One Forum to Rule them All!

[DeepFreeze]

I don't mean to put words in Junkie's mouth, but the night he first discussed starting the forum with me over some wings and beverages his intention was to weed out some of the crap that people had to go through as paintball players on the net. (Holy run on sentence Batman!) He wanted to start a site that was unbiased and could be a one stop shop to provide information and communication to the paintball community. His intention, as I recall, was to not have a scenario, speedball, xball, or any other form based forum. There are other good sites out there, but through Junkie's, the administrators, and moderators efforts we have tried to create a forum that you can find information on practically any type of paintball on the planet. By virtue of the fact that many of the regulars are of an older age there is alot of sage advice and we rarely have maturaty issues. O.K. some people are too mature, but that just means they are old...lol
I think we should all feel lucky that a young to the sport player decided to put his time, effort, kitchen passes, and money into a site that we can all enjoy and call our own.

[Furby]

10-Shot is evaluating the impact on PBN from an investigation conducted and reported on by TB Wright on his site, World of TB . My people wrote a commentary on the whole mess on my site, which increased TB's exposure for his work.

As for Rich, I really respect what he does here, and I covet his cameras. However, I'm still better looking than he is, even though he's younger.

[Grendel]

Speaking as a player and avid scenario baller not as and Admin or Mod here on PBJ.

I think it is more important to have multiple venues for players and in this case particularly scenario players. No matter how "united" people percieve different communities in this age of globalization, there are still differences. This is never more evident in following thread posts and the associated diatribe that can be generated on differing forums. What I say verbally may not always comes across as I wanted it to when written in a thread. Much of communication is visual and colloquial one of the reasons I do most of my PB posting on only 2 forums [here and MCB]. I am a northeasterner who was transplanted into the south. I've adapted to the two styles of communication and feel most people understand my colloquialisms and I understand theirs. So many times there a miscommunications especially when there is cross posting of posts from various forums.

I like the idea of smaller online communities that cater to a specific style and attitude but where there is respect and inter as well as intra communications between forums. Though PBJ is a forum open for any form of PB most of the contributing membership is woodsball or scenario based with a little bit of the tourney scene. For me this is a good mix where for someone else PBN or a Gun based forum is more suited for them. I like choices of where to go and not go.

Would it be nice if there was an all inclusive site/forum that gave unbiased coverage and information about scenarios, the fields and promotors? Yes, and that is avaliable to be developed here if people are willling to share information. PBJ to my knowledge has never refused to list or allow members to post about any event and the staff actively tries to find information on events to add to content.

As Thumper stated earlier there is some good content on PBN but for me a player/forum poster; the size, cumbersomeness and attitudes/drama/flames on PBN do not lend any enjoyment to/for me and that is why I do not go there anymore. Just simple personal preference. If you like PBN by all means enjoy yourself.

Edit: As a note I am commenting on only the original post. I know little or nothing of the drama at PBN or with TB or 68 Caliber or anyone else and to be honest I'd just as soon not know. I reserve the right to choose where I want to go, to associate with who I want to associate with and enjoy this sport the best way I can.

[gfgjester]

I think it's probably safe to say, at the risk of rephrasing what Rich already said, we just don't put up with a lot of stupid stuff around here. Act with common sense and respect towards fellow forum users or be shown the door. After all, it is quite nice to be considered "Southern" as our manners and mannerisms reflect just that., Y'all...

[ace007]

I think web competition makes things better for paint ball. One of the things he seems to be talking about is having a "one stop shop" and one that dominates the landscape. First you have to have a majority of producers & players posting on a given site. But if they only post on one site, they risk given too much power / depending on one site too much. For players, it's not that big a deal, but for fields & producers, doing that could end up costing them big if something goes wrong, albeit probably temporarily. I can say from experience, that when our team experienced problems with another web site, Rich stepped up to the plate & gave us a new venue quickly.

And that's the way it is--these websites are directly dependent on the character of the person that owns it and the people who help run it. A good web site owner will not let his personal feelings determine how the web site is run & ditto for all of the help. Truthfully, since everybody doesn't see everything, like say, PM's that are sent, no one knows for sure how independent any given web site is run. And we certainly are not mind readers, so we hardly know if the people who run a given web site secretly hold a person in disgust in their mind, or even a whole team for that matter. Only those involved can ask & answer to themselves as to whether they truly treat everyone the same or if they play favorites from time to time. As for me, what gets done to anyone is what I believe can happen to me if I commit the same "crime". From what I've seen, I think PBJunkie does as good a job as anyone at treating people equally. On a tangent note, fields need to do the same-- treat people / teams equally.

It's a lot easier to talk about removing your own feelings than to do it, but I think Junkie does a real good job.

Now one issue or rather a question I have from the original post: He seems to be saying that there are more PB players in the N.E. than anywhere else. Is this true and why is it true?

I'll go one better: A good bit of the heart & soul of woodsball paintball is ex- or current military. I would think that since the S.E. has a higher rate of military service than any other part of the country, the S.E. would have a larger core group to draw from.

[10-shot kid]

For the general question of what my post was about it wasn't a bash of any sort on PBN. It was an overview of our community and how it acts. The replies in this thread show it to be a correct outlook, which amuses the hell out of me. Seems like the north eastern droping of the BS veil is early compared to elsewhere.

That's not to say you guys don't have an awesome community, wouldn't have posted/signed up/came back if I didn't think that. It's to say that, well it's in the main post.

"We like, believe it or don't, anamosity between groups yet we want to thinly veil this behind bs."

The whole ignoring of the main point of that post, which was "this is my outlook of how we are, discuss" totally proves that. Instead we'd rather bag on PBN. It's not just here, look at pbfreedom and to a far lesser extent MCB. I find it hilarious.

The SE v. thing was refering to the viper invitational the first time around which was similar, not exact, but similar to this recent PBN dealy-o (reported on furby's). A bunch of alpha players with mass influence got pissed and lit a fire.

I made a whole bunch of points in that post, perhaps this isn't the sort of place that enjoys discussing such things with a newcomer, that's fine. I havn't paid my dues here yet, I shouldn't have expected such.





Junkie: "The biggest issue I've seen in the SE for years (and it's getting worse) is when to schedule scenarios without stepping on the others feet, etc."

We've got that here a bit too. Things result in getting bloody. My thought is that this has always been the case though, now it's just simply labled. I've been playing since 99' and been all over (albeit not as much as others) and I've noticed this. I've hardly been to the SE though, not enough to say anything I havn't heard secound hand, so whatever.

Thumper: Been wearing a suit since 99

ace007: No worries man I didn't take anything the wrong way. I've just been wicked busy lately and with the community fractured as it is it's difficult to keep track. As I worried before, switching bookmarks and such is a total PITA. A lot of these guys don't know me, I should have written a secound post with them in mind than the other groups that know me. I do like to make jabs diffrently than others, in a more amusing and funny sorta way.

On the "do people really play in the NE the most?" question. For the core 15+ group SGMA report may or may not say so, but that's in the bought copy so I dunno the rules on that. Sorry. But from their publically released stats on all the groups majority is in the NE.

SW gets the best magazine coverage though :P

[gfgjester]

On the "do people really play in the NE the most?" question. For the core 15+ group SGMA report may or may not say so, but that's in the bought copy so I dunno the rules on that. Sorry. But from their publically released stats on all the groups majority is in the NE.

One thing the SE has that is not reflected in the SGMA report, is the number of "Outlaw" players down here. Even though our pro shop has a good deal of standard players who utilize organized fields, there are that many players who have never set foot on one. These players purchase paint and equipment, sometimes at a level that exceeds the organized group. The SGMA report looks great on paper and has served the industry well in promoting the sport. But for sheer accuracy in player numbers, I remain leary of those figures...

How do we capture those figures accurately? Figure out a way to get players to report their purchases and have the stores do the same. Impossible? Maybe so. I always thought that a unified system of reporting would work. Similar to a warranty registration card. Have a website to capture the info or a card to mail in. There is no simple answer...

[CANNIBAL]

Correct me if I am wrong but it does seem as though a maturity factor plays in the forum fueds. I have notice that myself. I have found alot less vinegar on JUNKIE. Never the less, when multible personalities, believes and creeds come together, there are always going to be contraversies, but the maturity facture is the key to positive relations. FOR INSTANCE...I disdain the phrase "speedballers are assholes". These statements make me cringe, because with that being said I can only imagine it develops bias opinions and shy people away plus develops a prejudice nature.

[havokrooster]

why do ppl have to complicate things? make a big deal about some "issue" whatever it may be, and then complain and start a buncha b.s. over it. we all know the real reason is cause thier old lady aint given them any and thier boss is an asshole. its just paintball. it aint complicated. ppl are gonna agree and disagree on the forums. thats just life. its just a game. its a recreational past time designed for us to enjoy, not make into controversies. thats why i like pbjunkie. theres not alot of wasted energy here. anybody tryin to bring all that animosity and garbage here, can just beat thier feet on down the road after we get a good laugh out of them.

[MrWizard]

Originally Posted by havokrooster

why do ppl have to complicate things? make a big deal about some "issue" whatever it may be, and then complain and start a buncha b.s. over it. we all know the real reason is cause thier old lady aint given them any and thier boss is an asshole. its just paintball. it aint complicated. ppl are gonna agree and disagree on the forums. thats just life. its just a game. its a recreational past time designed for us to enjoy, not make into controversies. thats why i like pbjunkie. theres not alot of wasted energy here. anybody tryin to bring all that animosity and garbage here, can just beat thier feet on down the road after we get a good laugh out of them.

Amen brother!. Once the 'rant' itself becomes the topic I am outta that thread. Same for the blogs that propel themselves with 'politics'...