IkemanTX
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2015
- Messages
- 3,501
It has become painfully apparent to me that the saddlehunter.com I fell in love with is dead and gone.
The tattered fragments that remain are marred with tribalism, bickering, and bashing. I guess it was only inevitable that a group that has grown this large would eventually come to reflect the complete dysfunction that is the rest of our society. Attempts were made to try to hold together some semblance of community but, like everything else in life, the solutions often only make things worse.
Other forums I have enjoyed have suffered the same fate, so I guess it shouldn’t have been unexpected. We find ourselves at the place where we have placed muzzles on any member who has ANY affiliation with a manufacturer, no matter how tenuous. My “Prostaff” position with Tethrd isn’t even paid. I am literally just an avid fan of the company promoting it on MY OWN media profiles… how is that any different than anyone else on this site who prefers one brand over another? Because Greg and Ernie asked me if I wanted to? As “vendors” we are no longer allowed to even discuss our own setups because they contain products of the brand we represent, or be a part of any discussion that may touch on even a single feature included in one of the products. I honestly do not have the patience or desire to constantly check if I am in the correct thread or forum to be able to be a part of the conversation on the basic subject this forum was created to discuss. Doing so 5 times will now even result in a permanent ban.
I can’t help but think that many of the heavy hitting DIY’ers (and largest contributors to this site’s early days), the people I did and still do look up to, find themselves silently feeling much as I do… stuck between a rock and a hard place. Stuck between being able to be an active part of the forum, or maintaining an affiliation with a brand. No other forum I have ever been a part has ever made me feel those were the only choices, and none have vender rules so restricting to the very subject matter the forum is about. I have no desire to be on this site if I can’t talk about anything outside of the vendor forum. It is a saddlehunting site, so conversations will always invariably come back to saddles and their features… which is a discussion I am no longer allowed to be a part of... somehow.
As this place becomes more and more like every other vessel of internet toxicity, I hope SOMETHING might eventually step in and stem the tide so that this too doesn’t end up in the dusty corner of my forgotten hangouts, right next to ArcheryTalk, Yourspace and Bookface. This place was once much dearer to me than the others, so I will try a break instead. Maybe several weeks, or months, or maybe even a year or two from now it will more resemble what I fear we have already lost. I will now just direct my attention to promoting saddle hunting outside of this forum, where free dialog is actually allowed.
It really is a shame to see what this place has become.
If, for some reason, you actually care to hear my opinion or ideas, I can be found under the same username on the few sites I do still use… Texasbowhunter.com, Habitattalk.com, Instagram, Tree Saddle hunters R Us, and Youtube
The tattered fragments that remain are marred with tribalism, bickering, and bashing. I guess it was only inevitable that a group that has grown this large would eventually come to reflect the complete dysfunction that is the rest of our society. Attempts were made to try to hold together some semblance of community but, like everything else in life, the solutions often only make things worse.
Other forums I have enjoyed have suffered the same fate, so I guess it shouldn’t have been unexpected. We find ourselves at the place where we have placed muzzles on any member who has ANY affiliation with a manufacturer, no matter how tenuous. My “Prostaff” position with Tethrd isn’t even paid. I am literally just an avid fan of the company promoting it on MY OWN media profiles… how is that any different than anyone else on this site who prefers one brand over another? Because Greg and Ernie asked me if I wanted to? As “vendors” we are no longer allowed to even discuss our own setups because they contain products of the brand we represent, or be a part of any discussion that may touch on even a single feature included in one of the products. I honestly do not have the patience or desire to constantly check if I am in the correct thread or forum to be able to be a part of the conversation on the basic subject this forum was created to discuss. Doing so 5 times will now even result in a permanent ban.
I can’t help but think that many of the heavy hitting DIY’ers (and largest contributors to this site’s early days), the people I did and still do look up to, find themselves silently feeling much as I do… stuck between a rock and a hard place. Stuck between being able to be an active part of the forum, or maintaining an affiliation with a brand. No other forum I have ever been a part has ever made me feel those were the only choices, and none have vender rules so restricting to the very subject matter the forum is about. I have no desire to be on this site if I can’t talk about anything outside of the vendor forum. It is a saddlehunting site, so conversations will always invariably come back to saddles and their features… which is a discussion I am no longer allowed to be a part of... somehow.
As this place becomes more and more like every other vessel of internet toxicity, I hope SOMETHING might eventually step in and stem the tide so that this too doesn’t end up in the dusty corner of my forgotten hangouts, right next to ArcheryTalk, Yourspace and Bookface. This place was once much dearer to me than the others, so I will try a break instead. Maybe several weeks, or months, or maybe even a year or two from now it will more resemble what I fear we have already lost. I will now just direct my attention to promoting saddle hunting outside of this forum, where free dialog is actually allowed.
It really is a shame to see what this place has become.
If, for some reason, you actually care to hear my opinion or ideas, I can be found under the same username on the few sites I do still use… Texasbowhunter.com, Habitattalk.com, Instagram, Tree Saddle hunters R Us, and Youtube