User Experiences

[Little Lou]

I disagree. The main reason lurkers don’t post on a forum is usually because they don’t think they have anything to contribute, and the changes we’re proposing would make them feel even less welcome.

I’m one example. I haven’t posted for months, and only did so this morning because I actually knew a site which discussed homemade remedies against biological warfare and thought I had something worth sharing. Mostly I don’t.

At least, not the way the site is running at the moment. When I first joined it was great, and nobody made me feel a fool for being a beginner. BP and NR were particularly helpful, and NR even took the time to write me detailed e-mails to help me buy my first crossbow. I knew I was way behind most of you, but it didn’t bother me as long as there were little areas where I could at least offer something back.

These days there aren’t. Almost every thread seems to be on the advanced stuff – firearms or radios or specialized weaponry or super-fit bushcraft or the latest solar technology for taking an entire house off-grid. That’s no-one’s fault – when only the most experienced are posting, then you’re hardly going to be discussing the basics – but it is off-putting to those who are still starting out. We’ve got into a vicious cycle where the threads are specialized because newbies don’t post, and newbies don’t post because the threads are specialized.

To break the cycle, I think we need to make it a more welcoming place to be, and there are two areas where we could really make a difference.

Survivalist vs Prepper

The current postings seem mainly slanted to the survivalist end of things, but not everyone is that kind of prepper. I’d really like to see a few on the more mundane, everyday things, which could appeal even to those who are prepping for major floods or power cuts rather than TEOTWAWKI. I’d start a few threads myself, but am nervous at the prospect of being laughed at or just ignored.

I also think there is real value to even some of the apparently frivolous stuff – eg little mechanical ways of saving time post SHTF, ways to make food post SHTF that actually taste good, ways to keep your house clean to keep up morale. They may seem like trivial luxuries, but there is nothing macho in being uncomfortable when you don’t need to be. We all know that time and mental health will be even more important post-SHTF, and it would be good to discuss some of these things too.

Discouragement

Much of what we post here is highly discouraging to a big chunk of the potential membership. Not everyone is young and fit. Not everyone lives in the country. Not everyone has the spare money to prep as much as they’d like. Not everyone has the clean record they’ll need for even a shotgun licence. Not everyone even has a supportive partner. Yes, we all have our own ideas of the ideal survival plan, but I’ve seen a newbie told bluntly ‘they’ve got no chance’ because they live in London with a young child. One member even had a sig line effectively saying that everyone in the Home Counties was doomed. I think that was actually NR and am sure he was joking – but it isn’t going to encourage people to post, is it?

I also disagree with the philosophy behind it. In a way, both prepping and survivalism are about a ‘back to basics’, minimalist approach, and we all like those games of ‘you have only a penknife and a piece of string, how will you survive in this situation?’ But there are harder, tougher games than that, and a very different kind of minimalism. What if the game was – ‘You’re in your fifties with chronic asthma, you live in an inner city flat with drug dealers across the road, you’re out of work and can’t afford much extra food or gear. Now – how will you survive?’ There are people facing exactly that kind of situation, but history tells us that time and again that some actually survive it. There are other skills than bushcraft, and some are equally valuable. That’s prepping too, and the kind that really deserves respect.

Not everyone does, and I totally sympathize with NR’s long post about wasting time helping those who are only ‘playing at’ prepping – but I still don’t think we should try to drive them away. It’s quite true that the sort of person who’s stashed a few tins of baked beans and a nine-pack of toilet roll isn’t a prepper – but he’s someone who’s taken the first step to becoming one. If we tell him ‘You need 500 times that, mate, and your batteries won’t last so you need to convert your house to solar and get a wind turbine, and when are you getting your ham licence and have you got your FAC yet?’ then he’s going to tiptoe quietly away, and the next time he’s a bit short on the week’s supplies he’ll eat his stash of baked beans. That’s a prepper lost.

Sometimes we can give the impression that this is a good thing – that there’s all the more for us. But I disagree. Apart from general decency, every single prepper in my area is one less person for me to feed, one less person for me to fight away from my own supplies, and also one more potential ally. We can’t have too many preppers.

Of all kinds. SD has always said that all are welcome here, and I’m sure that’s still true. What I think we need to do is make sure that’s coming across – and maybe that means being a little kinder and more encouraging to those who are less advanced.

But it also means the rest of us need to pull our weight more. If things have got slanted one way, it’s the fault of people like me for not contributing more in other directions. It’s hardly fair to leave all the posting to a loyal handful of members, and then complain that it all feels the same.

So I’ll try. I’m horrendously busy at the moment and may not post much until May, but I’ll try, and hope others will do the same. Because I love this site, I admire the people who post on it, and it would be tragic to see it gradually shrivel and die.

Maybe at least I’ll get credit for writing the longest and dullest post so far this year…