Never again!

Well, i've been licensed for a few years and registered on QRZ for about the same. I often browse in and read the topics that catch my eye and for a while have thought about posting a topic of my own. The other weekend I was killing time at the PC and thought I would share my thoughts on the idea of an international calling frequency for ten metres with my fellow hams. You see, I wanted the opinions of others. I knew that my idea had flaws, the fact that when the band was in good condition a calling frequency would be nothing short of unorganised chaos, all the same though in times when propagation was poor it could prove to be useful.

I posted the topic and when it appeared I tracked it to keep up on others opinions.

Nothing could have prepared me for what was about to happen. I can honestly say that the vast majority of replies etc were encouraging, at the very least civilised.
Of course not everyone is going to agree, that is the beauty of our wonderful hobby, its diversity and the passion it creates. What I wasn't ready for was the name calling, and the nasty snide remarks. Some of you may have read them, some of them are almost amusing. The worst ones were done 'off group' by faceless morons with a high opinion of themselves via email or IM. At least the one's/one who were brave enough to post self ridiculing comments on the forum had the balls to do it publicly!

I will stop there because I am at risk of sounding like of the people I am criticising.

My only mistake was to mention the fact that I sometimes use 27.555 as a LISTENING reference as to the condition of ten metres. I do not call there, I dont want to and even if I did I cant, the European FT920 wont operate out of band, only RX.

But that was enough to prompt the radio police to offload both barrels in my direction. The next time I have any thoughts I wish to share I will save them for club nights, that will make a couple of people happy I dare say? I thought posting a topic on QRZ would generate a debate, not a radio correctness campaign, never mind eh?

To all those hams who thought my idea was a good one, thankyou. To all those hams that thought my idea was a poor one, that's ok. That's all I wanted, the opinions of others. Whether or not those opinions suit me is not important. Luckily we live in a world where free speech is taken for granted, not every one does. However, that does not make it right to use that situation to barrack and abuse someone for thinking out aloud. Free speech and free-for-all a separate things. Im not an over sensitive person, to be honest I couldn't care less for the opinions of killjoy loners with only their shadows for company.

That's me done now but for all the small time radio police out there who do more harm than good, no matter how good your intentions are, some advice. Sit on it instead of talking through it. That way you will find that the gauze on your mic will stay cleaner for longer.

Coming soon to a PC near you, Abuse II, this time its personal, im prepared..................

73's world, Chris/MØNTY

 

Chris,

That is the beauty of the DELETE key; it can be pressed so easily. Do not let those that are "faceless morons with a high opinion of themselves via email or IM" discurage you. These people have been a part of computing long before the Internet was a household word. They even have their own name; TROLLS. Don't let them get to you.

 

Just rember Marty the one's who made the uneducated accuasations are the one's you see here often embarasing themselves.Their level of selfesteam and self confidance are very low.We all know who they are and so do they,we see them here all the time belittleing others to make themselves feel bigger then they are.I thought the posting was intresting at the least and a good idea.73's Marty,   Dave AE8U

 

Sorry you feel that way after posting your string on the ten meter calling frequency. I read the postings... I didn't post anything, though. I just feel that you are doing yourself and the global ham comunity a disservice by saying you will never post on QRZ again. This is, after all a discussion forum... a place where opinions can be bantered about. I certainly don't agree with everyone out there myself, but it doesn't stop me from reading the strings and occasionally postingon topics I find particularly interresting. Perhaps if you cannot handle some people's strong opinions about certain things, it's a good thing you don't post any more. I guess I just don't know what you are looking for in this posting. Are you looking for sympathy? Or are you waiting for someone to beg you back?

 

i would not let the dinks bother you. i thought it was worth a mention. hang in there......... allen n8oku

 

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"!!!


OZ - First Wizard

 

Just why I took my email address out of QRZ. I got tired of idiots emailing their response.

And some hade to wonder why non callsign ID on qrz were used so much.

 

What is "IM"?

K2WH

 

"IM" is instant message

 

Chris,

We have some people on here who don't understand that the old saying "It's better to keep silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt" applies even more so to the written word.  It's all QRM, just ignore it.  However, it would be a good idea to get a "throw-away" free email account for all your forum activities, so that your regular email address isn't clogged with garbage.

Mark

 

Hey Monty..Good on ya Mate!...Keep it coming cause its folks like you who are not afraid to say something...afterall If you don't know or understand something..Just ask! Its the fools who dont ask!

73's/CUL de Bill ZL3NB

 

Monty,
What you have hit upon gets to the heart of what many feel is a deterioration in the Amateur Radio hobby that has diminished the pride felt by many in the radio community. It is probably reflective of changes in the broader society that we see in varying degrees about the globe. It is a general reduction in politeness and probably a forgetting of our Mother's admonishions to speak good or don't speak.
I remember a teacher many years ago referencing the writings of Thomas Jefferson suggesting that we never argue but only ask questions as Ben Franklin did. Mr. Jefferson pointed out that we don't need to practice politeness when we have good feelings or agreement with someone. Politeness is the civil attitude that we ought to display when in disagreement.
The undeveloped mind always searches for blame when things seem to have gone wrong. Anything associated with the ignorant CB enthusiest or anything about him has become a convenient scapegoat for Hams.
I invite you to recind your withdrawal from posting. Your perspective is of value.          73,  Bill

 

Hi Chris,

You may at least take pleasure in the fact that your experience illustrates one of the wonderful aspects of ham radio that the internet can never duplicate nor supercede. In the face-to-face QSO mode, (as opposed to "mailbox" data modes) the hams involved are all using the same frequency at the same time.

Because of the ease with which this incredibly beautiful shared natural resource can be spoiled for all by a few dedicated, antisocial jammers, or by anyone who succumbs to the provocation to engage in a fight on the air, hams have evolved an elaborately courteous and respectful manner of communicating with one another; one that rivals the rituals in which knights engaged in order to avoid what might have been fatal provocations.

Hams have grown quite used to this level of courtesy, whereas it has become rather more rare in other aspects of everyday life and has become quite inverted in some subcultures, where insults have become normal and courtesy is considered a weakness.

Interestingly, the internet routinely provides both the concealment and camouflage that encourages cowards to pick fights with little concern for the consequences. As another responder has noted, the internet has a positive attraction for people, like the norse troll Loki and his ilk, who prefer to ambush the unwary traveler from their places of concealment in the darkness and ooze under bridges.

This feature of the internet medium has caused me to leave several purported "discussion" groups which, it turned out, were merely troll minefields (to mix metaphors and centuries).

Fortunately, ham venues on the net still attract a large proportion of people who are still in the "polite and considerate" mode, but of course there are a few who are little balls of spite looking for a fight. So few there are, though, that as couple of times when I have been flamed on the internet by "hams" I found it so uncharacteristic that I took the trouble to look them up in the call book and telephone them personally. I hoped that at least it might cause them to reflect that they were not so much concealed as they had thought, but indeed in every case it turned out that the calls used had been "appropriated" from actual hams. One fellow, whose call suffix was ABC, said that it happened to him often, ostensibly because impersonaters were such dullards that they could not think of a more original sequence of three letters.

So, Chris, when I run into nasty, provocative people on the internet who obviously want to pick a fight, it makes me feel all that much better about the ham community, where the spirit of courteous cooperation is still alive and well.

Doc, W6EW

 

After reading the posts so far I have to agree with about 99% of them; But the one commit that I read that never seems to happen often enough is; </span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">"It's better to keep silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt".[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
About 95% of my visits to this great site are to look up a call sign. If the latest topic at the top happens to catch my attention I might stop to read it, just like this one did. All too often if I do start to read a topic and some replies to it; almost without fail someone 'removes all doubt' to me with their snide or self-righteous or bigoted commits.
So Chris like a few posters before me said; use the delete key. Don’t forget that their opinions are only worth what it cost you to have them send it to you; NOTHING!!
Dave N8PU

 

i stand by your side (m0nty) all the way..keep up the good work chris,your the winner and idiots like n0ass are the losers..

jim,M3SDX