Equipped To Survive is the intellectual property of Doug Ritter. I believe the Homepage is sufficient with disclaimers, copyrights and mission. It is the electronic equal to Guns & Ammo and Gardening. I don't think Gardening would keep it's circulation level with " 9mm vs 45ACP shootout, which is best on gophers?" or,"Building that dream fence with NRA poor Moisin Nagants." The posts have become increasingly rancorous. My email is full of concerns. I have therefore deleted the whole mess. If anyone feels censored, I have a solution.It's called a website. Join one dedicated to the subject, or, create one.

You're right. Not the place for it. Thanks, Chris.

Though, it was interesting to see how the users themselves were quickly letting that fellow know what was, and wasn't, out of bounds here - all in a very civil way. My fellow posters to ETS deserve a big hand for keeping the conversation round here focused, civil, and always engaging!

.....CLIFF

I'm glad you did that. I actually typed up a number of replies to the "biljack" , but never posted them. God held my tounge and I owe Him one, i guess... Either that, or the fact that I refuse to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person...

I agree with what you said. There are times and places for the discussion of firearms related to survival, but bantering and insulting people for their view of it is horse manure...

He/she is a "flame-meister" plain and simple.. Stirring up the pot for no good reason. Thanks for "sweeping the floor" for us..

Hope the hand is better.

Matt

Chris, First and foremost Thank you. Especially for the selfless act of keeping this forum alive and going. I know it must be very difficult struggle for you with all of the other things you and Doug must have going on as well as the hard times you seem to have fallen on. Again, I say thank you.

Bat69 and Cliff…Thanks for your responses to this topic…I understand completely as I myself knew this was going in the direction none of us wanted it to really go. I too refrained from saying anything and even though I made a cursory glance at some of the postings it was indeed getting ugly. Thanks for being counted upon to stay on topic. This is why Doug’s website is so well regarded.

Years ago I was in training to become a police officer. One of the instructors made this comment to us in class one day.

“In the world today, there are as many views and opinions on firearms and knives as there are bread and chili recipes. All of which are undoubtedly, both good and bad. Such a discussion only leads to tempers flaring and insults slung. Telling a person which is better is like telling a person how to make love. Amongst polite people in any society, this is just NOT done.”

Now you know why I bit my tongue.

Stargazer

ASAP = Always Suspicious, Always Prepared

Thank you, Chris - while I chose to ignore those threads, they seemed much at odds with the focus of this site and our very cordial and diverse community.

Thanks, Chris. I typed a PM to the guy, and thought better of it. He obviously was a troll looking for reactions.

Chris,
thank you for taking the appropiate actions. I too became concerned about the quality of the forums. Glad the situation was handled firmly. Now lets get on with serious survival matters.

Reinhardt Woets

Thanks Chris - it was starting to feel a little heated.

Although I did PM Chris early on about the originator of these posts, I did reply to him and to a few others that made post in these threads. I guess I do not bite my tongue well. Most of mine were “what’s your point”.

But I did get my dander up on one post and for that I apologize for offending anyone.

I feel left out! I missed the entire flame-war while I was away dealing with moving my step-father this weekend <img src="images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Oh well, glad to see that Chris has sorted it out again. There have been many good, informative, polite discussions of firearms on this forum. Long arms and pistols have been discussed in the survival and campfire forums and rarely has there been a need for Chris to shutdown a thread much less delete the entire discussion. That is one of the things that I have greatly enjoyed about this community here, issues which usually bring out strong opinions and disagreement can and have been discussed within our community without insults and disrespect.

This is partly due to the well stated mission of the website and the properly exercised authority of our beloved administrator but it also is due to the respectful nature of the vast majority of the members of this community. There are members here from many different countries and many different cultures, yet we often can discuss issues which would polarize other forums without devolving into non-sense.

Let us all remain cool-headed and reasonable enough so that we can continue to discuss the merrits of the 22/410 vs the 12 guage pump and the fit of each for specific uses without having to be impolite to each other. The subject is much less offensive than the discord.

Still, I feel strangely left out having missed the entire exchange! Kind of like driving through the scattered remnants of someones windshield on the highway after the accident has been cleared. All you know is that something really bad happened and you don't even know how many souls deserve your prayers or how many windshields are represented in the crunching you are driving over. You say your prayers for them and yourself, thank your creator (or whomever) that your weren't involved, invoke providence that you get home safely - then you floor the gas, glad to be clear of the traffic jam once again!

Feel the love - spread the joy!

Nah Blue Flame,

Didn't offend me a bit!!! In fact I was impressed.. You showed remarkable restraint. My posts on the otherhand would have sounded like an angry drill sargeant yelling at a recruit.. ( imagine Full Metal Jacket - my posts would have made that film seem like "the muppets take manhattan"!! )

I can't stand chest beating, and the putting down of others beliefs/feelings. It's a typical bully mentality. I despise bullies..

Even though I'm new here in the forum, I viewed it for a while before joining. I was, and still am particularly impressed with the civil nature people demonstrate here. No flaming, no put downs, just a group of people from all walks of life that are truly interested in the fieldcraft of survival.

Equipped To Survive is a rarity. Almost all other sites i've visited have had a political, religious, or monetary gain adjenda to it. A bunch of kooks trying to convince one another they're right.
Doug and Chris have done a great service to folks like us with this site from the gear reviews, the stories, to this forum.. I hope it stays around for a long time..

matt

Gosh, I missed it too. I know I tried to keep it civil in there, guess it didn't go. Anyway, back to the various bag 'n flashlight topics.

Pardon me, Please Martin, for using your Post as a Reply, but I wanted to do so with the most recent Post in this Thread.

I Stand Entirely Behind Chris's Decision in this recent, particular case. Concerning the Impropriety which may very well have been going on.

But at the Same Time, I would Hope that this Doesn't Extend to All Firearms Threads which *Are* within all "Topical Permissability", and Within the Spirit and Purposes of this Site / Forum. I would Hope we are Not Throwing Out some Good Babies with any Bathwater, in the Process.

And this comes from one whose personally Not all that much into Firearms.

I would Hope that Entirely Responsible Past Threads, such as the one on the "Lowly .22", are Still Around.

As with Discussing how to build an Emergency Fallout Shelter in the event of Nuclear Occurrances, is within the Spirit / Permissability of this Site, -While the Politics and all of it is Certainly and Rightly Not within our Scope. -This Same, I Beleive holds True for all Prpoer Discussion of Firearms. I've seen this Clearly Stated in the past.

I would Really Hope that we are Making all the Proper Differentiations and Distinctions here. Maybe we Fully Are.

The Pitching of the Recent Offending / Contrary Post and Thread, certainly was the Proper, Called For, Decision. That refers to Bathwater. Other Responsible Firearms Related Posts, I would Really Think to be Babies. Grunge and Glop No, -Gems and Gold, -Yes!

I have Not yet gone back to see, the Status of such prior Posts, but to see " Thread*s* Eliminated", as oppossed to "*Thread* Eliminated", Does concern me.

It can be Very Understandable to eliminate the Bunch, in the recent circumstance, but I really Hope we're Not throwing Good Babys out, with Bad Bathwater!

I just Want to Helpfully and Constructively make Mention of this. [color:"black"] [/color] [email]ScottRezaLogan[/email]

Well I'm under the impression that we can talk about machine guns, tanks and benefits of 88s over standard artillery. We can talk about anything as long as it serves some kind of purpose and it is a constructive discussion. Minute it becomes a flame war or a stand off or just pure provocation than the discussion doesn't serve any purpose and we are wasting each other time. Everyone has an opinion and they have a right to defend it, but they also should know where to quit and be a bigger man or when to ignore something.

If the individual that was a reason for this post showed up and asked what we think about a 9mm handgun as a hunting/survival weapon he would have gotten a wild range of responses that would probably branch out into discussion of long rifles, different calibers and probably no firearm survival at all. I know from experience that this works because I was asking similar question when I was getting my Springfield Scout. But if you come down here and say that you can shoot off rabbits ear from 500 yards with a 9mm while plowing your cornfield and reading newest NRA magazine I find it maybe impressive (heh) but also ignorant. I think that I will never stop learning in life especially from such diversified crew as we have here on this board. And it doesn’t matter if your are older, younger or French* or Polish. Many of us became friends here and we have respect for each other. It doesn’t matter how many posts you have, you will get treated with the same respect you deserve.

Honestly if you feel that you can fit a bazooka in your pack and carry it as a survival weapon hey it's your choice. On the other hand if you are planning a totally firearm free survival than you will have my ear as well.

In conclusion Scott I don’t think posts about firearms will be deleted. Only the ones that are stupid and don’t have any educational value. And we experienced few of them cutesy of billysomething. But this also extends to other types of posts that have no place here.

Matt

*Frenchy no hard feelings I’m trying to make this post little lighter…
<img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I leave you all for a week and a flame war starts. Surely you don't all miss me that much <img src="images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Hi, Matt !!

No offence taken, as there was none offered .... <img src="images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

And I totally agree with your post.
But my english fluency (or rather lack of -), prevents me to write such long posts as some of you do ... so, I prefer to let you do the talking ... well, no ... writing ... <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I know how you feel. Chris K can leave for a month, but 5 days when we're not around, and the flames start! <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />