I was just wondering how we would react/Handle the Loss of the forums Credibility if Someone came in and Lied In large bloated ways that went unoticed. Ive seen forums die due to many reasons but non of these forums relied on Credibility such as this forum. While Yes this is just a place to chat and pass along ideas in hopes to help others prepare credibility is the only thing that makes people listen to a forum that they discover during a Internet search.

I assume we'd all find other forums. Like we did when chat services died. I used to chat on a cellular lounge and when it closed I got on with my life then found a chatroom I liked. Then joined ETS. LIfe goes on. While the forum closing would be a loss it is not the the beginning and the end. We'd meet up in other place and exchange ideas.

How do you figure ? This is a good forum, don't get me wrong but there are other good ones out there as well. The information on this forum is the same as any other, use at your own risk because you have no idea about who is posting on the other end and where they may have gotten their info from. Based on that, no forum has any real "creditability" per se.

I enjoy chatting about outdoor things here same as everyone, I don't mind asking about someones personal experience using a partcular bit of gear and so forth, but at the end of the day you are all a bunch of faceless, nameless internet personalities. I am sure every forum has it's share of posers pretending to be this and that through the precieved anonymity of the internet. When it comes to life or death matters I think you would be a fool to take anything as gospel that comes from any forum, period. If I want to know someones thoughts on the newest stove, sure, I may check the forums to see what folks are saying. If I want to know how to avoid a bear attack I am going to find a more reliable source of information than this. No offence to anyone here, I am sure a lot of you are very well travelled indeed. There's just no way to know.

If creditability is such a big concern on this forum or any other for that matter, people would be required to post as themselves (no made up fantasy names)

Just an opinion from one of the newer people here, for what it's worth. Is this forum a good place to hang out and chat? sure is. Would I reccommend anyone new to the whole prepardness lifestyle to go to any forum for proven, reliable wisdom......eh, no. I would tell them to read a book from someone with a proven reputation.

Stephen, This is a Forum where we infact Talk about Life and Death situations Daily. That Is usually a point to survival Forums. If Someone came in and yelled out "throwing rocks at a bears Cub is the best solution to bear attacks" here And everyone agreed Im pretty sure the traffic would drop from new comers.

Proven Reputation is Half the battle for anything, Its the Community that go out and tests life that people are looking too these days with the advent of the internet. How many People Read Daves, Les's, Bears, Codys, so on so forth books? Most of Us. How many people come running straight to the internet to confirm these books and ideas by asking others? More people then the amount that actually read the books.

Yes indeed, people on this forum talk about life and death situations daily. Unfortunately just talking about something dosent make it creditable information. Most of what is discussed probably is directly regurgitated from these books with no experience to back it up. When Les Stroud writes about encountering a bear in the wild I tend to pay heed as I am sure it happened to him a time or two. When someone on a forum named "frisket" talks about it I take it with a grain of salt. I don't know who you are, where you are from, even if you are a man or a woman.

I am not saying you would give bad information, I am simply saying there is no way to tell where you get that info from.

As such, I believe forums in general are simply that, forums.(places to chat about things)

I totally agree that proven reputation is half the battle for anything. It's the "proven" part that worries me when dealing with such places.

This is why, as much as possible, I present relevant information about whom I am so readers will have an idea of where the information I am presenting is coming from.

Jeanette Isabelle

+1 for Jeanette's comment.

Wise words.

To me this forum is generally credible because of the fairly restrained level of discourse and the civil tone of the posts - unlike some others.

This is funny ( for me) because in my corner of the world , we had two rival forums and one died BECAUSE OF STRICT RULES cocerning credibility. One role , for example, that members post with their REAL names and authenticate their claims. Or else find another forum.

Members from the other forum joined to laugh at it and promise it will close down " cause 'everyone' wants to feel 'free' to say their thing without someone breathing over their necks".

I was a member of the good forum and sadly saw it close down. The 'other' one is still going strong , but full of censored.