Saturday, April 6, 2019

An Open Letter To Concerned American And WRSA


















Western Rifle Shooters Association site has a simple comments policy:
Anything Goes.
Period.
Don't like it? Lump it.

That can be rather abrasive, to both host and hosted, but Concerned American has maintained it despite brobdingnagian reasons to swing a ban hammer, and for consistent altruism and principled reasons. But he hints none too subtly that things are coming to a close:
"Before WRSA turns into just another abandoned website, what else needs to be discussed?
Open thread.
And no, not tomorrow.
But sooner rather than later."
Dear CA,
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you’re nowhere close to done, any more than the Patent Office needed to be closed in 1875 because “everything has already been invented.”

You have an unavoidable (within the constraints of posting at liberty) set of OCD trolls who just can’t help themselves and won’t take their meds, but in recent go arounds, I counted about a dozen and a half folks calling the Usual Suspects out for their cut-and-paste shitposting and general underbridge-dwelling behaviors. So even trolls can’t stop the signal, Mal.

As to what’s left to cover, we both know the woke fraction is outnumbered 20:1 by the new-to-the-game-yesterday fraction, and probably always will be.

One such info-bleg gem was a thread or two down:

My wife and I have a 14 yo, 1 college grad, and in-laws at home and what I wish WRSA provided was more professional / expert advice for securing our home and being able to hold out until the zombie wave passes. How much food, water, alternate water options, guns, ammo, erecting (not the blue pill) a better home defense, etc… I hope WRSA will start a regular series on this, because there are millions of us that need this practical and critical information as we cannot “bug out” anywhere due to the family makeup.
Link

Norm Abram and Bob Vila by way of James Wesley ,Rawles?
You could go for days to weeks on that topic alone.
Rural version, suburban, and yes, even urban, for those too stuck to budge.
Start from the basement retreat or saferoom, work upward and outward room by room, to outer walls and doors, planters, landscaping, fenceline, and so on. In bite-sized chunks.

And have done before, and will need to do again. Like Walt Disney’s classics release schedule, your audience is new every several years, and as long as you (we) have been doing this, you’re probably on your second or third generation, overall.

You are John Connor at the end of T3, and your site is the CB.

What you do with it is your business, but beyond the OCD trolls, you still have quite the audience, the vast majority of whom just lurk here and observe. There are maybe 50-100 commenters out of 7K hits/day. And they come there because you’re not pimping anything for personal gain, and have no axe to grind except liberty and common sense. That’s incredibly rare on the net.

And you have a Who’s Who of solid content producers “in the trade” with rock-solid bona fides who read and post in Comments, and have had for some time.

I would argue that if you have the inclination and time, the candle there still has a lot of inches left on it.

Don’t let the turkeys get you down.

I say this in full (and grateful) acknowledgment of the symbiotic draw of readers here from there, and there from here, over the years.

23 comments:

15Fixer said...

Well said.... we all need encouragement from time to time. Even Jesus......

Nori said...

Felt like a shadow passed over when I read CA's comment this morning. Rarely comment,but read WRSA every day. Great site,never boring. Like Raconteur Report,without the musical interludes.

Superb open letter. Hope CA takes it to heart.

Trolls gotta troll,like pigs gotta squeal. Here's hoping some bright techie on this side of the divide is working on a killer anti-troll virus that melts their hard drive.

Anonymous said...

I'd prefer it if there was a way to melt the trolls themselves, but I guess we can't have everything.
But we CAN have nice things of which this site and WRSA are two. I rarely comment over there but if some encouragement Will keep CA in the game, I'll gladly contribute. Been eagerly awaiting July as an opportunity the thank folks in person.
Boat Guy

bobbookworm said...

Ditto what Nori said. Lot of good info and thought provoking...I am here and there every day. Don't comment much 'cause I'd have to take out my dentures to get my foot in...anyway, don't know that I'm that flexible anymore.

The Gray Man said...

Blogging it tough to find time for. I have my own humble blog at about 100 hits per day if I don’t do anything at all with it, about 250 per day if I post something. With work and home life, my posting has become rare, and my commenting on other blogs (like this one and WRSA) has become rare as well. I can’t imagine keeping up with one like WRSA.

But it’s needed.

Anonymous said...

I do hope his departure isn't coerced in some way.

Aesop said...

We're all of us multi-tasking (if we're smart), and I suspect he's getting tired of the time-suck factor.
At any rate, I think this is personal choices, not anything enforced.
But he hasn't said, either way.

Retired cop said...

I certainly hope that CA will heed all of the folks who are offering encouragement. I am one of those who read his blog daily and comment seldom. Thank you, Aesop for your words to him. There were well spoken.

And btw, I'm here, reading your blog daily also and I place your blog in the same category as WRSA....exceptional information and clear interpretation. I also hope you do not succumb to the same factoids whom I see troll here also.

Felix Bellator said...

Indeed, I enjoy WRSA as well, in spite of the occasional blackpill. There are a few commenters that are unrepentant a$$hole$, and they do seem to lower the signal to noise ratio. A muting system on comments like Gab has would be a God send for that. Also the ability to choose a "mute set" based on other commenters to make it easier for a user to filter out "noise" based on other commenters filter sets so you can quickly match up with commenters you think are good.

Anyway, I hope WRSA does not close shop. Too many good blogs have fallen by the way. Maybe he could pick up some trusted guest posters, kind of like Instapundit did, to help lighten the load.

Jim Scrummy said...

I had to stop rolling by WRSA about a year ago, too much gloom and doom for me at the time. Yes, I know things suck, and I also know CA is educating and informing, but it was getting to me in a bad way. So, I only stop by there every so often, just to get the allotted black pills for the week. He does post great resources, which is a great service. I know he has shut down comments from time to time, maybe he needs to shutdown the comments permanently? Just spitballin'. I hope he doesn't go dark, but, it is his decision. To bad idjits (really a-holes) never learned any manners in life. I view comment sections in blegs as someone else's house, treat them with respect. The blogger puts a lot of time and effort into their work, treat them with respect. I try not to get to stupid (though I do get cynical and sarcastic, ain't perfect) in my commenting. But I am thankful for people like CA and you AESOP (and a few other bloggers that I read) for the good work that you all do.

ADS said...

I can't stand the comments there, never read 'em. In my humble opinion he should whitelist quality commentors like yourself, DTG, Mosby, etc and let the spergs sperg-rage into the uncaring dark. Free speech be damned - free speech is unworkable anywhere you can't whip someone who crosses the line.

MMinWA said...

I enjoy the trolling comments and the inevitable slapdowns. Actually happens just about everywhere, so what. If CA can handle the time his great site takes, then God bless him.

Same with this site and a couple others. Hell just last week the sow in kneepad idea of yours has worked great as those damn ones I was using always slip down my leg. I kneel quite a bit at times in my work and had never thought of that.

I read with great interest your medical posts and have quite a stack of references you've linked, never know I guess. I've gone down your lists and have tried to fill in a whole lot of blanks. So thank you for taking the time, it's mucho appreciated.

JC said...

I read that post on WRSA and my heart just sank.

I have a series of sites that I drop into everyday - Every other day. Here there, a few others. The Woodpile every Tuesday.

I'm not much of a commenter and don't have enough time left to waste it fighting trolls.


Hopefully CA takes your words to heart and carries on.

Scruff said...

My sentiments match most of the others commenting, I read WRSA and this blog to get real life news, information, learning tools. There are others as well, but you two are my top of the list preferred reading.

Anonymous said...

I sincerely believe that a large percentage of the trolls are operatives. Everyone knows the stormfronters were heavily infiltrated by the feds. As for couple of others, I think their mission is to disrupt any organizing that could occur within the blog itself. It is interesting that they only attack people that are "getting traction" ideas wise and have the credibility to be leaders. You and Bracken for example. I occasionally flame them just to wave the flag, but frankly I'm too fucking old to be playing the flame game with those juvenile cretins. Me, I would ban them, they've been given multiple chances to submit their "content" and everyday it's the same old shit from the same people. Seeing as it's the same shit that's already been said, they've had their free speech. Now it just repetitious garbage. I also believe they want to discredit the blog and run off prospective readers with their nonsense.

A shame really, as we get closer to party time WRSA could be a invaluable resource. Topics like "hardening your position", target selection (where to find local bad guys) infrastructure destabilization, critical components and how to disrupt, etc etc. Vs the "it's the jooooo bankers" redundant bullshit. Free speech is all well n good, but during times of war I don't think allowing "voices" to continuously undermine your blog, it's purpose , or it's content, is productive unless the goal is to undermine the true resistance.

TT

Anonymous said...

As these times descend into (planned) chaos, sites like yours and WRSA are an invaluable resource for folks with the intellect (aka critical thinking skills) and desire to gain as much information and various view points as possible. Not getting it from the main stream media or other 'broad cast' sources so what's left? The wet pant set will cry and troll's will troll: the way of the world but the really serious folks are out there in droves and seeking valid input: your site, WRSA and a few others offer on a daily basis the necessary view points to inform, educate and stir intellect: losing these sites would be a huge blow for a vast population ........ may God bless you, CA at WRSA and others for the time, effort and resources you put into your blogs.
Worker

Karl said...

Proud daily WRSA lurker.

Anonymous said...

I also visit WRSA and RR daily.
CA, your efforts are not lost. Keep up the good work. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
Aesop, the same. RR presents information that would otherwise be obscured in the noise.
For those who live in the Great pacific Northwest (and anybody else)I suggest Northwest Firearms.
The trolls can not be allowed to poison the medium. They would still exist even if banned. Their comments reveal their toxic souls for all to see and reject. So Fuck them.
With the heritage media having dysvolved into the Proggies' agitprop distributor, blogs like WRSA and RR are beacons in the darkness.
Better to fall in Freiheitkampf than survive to see defeat. Kapitulieren? Nein!
No step on snek.
_revjen45

Bear Claw Chris Lapp said...

To all of you doing what you do we need you until its no unavailable due to other circumstances. Thank you for what you do. I read multiple blogs per day because I know one cannot provide all we need and variety is the spice of life, knowledge is power.

Anonymous said...

To all those here suggesting a blog ban certain commenters because they're puerile pantywastes, don't be so thin skinned.
If you can't stomach listening to offensive speech, or get trapped by a troll, you don't have what it takes to survive the coming festivities.

ambiguousfrog said...

WRSA has been responsible for keeping me red-pilled. It's not that I can't stomach their speech or their trolling, I thought we're adults and I find it not necessary as it's ruining the atmosphere. The comments are no longer constructive but combative. For close to 10 years it's been a daily read of mine. CA has tamped down on the nonsense before and I'm sure he was reluctant to opening the comments up again because it descends into anarchy or a pissing contest. We're not all ex-military, some of us are heads of household's and looking for a way forward in this mess. It's a great resource and I hope it continues to be. And it let's me know there are others that see the same things going on and that we're not alone. It'll be sorely missed by me.

Anonymous said...

I've been on the internet since, well, since forever. I started out on 4,800 dial up and data costs meant that an email whining about data costs set me back just under a dollar.

In that time I've seen many forums and sites get destroyed by comments. Maybe they were trolls, maybe just rude individuals? Does it matter? The end result is the same. Good contributors disappear and the site becomes irrelevant.

Very little tolerance should be shown to any contributor that isn't toeing the line. "muh free speech" is a trap. It doesn't mean anyone can say anything anywhere without consequences. Let the trolls create their own blog instead of polluting other people's work.

Anonymous said...

I agree 100%...