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How do you combat this?

There was a guy whose girlfriend made an entire saddle for him out of paracord on facebook. I posted that the workmanship looked great, but I didn't think that was a great idea and maybe just wear an RC harness in addition. He told me to mind my own business...if paracord was good enough for parachutes, it was good enough for his saddle.
 
I've hit the point where i try to just numb myself to it. Good information is out there. I work in education. If you've hit adulthood and can't tell good sources from bad, it's beyond most teacher's ability to teach it to you. I don't know why some people are ignorant. DNA, bad childhood, lack of privilege, pigheadedness, dropped as a baby, whatever. Some folks don't want to or can't learn. For people who can and have the desire, there has literally never been a better time to be alive.

That sounds extremely pessimistic, and yet somehow I still work in education and still try to point out questionable practices. I'm trying to squelch that out of me, but it's hard not to say something.
 
Nutterbuster said:
I've hit the point where i try to just numb myself to it. Good information is out there. I work in education. If you've hit adulthood and can't tell good sources from bad, it's beyond most teacher's ability to teach it to you. I don't know why some people are ignorant. DNA, bad childhood, lack of privilege, pigheadedness, dropped as a baby, whatever. Some folks don't want to or can't learn. For people who can and have the desire, there has literally never been a better time to be alive.

That sounds extremely pessimistic, and yet somehow I still work in education and still try to point out questionable practices. I'm trying to squelch that out of me, but it's hard not to say something.
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I've been a teacher now for 24 years. Currently I teach in Ferguson, MO. My job is at the Alternative learning center and I love helping my kids...but at the same time I watch the ones who have to learn the hard and painful way as well. I'm there for them once they are at rock bottom and reaching out.

As far as crazy info...I look and see that and shake my head. I've been hunting long enough to know that one fall out of a tree is enough for me. Was not hunting, but hunting related. Now this short, squat, gravity heavy knucklehead does not leave the ground not only attached to the tree...but the tether and bridge set so that if I do fall I do not touch the ground. As soon as my first foot leaves the ground, I'm taking all the slack out of my system so that my toes on the ground foot are straining to reach. Then move up and repeat. This past summer, I let slack into my system as i was leaving the ground. The stick immediately failed (don't ask) and I hit the ground. My right knee jammed and twisted and I have a 800 yard hobble back to the truck with all my gear.

So...while I am conscious of safety...that day the unthinkable happened at only 4' off the ground. And yes...it hurt a lot.
 
You know, I read that and shake my head. Then I remember back to 1970 something when I was a teenager and tree stands were like saddles a few years ago, there weren't many options an most were out of my price range. I can honestly say I made a rope ladder from poly rope and 2x4s that I used to throw over a branch and climb up to find a perch in a tree. PLEASE DON"T ANYONE GET ANY IDEAS ABOUT TRYING THIS, it was and is EXTREMELY STUPID! I may still have that abomination in my storage shed.

Fact of the matter is we can probably all look back when we younger and invincible and find similar examples of stupidity. The best we can do is try to pass the best advice we can onto others getting started and try to educate them on best practices and risks. Ultimately it is up to the individual to decide how much risk they are willing to take but hopefully we can all help provide some aid to them for making informed decisions.
 
As saddle hunting takes off, prepare for more of this and for saddle hunting to potentially get a bad name. I assume the folks in that screenshot are young, which often means you are broke and also cavalier/invincible (I remember at 18 thinking if you got in a car wreck you just kinda banged around the car and were okay afterwards usually). This is why the leading cause of death among young men are accidents of various types.

Most people shouldn't be doing DIY stuff because they won't or haven't developed the skills or knowledge to do so safely. I hope that if saddle hunting takes off that more cheap options arise to keep these folks safe. In that case, Hawk getting into the game is probably a good thing. I hope they are hanging up at box stores with a mannequin in them.

To use a 2 dollar word, this also has to do with anti-intellectualism. Some folks are offended by the idea that an engineer's or scientist's or other expert's education and years of experience greatly trumps their own (supposed) common sense garnered by a summer job pouring concrete and building their granny a back deck. So, a lot of folks don't know enough to even correctly doubt themselves.
 
Tell your self they will be smart about it. Maybe they are going to braid it together. Mix 3 colors and make it look cool. If not like weldabeast said. Nature will take its course. But hopefully not.
 
I'm not active on Facebook, but if I saw something like that, I would definitely say something. It takes just a couple minutes to respond to a post like that, and it could be the difference between a guy coming home safe-and-whole to his family or ending up in the hospital (or worse) with an injury and life-changing medical debt--that's a massive potential pay-off for a minimal investment of my time.

As far as the whole "natural selection" thing goes, there's a big difference between someone getting hurt/killed because he knowingly disregarded good advice vs. because he just didn't know better. Most new saddle hunters don't know about kN's, static vs. dynamic ropes, etc. Heck, many people on here (me included, to some degree) don't know as much about climbing gear and ratings as we should. Taking a moment to ensure the person at least knows how/where to find good safety information is easy for us to do; whether they choose to investigate further and heed the wise counsel is up to them.

If you see a post like that and are too lazy to really inform the guy, you could always just share a link to one of the safety threads on here. Speaking of, maybe @redsquirrel or one of the mods could pin a "SAFETY - BEST PRACTICES & AVOIDABLE DANGERS" thread somewhere that's easy to find so folks could quickly link to it, much like the 2019 Year of Safety thread, but exclusively with safety information (i.e., no off-topic discussion) to make it easily digestible? It could include things like: using the right ropes, buckles, and carabiners; using a stopper knot; explaining stick kick-outs; how to use a LB; etc. I think I, and many others, would find that useful.
 
TNbowhunter said:
I'm not active on Facebook, but if I saw something like that, I would definitely say something. It takes just a couple minutes to respond to a post like that, and it could be the difference between a guy coming home safe-and-whole to his family or ending up in the hospital (or worse) with an injury and life-changing medical debt--that's a massive potential pay-off for a minimal investment of my time.

As far as the whole "natural selection" thing goes, there's a big difference between someone getting hurt/killed because he knowingly disregarded good advice vs. because he just didn't know better. Most new saddle hunters don't know about kN's, static vs. dynamic ropes, etc. Heck, many people on here (me included, to some degree) don't know as much about climbing gear and ratings as we should. Taking a moment to ensure the person at least knows how/where to find good safety information is easy for us to do; whether they choose to investigate further and heed the wise counsel is up to them.

If you see a post like that and are too lazy to really inform the guy, you could always just share a link to one of the safety threads on here. Speaking of, maybe @redsquirrel or one of the mods could pin a "SAFETY - BEST PRACTICES & AVOIDABLE DANGERS" thread somewhere that's easy to find so folks could quickly link to it, much like the 2019 Year of Safety thread, but exclusively with safety information (i.e., no off-topic discussion) to make it easily digestible? It could include things like: using the right ropes, buckles, and carabiners; using a stopper knot; explaining stick kick-outs; how to use a LB; etc. I think I, and many others, would find that useful.
Click to expand...
I think this is a great idea! A quick reference to best practices/safety measures/horror stories would make educating the general populous so much easier and effective. I did eventually respond with a math lesson on the dangers of short static falls, turns out a 2 foot fall would have been all that was required to snap that rope. Had I been at a job I actually like doing I probably wouldn't have taken the time to respond during business hours. Which, given my absent mindedness, would have completely forgotten to do once I got home.
 
As @raisins said, you’re gonna see a whole lot more of it. I came across a guy selling a prusik on there and he’d secured the ends with just a simple overhand knot. I politely pointed out double fisherman’s are widely regarded as the minimal safe knot, sent him some supporting links and went on my way. He was thankful. And just think he was trying to sell that thing. I think the way I approached it helped, I wasn’t a cack about it, more like uh hey buddy, you might want to rethink that. How much time you got in the saddle? I point everyone to saddle hunter every chance I get.
 
Newhunter1 said:
I've been a teacher now for 24 years. Currently I teach in Ferguson, MO. My job is at the Alternative learning center and I love helping my kids...but at the same time I watch the ones who have to learn the hard and painful way as well. I'm there for them once they are at rock bottom and reaching out.
Click to expand...
Just a disclaimer, my post wasn't meant to imply I think you should give up on kids. I have a best friend who teaches special ed classes and I can't really think of a better thing to do with your life. I work in college and primarily with adult learners. We're not even talking teens. If I get a 30 year old student who can't understand the difference between a scholarly publication and the yahoo answers page, and/or who can't pick up on and spot bias (which everything you've ever read has), it's been my experience that it's next to impossible to get them to pick it up and internalize it.

The guy in the screenshot sees nothing wrong with asking facebook for advice on climbing gear and just going with the first answer. The same place where people who never moved beyond high school think the pyramid scheme they're pushing on you is their small business, the guy who got a hat from a company is an industry professional, and people who have never voted anything but hard right or hard left think they're intellectual moderates.

Facebook can be fun and useful for certain things, but good information on that platform is like emotional fulfilment on an escort page...I ain't saying it don't happen, but it's not the most productive row to hoe.
 
Nutterbuster said:
Just a disclaimer, my post wasn't meant to imply I think you should give up on kids. I have a best friend who teaches special ed classes and I can't really think of a better thing to do with your life. I work in college and primarily with adult learners. We're not even talking teens. If I get a 30 year old student who can't understand the difference between a scholarly publication and the yahoo answers page, and/or who can't pick up on and spot bias (which everything you've ever read has), it's been my experience that it's next to impossible to get them to pick it up and internalize it.

The guy in the screenshot sees nothing wrong with asking facebook for advice on climbing gear and just going with the first answer. The same place where people who never moved beyond high school think the pyramid scheme they're pushing on you is their small business, the guy who got a hat from a company is an industry professional, and people who have never voted anything but hard right or hard left think they're intellectual moderates.

Facebook can be fun and useful for certain things, but good information on that platform is like emotional fulfilment on an escort page...I ain't saying it don't happen, but it's not the most productive row to hoe.
Click to expand...

*hoe to row
 
Nutterbuster said:
Just a disclaimer, my post wasn't meant to imply I think you should give up on kids. I have a best friend who teaches special ed classes and I can't really think of a better thing to do with your life. I work in college and primarily with adult learners. We're not even talking teens. If I get a 30 year old student who can't understand the difference between a scholarly publication and the yahoo answers page, and/or who can't pick up on and spot bias (which everything you've ever read has), it's been my experience that it's next to impossible to get them to pick it up and internalize it.

The guy in the screenshot sees nothing wrong with asking facebook for advice on climbing gear and just going with the first answer. The same place where people who never moved beyond high school think the pyramid scheme they're pushing on you is their small business, the guy who got a hat from a company is an industry professional, and people who have never voted anything but hard right or hard left think they're intellectual moderates.

Facebook can be fun and useful for certain things, but good information on that platform is like emotional fulfilment on an escort page...I ain't saying it don't happen, but it's not the most productive row to hoe.
Click to expand...

I'll disclaim your disclaimer...I didn't take it as an implication for giving up on kids. I have a lot more grace and compassion for students > 18 years old. 19-25...I have a little less grace but I'll still help as long as they are genuinely looking for help and advice. 25 and up...still the same...less grace but as long as they are teachable and want the help then I'll give it. Once they get to that "I'm an an adult" or "I've been doing this for 3 years and nothing has happened to me..." then I say good luck and move on.

Shoot, I'm 50+ years old...only been hunting since my mid 30's and know that I don't know much (just ask my wife). I will take someone who has been successful and have them train me so that I can improve. My boys and I just took up trap shooting. My oldest (15) has been outshooting me for the last three weeks. I have kids who have been trap shooting almost as long as they can remember giving me advice...I take it and love being taught from a youngster. It empowers them...and last night I out shot my oldest..and oh was he ticked. I think I got in his head as I took his over/under and hit 5 out of 5 birds. Handed it back to him and let him know that it wasn't the gun that was missing. Good ole dad ribbing.

Anyway, back to the original topic...I will help anyone..even the ones who initially give me grief. I guess that's why my toughest gang member kids respect me.
 
"He told me to mind my own business...if paracord was good enough for parachutes, it was good enough for his saddle."

If this fishing line is good enough to reel in that 1,000 lb blue marlin...its good enough for my saddle. MIND YA BIDNISS!

My new saddle is going on sale tomorrow. I call it "THE DARWIN"
 
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