Is this a private party or can anyone join in?

[paulsewin]

Who is this forum for?

It was recommended to me recently by one of your contributors and it has been informative.
There seems to be lots of good advice, good ideas and practical help from a wide range of anglers with lots of different experiences and opinions.

But many of the threads end up being hijacked by a load of “in” jokes, discussions about particular pieces of water and a whole load of back slapping.

Please believe me, reading some of this stuff is like watching a soap opera in a foreign language with a blindfold on if, like me, you don’t know the beats or people involved.

Unless there is a prize I don’t know about, for the most posts made in a month/year, couldn’t the congratulations about various threads be done using PMs. Or you could set up a separate thread called “I think you’re great; I agree; Me too; I want to have your babies”

If this is a private club, fine, I’ll leave you to enjoy it.

[scotty]

paul i have been on here a while now and i do not know anyone personaly other than by screen name, but anyone is welcome and is made to feel welcome on this site, as for the certain beats and back slapping you suggest this is mearly because the people involved with these beats are also members of this site.

so welcome aboard paul.

scotty. ;D

[ibrox]

Well said Paul, your absolutely right, there seems to be a cliche and if you don't conform to their way of thinking they'll come down on you. Just like they have with other forum members. I could name the cliche but I won't, you'll find out soon enough.
They can disagree all they want, I've been on the forum long enough to know.

If the cliche want to deny this, feel free I couldn't give a toss. This is my last post .

I will continue to log in as there are "some" informative posts.

Mike

[hornet]

Hear, hear Mike.

Paul,
You take your chance would be my advice and i could not agree with you more on your assessment of this so called friendly forum.

Hopefully someone will start another forum for all who don't want to be subjected to petty crap when asking a question or starting particular threads and leave the rest to their as you call it private party.

[pertempledog]

I am both a new member to this site and indeed new to any such forum. I was not quite sure what to expect when a good fishing friend suggested I look in. Having both watched and participated to some extent my own view is that it is comparable to meeting a large bunch of fishing folk in a pub after some fishy event (a competition or an opening day for instance). You may know a few, some as friends and some as acquaintances, you may have heard of some, and most may be complete strangers. A chat starts and different views and opinions (for us anglers have plenty of both - thinking them up fills many otherwise quiet hours) are offered. You agree with some and not others. Yes some people have a shared experience that you are not familiar with so you can either note it and ignore it, or if you want to, ask about it - generally fishy folk are only too happy to let you into their clique. I wouldn't worry too much. Just join in to the chat where you want to, listen and argue/agree where you like and tune out when you prefer. It's no big deal.

P.A.T.

[splash]

pertempledog said:

I am both a new member to this site and indeed new to any such forum. I was not quite sure what to expect when a good fishing friend suggested I look in. Having both watched and participated to some extent my own view is that it is comparable to meeting a large bunch of fishing folk in a pub after some fishy event (a competition or an opening day for instance). You may know a few, some as friends and some as acquaintances, you may have heard of some, and most may be complete strangers. A chat starts and different views and opinions (for us anglers have plenty of both - thinking them up fills many otherwise quiet hours) are offered. You agree with some and not others. Yes some people have a shared experience that you are not familiar with so you can either note it and ignore it, or if you want to, ask about it - generally fishy folk are only too happy to let you into their clique. I wouldn't worry too much. Just join in to the chat where you want to, listen and argue/agree where you like and tune out when you prefer. It's no big deal.

P.A.T.

I agree with P.A.T You can use the forum to have a bit of banter with friends, engage with like minded anglers who you would otherwise never have met, or simply use the threads to learn something new. We're all taking this a bit too seriously if petty jealousies start to prevail. I got into salmon fishing and left competition trout fishing precisely because of this sort of thing, so for goodness sakes lets not throw our toys out the pram when someone says something that we disagree with or don't understand. For Fecks sake lighten up and lets continue to keep the forum as somewhere the salmon fishing community can interact, discuss, debate and have a bit of fun doing it

Splash

[jock]

pertempledog said:

Just join in to the chat where you want to, listen and argue/agree where you like and tune out when you prefer. It's no big deal.

P.A.T.

Totally agree and very well put.

If you want a forum to supply only what you want and in a style you like then you are not going to get it, not even if you create your own.

Some of the members and their opinions come across as not being my cup of tea...so what.

There have been times recently when I have thought about leaving and just "guesting "and had things continued without action on what I considered to be an abuse of the forum I would have.

In my opinion this is as good a forum as you are going to get and I'll try hard to keep it that way.

I think I know one other member of this forum, the rest I don't think I've met, but I've had much pleasure from their participation, knowledge and banter.

This is a public forum and if I find someone has given me help in public I'm going to acknowledge in public and not by pm

Enjoy for what it is.

Jock

[robmason]

Very well put Springer, and I totally agree. Everyone is welcome here, and in fact some relative newcomers have made a very good impression. It is inevitable though that as the forum grows it will be more confrontational. That's life.

[wilbert]

What we have on here is a good cross section of the salmon fishing world. Some are know it alls, some are talkers, some are listeners some come from humble backgrounds and some from privileged ones and everyones adds a little or a lot to the forum. I have met one member through the forum and he went out of his way to sort out a days fishing for me so a big thanks to him (he knows who he is) and I have known 1 or 2 members personally for a few years. I have also had some good communication through Pm's and have taken part in the first fly swap which was a totally new experience for me. I have not used the line pool yet but I intent to where else can you get access to all these different makes of lines as no tackle shop would stock such a wide range.

Yes some of the posts can seem a little meaningless but I would say these only make up a small % of the total posts.

Overall this forum does more good than it does harm and its a great way of passing a few hours away per week when I should be working.

Keep the forum as it is and if need be bite your tongue and count to 10 before replying to a post.

[hornet]

Springer,

I have no issue with yourself infact i have probably read all your posts and have never passed any negative comments, so get off my case.

I have been flirting in and out as I'm a learner who has the bug big time. As you put it, i did storm off and to be honest i cringe at that outburst but I can't stand petty crap no matter where i see it. Maybe i will take Wilbert's advice and let any confrontation go and switch off.

I for one know everyone is entitled to their opinion and should ask why, what and when but i thought we joined to learn, get tips and information about Salmon fishing or have i got this completely wrong.

I will bend over backwards to help someone but i have zero tolerance for wasters. I do not cause trouble in my walk of life i prevent and suppress it.

A/A keep the faith.

Hornet

[Sloggi]

paulsewin said:

Who is this forum for?

Hi Paulsewin,

I've been using and contributing to this Forum for a short while. I use it to get info on various fishy topics from the vast experience available (and kindly offered). For example, the line pool is very useful and, for me, the fly-tying section helps me a lot. I contribute where I can and hopefully that occasionally makes sense

In terms of a clique being contained within the forum, I can only say that I don't know of it. I think some of the members have been or are involved in other forums so relationships have been formed. The forum has grown incredibly quickly and recently there was some growing pains for us all to adjust to (myself included). However, that appears to have settled down. I guess as the membership grows we will have times like this which we will all deal with as individuals.

It is my hope that AA and Hornet continue on the forum.

I'm presuming your speciality/interest is sea-trout? I look forward to you sharing views on this as there is little info here as I guess this forum does "what it says on the tin" and there are other sea trout forums. However, I know when I'm out fishing for salmon, I have one eye on picking up a sea trout and, like most here, I fish on into the darkness for sea trout after a day's salmon fishing on a beat.

As an aside, if anyone wishes to start a thread entitled "Sloggi is Great", please do

[elwyman]

Paul - just bear in mind that this is an internet forum, and not the real world!

I don't think I can remember a single argument on this forum until about 3 months ago, when membership started to rocket. We've had our moments since Xmas, but things will settle down.

This forum is perhaps slightly different to other forums - a lot of the Scottish lads know each other and fish the same water, so they are bound to start in depth discussions about things of common interest.

Same as would happen down the pub!

[greenalert]

paulsewin said:

Who is this forum for?

It was recommended to me recently by one of your contributors and it has been informative.
There seems to be lots of good advice, good ideas and practical help from a wide range of anglers with lots of different experiences and opinions.

But many of the threads end up being hijacked by a load of “in” jokes, discussions about particular pieces of water and a whole load of back slapping.

Please believe me, reading some of this stuff is like watching a soap opera in a foreign language with a blindfold on if, like me, you don’t know the beats or people involved.

Unless there is a prize I don’t know about, for the most posts made in a month/year, couldn’t the congratulations about various threads be done using PMs. Or you could set up a separate thread called “I think you’re great; I agree; Me too; I want to have your babies”

If this is a private club, fine, I’ll leave you to enjoy it.

Hi Paul

I think you are way off the mark here

Of course there are people who know each other on here & will discuss particular bits of water which may be new to the poster

I am sure nobody would object if you yourself asked a question about a bit of water near to you, which you are fishing for the first time, of which nobody up in Scotland or Alaska even, would have a clue where it is

I certainly wouldn’t object

In fact it would be interesting reading as I or others may well be going there in the future or after reading the discussion want to go there in the future

I would suggest that if the subject is of no interest to you, don’t read it, simple as that

As for cliques, I for one have found no evidence to quantify your comment, as I have asked many questions on here and have had many responses from all parts of the forum, including many diverse answers from those members I think you may perceive are part of a “clique”

Muck in, ask, learn, contribute & enjoy

Cheers

Graeme

[hornet]

Sloggi,

I will start a thread of Sloggi's flies are superb ;D. I will be testing them again on Tuesday.

BTW it was nice to meet you.

Cheers,

hornet

[rennie]

Wotcha Paul,stick to it dude there is some good stuff in here,just ignore the wind up merchants they have nowt worth while to say anyway whereas you probably do,sometimes its not what I know or you know or so and so knows its what we know collectively thats the way foreword, the dry fly merchants are only as good as their last rise,let them waste their energy swimming the stream. Pedro.

[Sloggi]

hornet said:

Sloggi,

I will start a thread of Sloggi's flies are superb ;D. I will be testing them again on Tuesday.

BTW it was nice to meet you.

Cheers,

hornet

Cheers Hornet

[speycaster]

hang on in there boys its a great forum there is bound to be fall outs , i know Ive had mine ,remember one thing ,its free ,free advice ,free help , everything is free , take the good advice you are offered give some thing back and ignore the buggers you dont agree with, there are fall outs every day in real life , this is not a real life situation you can if you wish ignore certain people dont throw it away mike your advice is very good just take the advice you offered me a while back [IGNORE THE CRETINS ] billy p

[bandon]

sounds just like my house when it,a full ;D ;D
only she with the eyes in thee back of her head has the last say

[akflyrod]

i had to read paulsewins post twice and what i see is, as per paul , a thread gets started then hijacked on some personal chat, why not stick to the original thread or just start a new one? in my time here i have seen some of the longer members try to belittle otheres because of the way there grammer is, and even read of older folk being made fun of because they had a barber on and fished a pool slower than a young guy so for those of you that think your shit dont stink think again, there is a few things i ignore, i can take as well as give, forums have been around for many years, i have been a member of the steelhead site since 95 there are a-holes no matter were you go, that think that everything they say is rite and will never be wrong and otheres that offer good sound advise i have met a lot of really good guys and just 1 or 2 a- holes so stick in there,

[macd]

Great thread Paulsewin.