Is it just me, or.................

[W0BKR]

Over the past few months I have seen more and more postings on amateur related websites from real losers and nut cases. I have also seen an increase in scamming, rip offs, etc., this is really alarming as to where this "hobby" is progressing, or more appropriately, digressing.

Case in point, two (2) examples taken from another website:

A real winner for you (as posted):
GO1LFP PROFILE from QRZ.COM web site
GO1LFP () Lookups: 43
Lee F Potts
Morristown,TN
USA
Email: go1lfp@aol.com
Member Name: Lee F. Potts / Go1LFP@aol.com Location: Philadelphia, PA / Morristown,TN Marital Status: GWM,
42,150#, Br/hazel, no beard Hobbies: HAM RADIO,APRS,HF,VHF,SSTV,no tats, just my jeans, a T-shirt & my favorite Timberlands Computers: Newly displaced Yankee living in Morristown (I-81 & I-40) Occupation: looking for bright truck guys, trades guys & other down to Personal Quote: earth types for friendship and more. Leave email
now AT GO1LFP@AOL.COM

Here's yet another posting:
THIS IS A FOLLOW-UP ANNOUNCEMENT TO KO6BBs PREVIOUS POST ON THE PERSON OWNING THE ABOVE E-MAIL ADDRESS MAKING BOGUS OFFERS ON OUR LISTINGS. THIS HAS HAPPENED TO SEVERAL HAMS; AFTER DOING RESEARCH, THIS E-MAIL ADDRESS BELONGS TO FELLOW OPERATOR, MERL MONCER, N4BFT, IN PINELLAS PARK, FLORIDA; IN DOING HIS MISCHIEF, HE HAS COST ME AND OTHERS POTENTAL "LEGITIMATE" SALES AND QTH.COM REVENUE. IF YOU RECEIVE ANY INQUIRY OR OFFER FROM A PERSON WITH THIS CALL, THIS NAME, OR THIS E-MAIL ADDRESS, PLEASE GUIDE YOUR ACTIONS ACCORDINGLY. THANK YOU TO QTH.COM FOR ALLOWING KO6BBS POST AND MINE TO REMAIN TO HOPEFULLY STOP HIS BEHAVIOR. THANK YOU FOR READING.

This is pretty sick and sad at the same time. It's no wonder to me that the bands have problems with QRMing, stupid and childish "conflicts", flaming posts/packets (seen two this week from a couple of lids, a WB6 and WA2 on our local packet system; I won't post their calls here). These individuals obviously have no life, cannot see outside of tunnel vision, are obviously very unhappy and unfulfilled individuals, deviants from society, can't tolerate anyone with a differing opinion, etc. Really, really sad.

Is it just me, or are things getting worse in amateur radio or better ? You decide.

[NN6EE]

Yes CHRIS, you're right!!!

The hobby is sliding to the negative side at present!!! Everybody of course has their own ideas on what is right or wrong with what's happening to our hobby!!! But in my opinion it seems as if the problem is really about HONOR!!! You've got Radio Cops who do not have any of the true skills of persuasion to sway their brothers and sisters to a more logical way of thinking and behavior, instead these BOZO RADIO COPS create hate and dissension in our ranks because they think that everybody has to live up to a STANDARD THAT WAS REALLY NEVER THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!

It's called CIVILITY, but people don't like to be yelled at or condemned or vilified because of certain slips in conduct!!! And some people accept one's behavior as perfectly legit, while others are offended???

The SERVICE/HOBBY needs to get back to humanity and all it's interactions instead of trying to CREATE A POLICE-STATE!!!

# http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif #es 73,

nn6ee/JIM

[K7PIG]

I like to laugh and boy, I'm glad you didn't say anything bad about my website. I couldn't cry again today, it would be just too, too much. More pictures are coming too.

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif 600,000 hams + 1 radio=x(1) contacts. Good or bad not withstanding.

600,000 hams + 1 radio + the internet= x(2) contacts. Good or bad again not withstanding.

x(2) being roughly 10 times x(1), the chance of a greater number of bad contacts or "news" about bad contacts is directly proportional. Add to this our natural attraction to "dirty laundry" and how easy we forget the mundane ( i.e. any good contact ) what you get is a statistical illusion of a greater number of "bad people" in the hobby.

This is to say, the greater the exposure to any diverse population, the greater number ( percapata ) of wierdos you are likely to incounter. #Are there more bad apples per any given barrell, or do we only "see" more,the more barrells we have to look at?

73 for now......I have a headache...........KCØGOA http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[KC2JCA]

Not for nothing, but thanks to a small group of "concerned hams", Merl Moncer is really starting to become one of today's more popular "Urban Legends".

Everyone has a Merl Moncer story to tell it seems.
Oh well, I suppose it beats telling that story about the couple in the car. You know, they hear strange noises on the car whil ethey are making out, and n the radio is a story about an escaped killer easily identified by the hook he wears in place of a missing hand. They get scared and drive home only to find hanging from the car door handle a glistening silver hook!

73, Jim - kc2jca

[W0BKR]

All of the above may well be true and amusing but for some, it is a real problem and a unnecessary source of grief and trouble. # These type(s) of individuals are obviously not well and in need of professional therapy or something "stronger".

Personally, since I became licensed over 25 years ago, almost 30 actually, I have seen things digress.
Yes, the "bad apples" we will have with us. #Tiffs on repeaters, the anonymous voice from the mike on a DX pile up, the carrier kid on a net, all of them have serious issues to deal with in their lives. #Who knows.

I suppose one could say it reflects our society (i.e. shootings in school, intense road rage, hate crimes, etc.all of which were unheard of 10+ years ago to some degree).

The amount of on the air stupidity some of these "amateurs" demonstrate (i.e. WA4D, WB2OTK, KV4FZ, etc.) along with the proliferation on the internet now, is, to me, on the rise and there doesn't seem to be any real "enforcement" except the occassional VE Testing Candidate, the Repeater complaints, etc. being called into the "spotlight" by the long (weak) arm of the FCC.

I know, there are far many more "good apples" out there, obviously. #One would be daft to believe that amateur radio is rife with rotten apples, but it only takes one nut in one country to start a war when things are tense. When individuals and organizations are eyeing spectrum, these "bad apples" can be used against the collective whole to allocate spectrum away from amateur radio and allocated to more "sane" users.

All in all, I do notice an increase in nut case activity. #What to do about it ? #I suppose send/forward info to the Feds and sit and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait (x infinity) some more. #Perhaps in our lifetime(s)
something "good" will take place to rid us of the stench these bad apples emit.

PS: #The sky isn't falling (yet)!

[KC2JCA]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (W0BKR @ April 10 2002,07:39)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">All in all, I do notice an increase in nut case activity.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

You want increased nutcase data? Try logging onto Usenet. You'll swear the whole world is some sort of sick outtake of a Superman meets Bizzaro comic book.

73, Jim - kc2jca

[n4sl]

Was that supposed to be a 'generic' reference to a typically nutty QRZ.COM entry? There is no Lee F. Potts with a ham license and there is no GO1LFP listed anywhere I could find.

I've seen some real doozies on QRZ, one was a woman ham who was looking for other hams to wife-swap!

I almost never hear anything bad on HF CW so I stay there with all the real (old) hams. I sure hope it's true that a ham improves with age, I must be getting really good by now!!

Not a wife-swapper,
Steve N4SL Machias, WA CN88xa

[W0BKR]

Agree with you Steve. No, I don't notice the &quot;nutcases&quot; on CW either...maybe there is something with the push for doing away with the code tied to that observance...hi.

Seriously, yeah, I am sure, the nuts are out there and have been out there, but just seems there is a larger crop of them lately.

As to GO1LFP, QRZ took the callsign listing off their database, that is why you can't find it.

As to the MMONCE thing, well, that has been ongoing for some time, but I hear the Feds are investigating it as well as some other agencies due to fraudulent activity by this callsign abuser (not the real N4BFT obviously). In any case, it just seems there are more and more &quot;incidents&quot; shall we call them, occurring.

I suppose one could attribute some of this to the years of no enforcement. Now it is like attacking an iceberg with an ice pick. But you gotta chip at it somewhere, just keep at it.

[ah6le]

It's not just ham radio - people seem less and less interested in acting in any remote manner to human beings. Many kids are nastier than ever before and it seems more adults are anything but.

I dunno..I chalk it up to a more permissive society in general, where political correctness is the norm and people have learned they have no responsibility for what they do. Ya know..&quot;It's not my fault, my daddy's too thin and my mama's too fat!&quot;. Yea... I guess....

Of course, the political climate over the past 10 years has taken a major dump - folks seem to think you can say or do anything anymore. And I ain't all that old to remember back 30 years and remember interactions between people seemed more....civil? then.

[W5ATX]

AH6LE has hit the nail on the head. DIRECT hit!

As Thomas Paine said &quot;&quot;What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.&quot; A trip through the local high school parking lot shows the BMWs, Mustangs, Camaros, Lexuses in the STUDENT parking lot, while the teachers drive economy cars. That's pretty strong evidence of how permissive our society is, and don't forget the &quot;my little boy/girl would never do that.&quot;

Yep, society and a handbasket . . . you name the destination.

Chris

[kd5mpm]

Its the POISONS in the FOOD &amp; WATER that people have been eating and drinking; Floridisation, food additives, all these DRUGS, sanctioned and REQUIRED by the FDA, and HEW are DESTROYING our minds! As if that weren't bad enough, the VAST MAJORITY of childrens educated in PUBLIC SCHOOLS since 1974 have been GIVEN AMPHETIMINES, TRANQUILISERS, and those 'Childhood' vaccinations, REQUIRED by the Government, which have NOW BEEN FOUND to be RESPONSABLE for childhood AUTISM and ATTENTION DEFICIT SYNDRONE, et al. The MARCH 22, 2002 Copy of the &quot;FEDERAL LAW REVIEW&quot; featured a article about the coming legal battle over this, it is expected to be the BIGGEST and MOST EMOTIONAL Law Suit in HISTORY! This is all traceable back to the writings of Bertram Russell and B&gt; F&gt; Skinner, calling for the DUMBING DOWN of America... I here quote from &quot;the Impact of Science on Society&quot; pub. 1953, Page 50 : &quot;Fichte laid it down that education should aim at destroying free will, so that after pupils have left school, they would be incapable, throughout the rest of their lives, of thinking or acting otherwise than as schoolmasters would have wished...Diet, injections and injunctions will combine, from a very early age, to produce the sort of character and sort of belief the authorities consider desirable, and any serious criticism of the powers will become psychologically impossable. Even if all are miserable, all will believe themselves happy, because the government will tell tham that they are happy.&quot; This is the NOBEL PRIZE WINNING BERTRAM RUSSELL, and the Government Controlled MEDIA tells the 'Sheeple&quot; what to think, what to do, what to eat, etc. When I was a young man, if the President of the United States have been INVOLVED in DRUG SMUGGLING (Mena, AR.) Cheating elderly retirees out of BILLIONS of dollars (White Water,) Forced Rape (the Nursing Home Owner, he BIT her lip &amp; forced her, ) plus fornication with 20 year old interns, WE WOULD HAVE THROWN THE BUM IN LEAVENWORTH! But the MEDIA &quot;told&quot; YOU, John &amp; Jane Doe, that &quot;It Was Alright.&quot; Do you imagine that ANYONE, OF ANY AGE, in AMERICA 'should' show civility? Or be 'respectful?' Remember OUR PRESIDENT, (Ret.) Asking the SUPREME GRAND JURIST...&quot;That depends on what you MEAN by 'is'&quot;. We live in ANARCHY now, we are TOO DUMB to notice, but IF THE SUPERBOWL dosen't happen, AMERICA WILL RIOT! When the PEOPLE who are supposed to be our LEADERS are shown FILTHY DOPE PUSHERS, RAPISTS, MURDERERS &amp; PERVERTS, what standard are we to aspire to? When the MUSIC MEDIA celebrates PRISON STYLE NEGRO HATE SPEECH- &quot;Rap&quot; FILTH, when movies as &quot;BORN KILLERS&quot; are the MOST POPULAR amoung pre-teens, NOW, are we to EXPECT FOLKS TO ACT CIVIL? I fain not.

[W5ATX]

ummmmmm . . .

Among the valid point or two included in the above, there's just a little too much conspiracy theory and hate mixed in for much serious consideration. That's a shame too.

I went to public school after 1974, and I think I'm ok. But then again, maybe the masters conditioned me to think I'm ok. Of course some of the posts on qrz.com might be proof that KD5MPM is correct. I just don't know it yet.