I can't help but notice that most of the people posting in this thread haven't been around long enough to notice this has ALWAYS been how AA was. Before me, there was Vince and Doc Hollywood. There's always been people on here to try to keep the stupid in check because without it, the site turns into ASF which is the largest repository of useless info on the internet. If that's the kind of site you want, then go to ASF. I know this country is being raised to treat everybody like snowflakes, but that doesn't fly here and god willing never will. If you don't want to see any negativity, then leave. Negativity is needed at times. Without someone to say "that sucks" products will never get improved. Without someone to say "that can't work" people waste time and money trying to build something that can't be done.
Sometimes a dumb idea is a dumb idea and the person needs to be told so. If I came on here and said I was trying to build a box and don't have a hammer and wanted to know if I could use my ICS M16 as a hammer, I would hope somebody would tell me that's a dumb idea and I'll probably break the gun.
In regards to the Google comments.... They have a time and place. Yes the forum is here to provide information. However, it's not here to prevent you from having to do ANY work yourself. If I can find an answer to your question in your products manual or in under 10 seconds of searching on Google, you're just fucking lazy and the Google response is 100% deserved. I'm not going to fuel your laziness and I would prefer nobody else does either. Getting cranky in the summer has nothing to do with the heat. It has to do with the influx of children who now have nothing better to do than post every thought that crosses their mind on these forums. It happens every year and for some people after 10 years of dealing with it, they are running out of patience. Consider this scenario:
Post 1: My gun doesn't fire! HELP ME! (5 minutes later) BUMP! ANYONE!
Post 2: My gun doesn't fire! I pulled the trigger and nothing happens. I made sure the battery is charged and checked the fuse.
Poster 1 doesn't appear to have made any attempt to help himself nor does he really even explain what's happening. God helps those who help themselves and so does this forum. Forums are here to answer questions and that's why we save old posts. I guarantee you poster 1 isn't the first person to have that question. There's a reason we have stickies and a search function. Use them.
Poster 2 on the other hand has clearly made some attempt to troubleshoot the issue himself, he just doesn't have the experience to find the issue himself. Poster 2 will get my help, poster 1 will not.
Children (meaning anyone under 18), I'll post this in the hope you read it but I know from experience most of you won't or will and ignore it completely:
90% of the children on this forum come on with the attitude that they are entitled to be on here and know every bit as much as the adults, probably more. It's not the age in and of itself that annoys us older players, it's that attitude.
1. You are not entitled to be here. This applies to adults to but I rarely see this attitude among adults. This is a private forum, we (meaning the staff) aren't required to let anybody on. If we wanted to, we have every legal right to ban every single minor on here forever just because we want to. We don't though, we let you stay as long you behave yourself which is exactly the same way we treat adults. Please consider that the next time you want to lament about how you are treated.
2. You do not know as much as the adults on here (in general). People such as myself, Vince, Airsofter1, nil8r, Ganef, and others have been playing organized (meaning not in a back yard or park behind Walgreens) airsoft since our newer members were in diapers. With experience comes wisdom (generally) and that's what we are talking about. Being a child does not necessarily make you stupid. It does make you inexperienced and unwise however. That is nothing to be ashamed of however. We were all that way at one point. The issue is how you handle it. You can either A: Deny anything that could be an attempt to make you sound like you might not know what you are talking about or B: Realize some of us speak with the words of people who have done what you are asking about many times. The problem is most kids these days opt for option A.
3. Your age makes you liability. Red_devil if you were to get up in my face and start pushing me around at a game, I could push you right back. If you were to draw a knife on me and charge at me, I could legally shoot you in self defense without hesitation. Bambi, if you were to get in my face, the first thing crossing my mind would be "I wonder what kind of lawyers his parents can afford". I've run into several kids at Vanguard that it took all my self control not to put my size 13 shoe in their ass. The only thing holding me back is fear of their parents lawyers. Maybe your parents are that way, maybe they aren't.
However, I don't know and I'm not willing to take that risk. You might be a perfectly cool kid, I don't know. But playing with you is a liability on so many levels and myself and others just don't want to take that risk. I know that sucks for you, but that's life. It's no different than driving a car. I know I would have been happy to drive years before the law will let me. But that's the law and unfortunately we are bound by it in most cases. Legally, you can't even buy your own airsoft gun. For many people, they feel because of that you have no reason to be participating in these forums. As somebody mentioned above, you'll get the same attitude on car forums. You are discussing an item that (in most circumstances) you have to be 18 to buy one. Therefore, why would we want 13 year olds on the forums? Saying you are 13 (or whatever your age is) is not an insult, it's a simple fact.
4. Some people simply aren't comfortable around kids. I'll include myself in that category. I'm 28, I don't have kids of my own and I'm uncomfortable around others kids. I'm not crazy about dogs either. Not wanting to hang out with kids isn't an insult to the kids, I'm simply not comfortable around them. If you have a dog, I'd rather not hang out at your place. It's that simple. Can you under 18 players say you are comfortable hanging out with a bunch of senior citizens? It's the same general idea. Red_devil, you've got kids so clearly this isn't an issue for you. However, you need to understand this as much as the children do. Especially with your comment "When my kids get on this forum people better watch out". They are going to get treated just like every other kid on here and if you want to make an issue out of it, I've got no problem kicking you to the curb. Not wanting to play with your kids isn't somehow an insult to you or your kids. It's simply uncomfortable and a liability.
5. Going around telling everybody how awesome you are proves the exact opposite. If you are really that cool, we'll be able to tell, we don't need you to tell us. If you dig around through old posts, you'll find people that started off as minors, got shit just like all the other kids, but eventually turned into respected members of the community. That wasn't a matter of the community changing, it was a matter of them changing. Respect is earned not demanded. If you are new on here, regardless of age, you have to prove yourself to the community.
6. You have the ability to reply to every thread, that doesn't mean you should. Making posts like "that gun is beast" or "I had one of those" is useless and annoying if you have nothing else to contribute. Silence is golden. The community doesn't want to hear every thought crossing your head. If you have actual factual information to add or an actual answer to a question, great. But generally we don't really care what you find cool. As mentioned in my last rant, this is a forum not a chat room.
7. Nobody likes whiners.
Lastly, remember this. You are in our house. You play by our rules. If we don't like you, we kick you out. It's that simple. You are guests here, if you don't like the conditions, we aren't making you stay. If you think you can run a better forum, go ahead and make your own. I known Team Phantom has one, and more power to them. But if you don't have "Moderator" or "Administrator" under your name, you don't get to tell people what they can and cannot post.
