:56
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#3
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Mount Vernon, WA
Boat: Alajuela Crealock 37
Posts: 80
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Re: BEWARE THE FORUMS
Quote:
Originally Posted by Leobee
Ugly soup of terror is a great description! Nevertheless it's interesting to see varied opinions. I find myself reading until I see someone who agrees with me... then I feel vindicated.
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Yeah buddy. I gotcha. Vindication is a pleasurable feeling.
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01-02-2021, 17:04
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#4
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Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: aboard, in Tasmania, Australia
Boat: Sayer 46' Solent rig sloop
Posts: 29,636
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Re: BEWARE THE FORUMS
I think fear is sewn by labeling things "safety" as if "safety" were black and white, rather than shades of grey.
Mix that in with people's different risk tolerances, and you get the trend towards bigger boats, of ever increasing complexity, which in itself decreases safety although the people think they have all this super safety equipment aboard. Overcomplicated boats result from less experience and more salesmanship.
Ann
__________________
Who scorns the calm has forgotten the storm.
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01-02-2021, 17:10
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#5
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Slidell, La.
Boat: Morgan Classic 33
Posts: 2,845
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Re: BEWARE THE FORUMS
Quote:
Originally Posted by AmzngGrace
....Much of it is simply oft-repeated memes without much rational thought about validity. And a distressing amount of it is simply other cruisers trying to puff up their egos, or dampen their own fears, by telling the rest of us how smart and well prepared they are.
So sure, we can learn stuff from forums, but we gotta filter it…big time.”
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Don't see a hell of a lot of difference in that and 'normal' human conversation.
Sociologists say that about 75% of all human conversation, across all studied cultures, is gossip. (does that fill the ego-building requisite?)
Cavear emptor is good advice even when one's only 'purchasing' someone else's opinion.
Terror is not something I've felt on any forum. If I had to name the number one --- feeling? -- emotion?--- I'd guess it'd have to be amusement, or perhaps bemusement.
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01-02-2021, 17:33
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#6
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Everywhere
Boat: Colegate 26
Posts: 1,154
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Re: BEWARE THE FORUMS
Forum operators should be quicker to shutdown that nonsense, but they see the value in a raging community making thousands more page loads and generating ad revenue from it. It's not just sailing forums, but pretty much any lifestyle or hobby ... or anywhere people can 'discuss' their opinions online.
The internet is a cesspool.
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01-02-2021, 18:28
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#7
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2020
Location: USVI
Boat: Hanse 445 44’
Posts: 38
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Re: BEWARE THE FORUMS
The Internet makes you stupid. This is why I don’t read forums, let alone participate in them.
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01-02-2021, 18:46
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#8
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Australia
Boat: Milkraft 60 ex trawler
Posts: 4,651
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Re: BEWARE THE FORUMS
Quote:
Originally Posted by stulk75
The Internet makes you stupid. This is why I don’t read forums, let alone participate in them.
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Yet here you are.
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01-02-2021, 19:54
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Portland, Oregon, USA
Boat: 31' Cape George Cutter
Posts: 3,325
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Re: BEWARE THE FORUMS
OTOH for those that have been around awhile the sight of a noob with no experience, no knowledge going cruising in a few months with a new or new-to-them boat is depressingly common. And the examples of failed attempts by such people show up here and elsewhere. I certainly would not wish to engender fear in anyone, but how do you get such people to get serious about their endeavor? Especially when their reaction to any such effort is "don't tell me what to do" and "I'm as good a man as you". I have seen firsthand how these things can go south (and not in a good way). I think it is incumbent on us to encourage novices to at least minimally prepare for what is to come (but not with fear).
Greg
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01-02-2021, 20:21
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#10
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Senior Cruiser
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: PORTUGAL
Posts: 31,033
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Re: BEWARE THE FORUMS
Of course not..
Stick to facts... Careful when anchoring because people have lost fingers and feet when the chain escapes control..
Be careful when Tacking as the boom can split your head open..
Be careful gybing as you are in danger of losing your mast..
Containers falling off ships can sink you.. see 'All is Lost..'
Whales can jump out a the water and sink you.. Or ram you.. Same effect..
Don't go to sleep as fishing boats wait till you are and sink you..
Enough with the needless scare stories.. Keep things real..
Oh.!!! Nearly forgot.. don't sail naked.. many is the sailor gotten their tackle caught in a genny winch and lost their valuables .. Ouch..
__________________
You can't oppress a people for over 75 years and have them say.. "I Love You.. ".
"It is better to die standing proud, than to live a lifetime on ones knees.."
Self Defence is no excuse for Genocide...
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01-02-2021, 20:27
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Portland, Oregon, USA
Boat: 31' Cape George Cutter
Posts: 3,325
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Re: BEWARE THE FORUMS
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01-02-2021, 20:44
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#12
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Sponsoring Vendor
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Hollywood, Fl.
Boat: FP Athena 38' Poerava
Posts: 4,013
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Re: BEWARE THE FORUMS
Quote:
Originally Posted by JPA Cate
I think fear is sewn by labeling things "safety" as if "safety" were black and white, rather than shades of grey.
Mix that in with people's different risk tolerances, and you get the trend towards bigger boats, of ever increasing complexity, which in itself decreases safety although the people think they have all this super safety equipment aboard. Overcomplicated boats result from less experience and more salesmanship.
Ann
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Ain't it the truth.
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01-02-2021, 21:09
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#13
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Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Between Caribbean and Canada
Boat: Murray 33-Chouette & Pape Steelmaid-44-Safara-both steel cutters
Posts: 8,826
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Re: BEWARE THE FORUMS
We don't watch TV, voluntarily. When we do see it there is a shock. The fear mongering, if you are not hardened to it, is frightful. The Wife and I have discussed this quite a bit.
Our most recent take is that the media is reactive to the herd. The herd has been spooked and is fearful, then the media picks up on that generalized feeling and regurgitates it back. Which sets up a positive feedback loop. And there is no control mechanism yo stabilize the system, so it just keeps growing.
Same think happens here; people feel anxious, seek safety, but hear about all the dangers, which makes them more anxious, and so forth. No clue where this will stop, considering the outcome scares me! LOL I joke but it is a real thing.
I am generally a pretty cautious person, no history of personal injury due to risky behavior, debt free, etc. Yet as a live aboards we live what most consider a high risk and scary existence. But by my evaluation we live a simple and mundane life free from many common risks; e. g. driving and breathing dirty city air. We are happy and content and feel comfortable with our situation.
So yeah, you can let the herd jack you up and join the stampede. Or you can choose your own path.
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01-02-2021, 21:09
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#14
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Mount Vernon, WA
Boat: Alajuela Crealock 37
Posts: 80
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Re: BEWARE THE FORUMS
Quote:
Originally Posted by stulk75
The Internet makes you stupid. This is why I don’t read forums, let alone participate in them.
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Ha! So much for the non-participation.
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01-02-2021, 23:21
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#15
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Darwin
Boat: Oram
Posts: 95
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Re: BEWARE THE FORUMS
Quote:
Originally Posted by stulk75
The Internet makes you stupid. This is why I don’t read forums, let alone participate in them.
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Oh What a Relief. That bloody Internet, Never thought of that one
For years I never knew who to blame Mum,Dad the Midwife School teacher or to much happy tobacco
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