TargetTalk

I want to apologize to everyone who got offended by my post or behavior. I did not know the rules here, and used what I did in other less or no discipline forums and frequently engaged in pointless flame wars.

Nobody actually told me exactly what I did wrong, and I honestly did not know since I used the old netiquette.

Scott has privately message me and finally told me exactly what I did that agitate people. *NOW* I get it.

I am apologizing for the pure reason of genuinely feeling embarrassed and sorry, and also accidentally, unbeknownst to me, being not considerate and sometimes bit the hands that helped me. Yes, I have medical condition and other stuff that may prevent me from following people's advice, I should have privately message those info and ask for further advice, instead of giving more excuses after excuses.

So here I promise I will play by the straight rule and not by the old netiquette, and will act as my true real life persona as opposed to be an internet persona. I hope you all understand. I did sincerely gradually love the sport while trying to put aside my fear of firearms.

Feel free to point out my misbehavior in PM. The communication will be private. No need to insult or be sarcastic, just straight to point.

I will post much much less from now on, but probably will have more technical questions than other things. I hope I won't bore many of you, except the engineering type.

Finally, please notice my signature; if you live in California and has firearm problems with legislation but in need of a lawsuit, please private mesg me and I will forward to Calguns foundation. They will study your case and then if they think it is possible to win, they will try and work with the local NRA lawyers. CGF is not a lobbying organization, but rather exist to help people with lawsuits. Finally, if you are a member of LGBT, feel free to contact me if you need help. I will direct you to the right people in your area, and also personally help you during the difficult times.

Thank you if you read this so far

Sincerely

When you are passionate about something, sometimes folks don't give you enough slack.
Keep your passion for the shooting sports, we all probably need more.

When you are passionate about something, sometimes folks don't give you enough slack.
Keep your passion for the shooting sports, we all probably need more.

I completely agree. This is a site where individuals of all ages and experience who love the shooting sports can come together and not only share technical advice, but form friendships and associations that help strengthen the sport as a whole by both introducing new shooters and uniting the old ones.

I will be the first to admit that I did find some of your posts slightly irksome. However, I refuse to place any judgement upon you for wanting to learn more about our sport. Unfortunately, many of the users of this forum don't agree. Perhaps they themselves have forgotten how difficult this sport is to learn, let alone master. Or maybe they think they are above helping anyone who doesn't shoot 595+.

I also found some of your posts quite helpful. Your knack for asking "stupid" questions helped point out simple fundamental flaws in my own technique that I can't believe I was overlooking. Sometimes the simplest question can produce the most productive answer. I've always believed that the easiest way to master a skill is to teach another how to do it. Quite often the 10-12 year old kids I help at my club point out flaws that I coach them not to do when I do them myself without realizing it.

To make a long story short, I am ashamed of the way that you have been treated on here. That is not the way I believe the shooting sports community should be represented and I hope that these past events do not permanently damage your opinion of this incredible sport.

Charlie

Being a very new member here, are there examples of these unwritten rules? The last thing I'd want to do is annoy anyone. :)

I did get one strange, maybe somewhat passive-aggressive response in a previous post. So, I may have already made a misstep.

This reminds me of when I started playing volleyball. I seemed to be annoying the other players around me. They would grimace, but wouldn't tell me what I was doing wrong. There was some secret handshake that I was missing. After lots of experience, I look back and understand what was bothering them.

However, looking back, I also understand that a mentor, or at least common courtesy, can go a long way to introducing new people to any activity, enriching the sport in the process. There may be that one extremely talented individual that comes along and is put off from the sport entirely by some "expert" that doesn't have a fraction of his or here skill. That would be sad indeed.

My feeling is that if you aren't a legitimate contender for a medal in the Olympics, you are on the same spectrum as the rest of us. You're playing hoops at the local playground -- you may be better than me, but you aren't playing in the NBA and they aren't going to play with you either. :)

So, unless you are expecting to be on the podium in Rio, take it down a notch, cool it, and maybe you'll be able to give that spark to some young person that might make it on that podium. It would be a tragedy if you scared them away.

You've certainly nailed it galabar, a forum ought to be a place where one can come and ask questions and not expect to be slapped down for asking. But the need for courtesy goes both ways. What Vince is apologizing for, and for good reason, is his own misbehaviour in this forum. No need to go into the details really as the posts remain for anyone interested to read, and he's said he is contrite and wishes to amend his sometime-obnoxious manners. I appreciate this and respect it. I also value his serious and sensible contributions so far and look forward to whateveir further positive value he brings to the forum. None of us is perfect, and for my own part I am aware of having crossed the line a few times. I'll work on that and try to bite my tongue a bit more often, show more patience when someone's being difficult.

Some of us here also are not formally coached by a jr team coach, so we have to learn things on our own. The problem with this is, that when stating your case to others on this forum when seeking help is that we may imply our own constructs of what we learn, that possibly shows off wrong understanding. This can make us appear to be "know it alls" when all we really are trying to do is build upon what we learn. Some slack is appreciated, constructive correction is even more appreciated, but its important to be aware of yourself and remain as humble and open to new knowledge as much as possible. I'm guilty of breaking a few rules too.

Basic mantra on these boards - absorb, search before asking, have the perspective of a student, be sure of any info that you intend to pass along, if you're not a coach don't coach, just pass on your experience if asked. And don't turn the boards into your private inbox. Finally, learn the basics and shoot as much as you can before asking too much.

I think that's it. If I forgot anything or am wrong, add/correct it.

Well said everyone. I'm not very experienced, but look forward to learning. I really enjoy just picking up the gun and feeling it in my hands, so I'm going to make sure that I get as much practice as possible. :)