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UER Forum > Journal Index > Servo's Journal > Limiting my participation in the forums (Viewed 2365 times)
Limiting my participation in the forums
entry by Servo 
6/27/2005 4:45 PM

UE is a hobby that thrives on its ability to remain small, unpopular, and perhaps even exclusive -- but unfortunately, many individuals lose sight of the fact that what we do is usually illegal. And while most practice UE in a way that qualifies it as Usufruct, in the eyes of the legal system of most countries it is a crime. However, if we are quiet, if we are respectful of locations, and -- most of all -- if we keep our numbers small, UE goes unnoticed, or at least remains unimportant enough to warrant attention.

Forums result in the exact opposite. And to be blunt, there is very little of interest being shared that might serve to outweigh their bad aspects.

While the Internet has an ability to connect people in ways not previously possible, its various venues of discussion have a destructive power as well. This can be seen in the countless slap fights that occur regularly within many online UE message boards. The problem is, if you get in a verbal altercation with someone in person, eventually it either ends in a solution, one or both parties walking off in disgust, or someone getting punched in the face. Through the miracle of the Internet, however, arguments, dick-waving contests and specious rumors can escalate out of control to the point where I fear that if the involved parties ever met in real life, the consequences would be far worse than a bloody nose. This continual infighting often results in third parties becoming involved, and rifts being created in the community as factions form.

But it's not simply that I can't handle the arguing -- no, anyone who's been around the Internet block a couple times has seen plenty of that -- it's also the fact that, perhaps out of some sense of civic duty to the community, or good old fashioned one-upmanship, folks are in a race to see who can expose the most locations to the most publicity at once. The Internet says that information wants to be free, but in a hobby dependant on a small degree of secrecy, information is certainly better off only in the hands of those who are responsible with it. The mode and ideology of the communication channel is naturally at loggerheads with the information's safety and the safety of those who may or may not even wish it distributed.

This constant flow of information tends to attract others into UE who perhaps were not interested in the hobby itself, but are more interested in, say, what kind of military-grade equipment to schlep with them. These individuals bring with them irrelevant discussions and cheapen the contributions of those who came before them. They also tend to not understand the need for any discretion nor the degree to which their lack of the former may have consequences for themselves and the locations they enjoy visiting, let alone for other explorers. It is my belief that if online UE continues to gain momentum this way, eventually we will not be so easy to ignore, and interested parties will start monitoring our activities in earnest.

Does this mean I never want to talk to any of you again? Of course not. I've met countless friends through the forums here, and for that I am grateful, almost to the point of ignoring all the bad I just spelled out above. But for me to hold these opinions and still participate would be hypocritical. Furthermore, I would hate to become somehow involved in a conflict and lose friends or personal safety over, to paraphrase many of my peers, "stupid shit on the Internet."

So for those reasons I will be severely curtailing my participation in the online UE scene. I'll still update my web site, I may occasionally delete your post, and I'll still check my private messages (although email is certainly a better way to contact me if you want an expedient response), and I'll still probably see you at an event here and there. If I'm ever traveling I'll still contact the locals, and I hope those I know will contact me when they're going to be in or near Ohio. Meeting other UE folks in person is great and rarely results in furious typing.

I encourage everyone to re-evaluate their participation in forums, how much information they share, and to consider who's watching. Take care of yourselves, and don't fall through any floors.

Servo
Email: ycwtzq902 at sneakemail dot com (replace " at " with '@' and " dot " with '.')


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