Suggestion / Request For Forum Participation

Good morning all,

Would like to see the Forum have a feature that requires new members obliged to complete a basic info sketch of themselves / their backgrounds / their basic location / their skills and interests in survival / preparedness.

My suggestion / request does not involve intruding on one's privacy and only the basics such as:

one's area; eg "Outback Australia", "coastal Australia", "urban metro area California", "cold weather mountain environment Nepal".

One's basic bio info, eg "US citizen retired from working in fashion industry, have university degree in textiles, know how to process animal skins into clothing, interested in emergency evacuations, have taken many Red Cross life saving courses.

A format could perhaps be even better rather than a narrative.

If, for example, someone writes active duty military service, it means little. If one writes was in Army and learned how to make both snow caves and wine caves, it allows for focus when discussing the best wines to stock for SHTF.

The study of subjects tells little without adding to the subject matter. For example, I've studied and used celestial navigation. Without elaborating on specifics, the subject matter statement says little other than there might be a cache of Kodak lens paper somewhere around here which I can't find.

Thank you in advance for reading this.

 

That is similar to what mainstream platform such as Quora.com has.

Although providing your credential is welcome addition I don't see it as a necessity. Looking at what people here had posted I've already managed to deduce field of expertise, experience, and other possible credential or training, including whatever BS that may came out of it. Such deduction is not difficult because in every field of expertise there are always details that only those who were trained or have working experience in the subject matter would know about.

 

Kodak is overrated

 

It doesn't need for someone for stating their credential to get such info. IF someone were doing data mining they will use more technical means (analytical, traffic, timing, etc) which will result in far more accurate info (down to 100m radius) regardless of whatever IP public the poster use). Luckily pulling data mining in any survivalist / prepper forum just doesn't make much (if any) business sense. Retaining meta-data ain't cheap to the point I no longer doing it.

 

As a new person to this forum I agree, being new does not mean I am "new" to being prepared.

Growing up at the border of PA/NY on the top of a mountain, with no electricity, no running water and no indoor plumbing in a refurbished barn,( before it was the popular thing to do) was to say the least "not in style". I did not appreciate then the value of chores such as chopping wood, hand washing clothes and drying them in the sun, hunting and fishing, forging for greens (mostly dandelions); carrying water in the dead of winter. Clearing land, planting two and three different gardens, raising chickens, gathering eggs was my way of living. Collecting nuts and berries and fruit from June to October was a fact of life.

After a few years in the military and living these past forty plus years in the city, I wish I had appreciated growing up with everything, thinking I had nothing and now realizing my loss makes me homesick. However, those skills and knowledge are once again at the forefront of my life.

Recently, while researching edible wild plants to put in my small yard, I realized how many were on that old farm and didn't cost a dime to purchase. Wow, the value of what once was and wishing for it all again. I guess my parents imparted some values of resources available, tapping maple trees in February, making cider, apple pies, apple butter in late September was not all lost. I am sure that each of the ten siblings all have a few memories of those teachings, so long ago.

I felt trapped by circumstances then as I feel trapped by Southern city living now.

 

Asking for background information is too intrusive. A person is sticking their neck out joining a prepper site in the first place. People should feel comfortable here.

I've asked a new member for more information when they ask questions. I don't know how to answer them unless I know what their specific situation is. I can't tailor my answer for them. However, it is up to them to provide information. If new people do not supply sufficient data, then they don't get their question answered.

I wish to impose nothing on others.
.

 

I believe this should be optional. If it is required, you will still have people like gunkid that will lie on there bio but you will have other people that won't join. Some would consider it a breach of there OPSEC.

Dale

 

I would vote for optional, and the information required minimal. IMHO the information we provide now is sufficient. We would like to attract new members; not make it more difficult or intrusive to join.

I also agree with Dalewick. There is no guarantee the information provided will be truthful and accurate. We aren't going to vet anybody, and I am not nearly as good as Lonewolf at spotting trolls.

 

i say no....in my paranoid delusion that information could be mined by folks with bad intentions....

 

When becoming a member, there is already the option to provide information about one's self. If folk do not provide this info, such is their choice.

If someone asks a question without giving the background information needed to answer their question, gosh they'll just not get their question answered. ding ding ding "Insufficient Data Provided"

We preppers should be all about freedom. Within anti-Freedom / anti-Liberty government regimes, preppers are not tolerated, "You will share with the collective!" Wow, that just isn't us! "Each to his or her own," now that sounds much more like us. It is to me exceedingly galling when I'm being told what is politically correct to believe. Every day in the news we are bombarded with, "You are evil if you do not conform to the rules of the new wold order!" It has been my observation that we preppers have a marked tendency to be non-conformists.

This forum gives private people a forum wherein they can anonymously share their thoughts. If government goons watch us, that is their loss. Quite frankly -- and as we look about us nowadays -- we preppers are the least of Big Brother's worries. Witness the sublimity of "sharing" as the new world order takes over urban areas. Progress, right? Riot.

I say "WELCOME" to those who wish to share prepping ideas and wish to do so without any lights shining on them.
.

 

Who really reads or relies on any 'bio' information......I read the various posts and if I like the information or find it usfull, i use the 'like' option and/or comment. Additional bio is pretty much useless.

 

Some people are more paranoid than others. I've been on the government's radar for over 40 years, They know who I am and where I am and what I represent. I am an open book and hide only what needs hiding and my identity isn't one of those things.

When I like something that someone is putting out I like to go look and see what they have shared about themselves. I also like to have a general idea of where you are so my comments to your posts are applicable. I live in a very warm nearly coastal region of Southeast Texas. I know almost nothing about snow or REAL cold. If you are asking about sleeping bags my needs are NOTHING like the needs of someone in Wisconsin.

All that I would like to see in your profile would be a general area of where you are. When I first came here there was someone that mentioned living in New England. It took me a while to figure out that he was in, I believe, South East Australia.