Joined: May 15, 2003 Posts: 824 Location: Portland, Maine
Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 5:31 am Post subject: gunner
absolutely not gunner .... fliesandfins.com is just a bit different than typical "forum" based sites that you may be used to ... the heart and soul of this site has always been the "fish-tales" ... meaning stories about fly fishing adventures .. the forums comprise only about 15% of communication and content ... in fact, for many years, we did not even have forums ... rather than the forum posts functioning as a place for endless chatter they seem to serve one purpose and commenting and/or long discussions is not necessarily a measurement that signifies a valuable forum post .. but make no mistake, people read them and use them .... but it just seems that forums on this site are used to fill a refined communication and information need ... rather than serve as a place for endless chatter ... i think there are plenty of other forums on the web that do that ... an this site just by nature functions a bit differently ...
for example .. shaq was posting some great info on his interpretations of great lake steelheading .. that was great info and useful to many .. but just because there were no comments does not mean anything at all ... it just means there were no questions and no reason really to chatter about that topic ... and i don't think that shaq made the post with the intent to have long winded conversations about it ... he just posted it for the info .. period .. end of story. maybe there will be questions, maybe not .. maybe today, maybe in 4 years .. but certainly the information about spey lines that he posted will be useful to others ..
another example .... this post http://www.fliesandfins.com/postt525.html started back in july about "first and favorite fly reel" .. at first .. nobody commented .. but notice how just yesterday .. someone responded ..
another example ... this post http://www.fliesandfins.com/postt565.htm "tackle for bluefish" started in august .. it started as a question .. a couple folks answered and then just recently someone from south africa re-ignited the post with a question ...
BOTTOM LINE: i could be wrong, but i think you are simply new to flies and fins .. and viewing the entire environment as "the same" as other forum based websites ... or at least comparing fliesandfins.com to what you might be accustomed to in other forum based sites ... flies and fins IS different .. the fish-tales are the heart and soul of the content (stories about fly fishing) see the archives and the hundreds of stories from around the world and you will see my point ... videos from fly fishing adventures are another piece of our content portfolio that people enjoy creating and watching ... we have our sister sites that are strictly for knowledge based learning and sharing as they relate to regions of the world ... fliesandfinswest.com, fliesandfinssouth.com, fliesandfinseast.com .... So, there are many forms of content and the forums are, infact, a small piece of the puzzle ...certainly not driving force of what people generally enjoy about fliesandfins.com .... MOST of the feedback that we get about the site from fly fishermen who enjoy fliesandfins.com has some general concistencies ... fly fisherman seem to like this environment not as just another place to come and feel obligated to interact or post long winded sometimes laborous conversations in forums ... most guys already have forums that they "belong" to .. and now that forums have been around a long time and there are billions of them on the web .. the last thing most guys need is another forum to belong to ... most people that i know enjoy fliesandfins.com as a place to visit with their morning coffee and see whats going on .. they (mself included) love to see the fish-tales from around the world .. and see FISH and hear about FISHING and not just about TALKING ABOUT FISHING. if they gotta be workin' and can't be fishing, well then someone else is probably fishing and fliesandfins.com keeps them connected to the essence of it all ... actually fishing.
Ok .. I am rambling ... but let me sum it up like this .. let me tell you how i view fliesandfins.com and how my close fly fishing friends view fliesandfins.com and i think that might be helpful.
BOTTOM LINE: i love to check fliesandfins.com and see whats new .. sometimes i interact .. sometimes i don't ... i never feel obligated to do anything at all ... and if i post something and nobody responds, so be it. i personally use fliesandifns.com as a creative outlet for me and as a tool to keep me connected to fly fishing when i am not on the water ... i love to see the stories from around the world .. i love to contribute, but sometimes i don't ... and though it seems natural to do so, i don't judge anything by whether or not people commented or not .. for example .. my recent post "a list of all the fish I have never caught" WAS more for me anyway .. certainly, i would like to see other peoples list .. but if nobody contributes .. so be it .. but i bet if you watch that post through the years it will keep resurfacing and people will respond .. maybe not ... and finally, i view fliesandfins.com more like an online magazine than a forum .. just like i like to get my fly fishing magazine in the mail and see the pictures and read the articles ... some interest me .. some don't ... sometimes i would like to interact, other times i wouldn't ... but the enjoyment i get from contributing and not contributing are equal .. and i certainly don't want to feel pressured to interact just because ... i personally can't stand that in the real world and i carry that with me online ... some days i don't feel like going to a party .. some days i do .. when i go to a party, sometimes i talk to this person other times i don't .. and in my real world of fly fishing there is an unsaid philosophy between all my fly fishing buddies and it pretty much goes like .. "WHATEVER, DUDE." ..... we never try to expect anything nor do we wrap any external contingencies around our fly fishing and what it is is what it is ... here are some typical conversations... and i will leave it at that .. hope this helps ... i guess its just a different mind set .. at least for me it is ..
question: "hey, wanna go steelheading with us?"
anwer: "i can't"
(NO NEED TO ELABORATE .. AND FRANKLY NOBODY CARES WHY YOU CAN'T ... KIDS, WORK, MONEY PROBLEMS, CAR IS BUSTED)
question: "hey, what does so and so do for work?"
anwer: "who cares"
question: "oh, we forgot to call so and so. should we call him?"
anwer: "wasn't meant to be"
question: "hey how come you never return my voice mails"
anwer: "i don't have time .. wanna go fishing?"
question: "dude i invited so and so to come steelheading
anwer: "WHAT! dude, you know that 4 people is TOO many"
question: "my wife/girlfriend is ..."
anwer: "stop there dude, not interested"
question: "hey in next spring do you want to ..."
anwer: "stop there dude, i hate plans"
question: "hey, i can only fish until ...because ..."
anwer: "i'm bringing my own car . and i don't care about what else you gotta do, so don't bother telling me"
question: "oh man since i've had kids .. i can't fish .. i got no time..etc.."
anwer: "sucks for you dude"
question: "hey wanna go fishin and then meet our wives at about 5pm
anwer: "are you crazy man, that's just when things will be getting good .. NO WAY! .."
---------------------
so --- i don't know if this helps .. and i certainly am not speaking for everyone when i talk about how me and my friends percieve fliesandifns.com .. all i know is that its how we view it ... or .... maybe its just me .... but that's just who i am ... and THAT is the fun of it ... fliesandfins.com is "Whatever dude" .. come as you are ... don't come at all ... and "whatever dude" ...
Joined: Feb 16, 2006 Posts: 55 Location: Long Island, NY
Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 5:35 am Post subject:
Gunner:
I notice that you have been a member since nov 14. I, too, am a newbie on this site, having joined less than a year ago. I am not a moderator. However, I have posted things on occasion, and I also look forward to receiving some type of feedback from my posts. My impression is that among the huge number of registered users, only a small percentage actually ever post any comments. Also, you may note that the number of registered users is small in comparison to the number of people viewing the site at any one time (This could be because the site is viewed by many non-registered users [as I did for several months prior to registering] or is being viewed by registered users who are not logged on [I do this all the time unless I want to post something]
Another thing that I have noticed is that the posting action is generally resticted to those posts that appear on the home page. So once you need to dig deeper to find a thread, the flury of posting activity for that thread is mostly complete.
Recently, there has been an extremely high rate of posts in the fly fishing forums. Therefore, each forum post only appears on the home page for a few days. I beleive that your posts (at least to threads in the spey forum) were posts to threads that had already disappeared from the home page. Therefore, I am not surprized by a slow rate of response to your posts. I also would avoid taking this lack of action personnally. Along with the phenomenal rate of speed in communication with this electronic age, we are also suffering from a shortened attention span.
Note that now, while your post is at the top of the forum box, you are receiving a response, albeit only from a schlump like me. Overall, I have found that the interested posters are extremely kind and thoughtful in their posts and I have found the posts to be very useful and entertaining.
Joined: Feb 22, 2005 Posts: 136 Location: Adirondacks
Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 8:59 am Post subject:
jeremy, that was just about the funniest thing I ever read....sums why I am always fishing solo or in small groups and why I'm always on the road solo at 3am or 11pm, It's not that I don't like my fishing buds, it's always that I'm leaving messages like, I'm on my way to x stream...maybe this pool then that pool, hope I see you. I have my cell on me...bye ....bottom line...Funny!
Gunner, I know that we all liek the intant gratification on the internet about what we post...just know that we all go hmmmm... if we don't post and you certainly have contributed to my internal discussion...
Joined: May 15, 2003 Posts: 824 Location: Portland, Maine
Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 9:41 am Post subject: hey
rick w --- i hear ya .. and i am used to it ... i guess its just who i am ... i rant and rave and go off on wild philosophical tangents .. that make perfect sense to me ... but to the end reader they are probably like ..
"oh my god .... that is just way to much text to read and what the hell is he talking about anyway."
but ... i get writing and philosophising and whatever .. and i can't stop .. one point leads to another and it seems to never end ... and when i ask my friends ,"dude, did you read what i wrote about this or that.." often they say yes .. but many times they are like .."dude, i looked at the amount of words and it was just way to much ..."
so - just to set the record straight ... forgive my ramblings and long writings of streams of conciousness ... and if you don't read them .. i take no offense ... as there are many times i review what i wrote and i am like ."OH MY GOD! that's like a freaking novel" ... but in some strange way its theraputic for me .. so i do it .... i'll try to shorten things down ... ahhhhh... no i won't .. whatever dude.
Joined: May 15, 2003 Posts: 824 Location: Portland, Maine
Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 11:15 am Post subject: archives
wow ... this post remerged from the bowls of the forms .. originated in nov. 2006 ... and comes back to the surface dec 2007 ... not sure what you were trying to say with your post ... maybe it went over my head (alot of stuff does these days) ... either way, funny to read it and visit it again ... and alot of the saying still ring true in many ways, for me anyway ...
question: "my wife/girlfriend is ..."
anwer: "stop there dude, not interested"
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I post on 8 threads and looks like I killed 6 of them. 
No questions, no comments. Information not wanted? 
.... but that's just who i am ... and THAT is the fun of it ... fliesandfins.com is "Whatever dude" .. come as you are ... don't come at all ... and "whatever dude" ...
