"The other salient fact: forums are hopelessly old-fashioned. The under 30 (40?) crowd goes straight to YouTube using their smart phones."

I think that pretty well nails it. The whole way people use the internet and gain information has undergone change since the dawn of the internet. As bandwidth grew, formats such as youtube became viable, while lower bandwidth aspects such as forums have fallen by the wayside.

Add to that the spate of "survival shows" from Les Stroud, Bear Grylls, "man v. Wild," "Dual Survival", "Man, woman Wild", "I shouldn't be alive", "SOS, Could you survive" et. cetera., have made every casual watcher into a survival expert.

Or have you visited the Survival book section in your local bookstore? It usually averages 20 to 30 differing books. The last one I have seen that offered anything new, novel or different was Cody Lundin's book, "98.6 degrees, the art of keeping your ass alive." Most everything else is of little value.

ETS is a bit different however, in that it is more like sitting around the campfire with people who really know what they are talking about, and you can bounce any idea around at any time. As most of us are mature, we no doubt remember those few occasions in youth when we got to sit around with the grownups in a patio culture and listen to them regaling their stories of youth. Amazing times that are well remembered, but I don't think it happens much if at all today.

Yeah, Things are changing in the world around us. One day, this forum will only be viewable on the wayback machine.

Thanks for reminding me that I'm getting older you guys (I'm 59 BTW.)