Cancer in the airgun world

[msouth12368]

There seems to be a trend in the airgun communities in both the online forums and on Facebook.
Toxic slanderous comments about this builder or that smith.
And there are people who are very young and inexperienced leading the charge to smear this person or that person's name/ business without ever having actually done business with them. One person in particular comes to mind, his name is Conner Holifield. From what I understand he's like a weed. He gets banned and pops back up with a new profile only to start the same toxic b.s. again. He's 15 years old and claims to be a builder, He claims to be good friends with prominent builders with no evidence to support his claims. And there are others, he just seems to be at the forefront.
The internet insulates the jerks enough without the extra childish crap feeding into it as well.
Any remedies or solutions?
Garbage like this is driving away decent smiths and airgunners....
That's my rant. Have a good one.

 

[Stubbers]

Best advice, block em, or hit em where it hurts so bad they block you. Works for me.

-Matt

 

[Motorhead]

That said ... many of us are ageing out or just burning out ( those of us who actually know what we're doing ) and not copy cat read it on the web folks offering claimed quality work. Inflation & realistic expectations have really put the quash on those doing quality work and the rate they deserve in getting paid many times is too far diluted making such services not really worth the effort. The mass Chinese / Turkish influx of guns with near zero parts or service support plays a huge part in this. Thus a door opens to "I can Do that" persons making promises that sound good & priced good but are weak in delivery of said promises made.
An age old issue is those that knock others down to feel they stand taller for doing so.

Odd topic, but then again such are our times these recent years

 

[coastal drifter]

sheep will always be sheep. There are still plenty of free thinkers that can smell BS.

 

[MrP]

I feel like the phenomenon of the young upstart who likes to get attention and stir the pot is kind of like a universal human behavior that pops up in every online forum or community eventually. This even goes back to the dial-up BBS's is in the 80s

These guys come and go like weeds, but they can definitely drag a place down if they are able to get people engaged in conversation.

Best thing to do is ignore them or block them and continue to put your energy into the conversations that make this place great.

 

[Firewalker]

That said ... many of us are ageing out or just burning out ( those of us who actually know what we're doing ) and not copy cat read it on the web folks offering claimed quality work. Inflation & realistic expectations have really put the quash on those doing quality work and the rate they deserve in getting paid many times is too far diluted making such services not really worth the effort. The mass Chinese / Turkish influx of guns with near zero parts or service support plays a huge part in this. Thus a door opens to "I can Do that" persons making promises that sound good & priced good but are weak in delivery of said promises made.
An age old issue is those that knock others down to feel they stand taller for doing so.

Odd topic, but then again such are our times these recent years

Just what you wrote has really kept me from expanding.

 

[Firewalker]

I feel like the phenomenon of the young upstart who likes to get attention and stir the pot is kind of like a universal human behavior that pops up in every online forum or community eventually. This even goes back to the dial-up BBS's is in the 80s

These guys come and go like weeds, but they can definitely drag a place down if they are able to get people engaged in conversation.

Best thing to do is ignore them or block them and continue to put your energy into the conversations that make this place great.

Indeed!

So many of the pot stirrers are very smart, they have a lot of curiosity and if disciplined, have great ideas but toxic traits take over and the underlying vitriol comes out and like the OP mentioned, the cancer grows.

I'm a sheep dog, I like to protect others and I get caught up in these discussions too so please forgive me for wanting to remedy the problem.

 

[Chief Ten-Beers]

That said ... many of us are ageing out or just burning out ( those of us who actually know what we're doing ) and not copy cat read it on the web folks offering claimed quality work. Inflation & realistic expectations have really put the quash on those doing quality work and the rate they deserve in getting paid many times is too far diluted making such services not really worth the effort. The mass Chinese / Turkish influx of guns with near zero parts or service support plays a huge part in this. Thus a door opens to "I can Do that" persons making promises that sound good & priced good but are weak in delivery of said promises made.
An age old issue is those that knock others down to feel they stand taller for doing so.

Odd topic, but then again such are our times these recent years

I believe that I have fallen prey to one of these types that you have described. I will not at this time release a Name, but My patience is wearing thin. I have saved over 30 Email's "Receipts" of the Promises, and the lack of "as of yet" any fulfilled promises. If this goes the way I think it will go, I will be forced to warn others. I have fulfilled all of the requirements of said business transaction on My end but have received nothing in return. That's all for now.

 

[John "spysir" Blount]

And the countdown begins.

"He's 15 years old" but you've got to admit that it is interesting (meh) to have more than 1 person with the same 1st middle & last name in the same town in MS. No Jr. , the II or III just the exact same name. And they are all 15 years old?

A shame for anyone new using the classifieds that people-anyone- are allowed to erase all past history and start fresh just by changing user names. Makes researching feedback & past post for info about them absolutely worthless.
Also adds to "old timers" burnout but at least we are old and we know stuff and........... already have what we "need" (ya need, kidding kidding).

msouth12368 , any other handles?​

John

 

[Airgun-Revisions]

He also uses his mom’s e-mail account. Lol!

 

[Stubbers]

Yea it is very likely people are falling into a trap right now. However I will expand my thoughts on 'community cancers' so to speak...

I'm not too fond of the guys that hang around the forums primarily to promote and sell their services at every turn they get a chance. This applies to influencers/youtubers trying to maximize their views or affiliate links, receiving free products for promotion on their channel to turn around then flip it on classifieds, to self made airgun smiths. It's one thing to help the community, I've made a few parts for members for no charge but shipping, however its another to monetize it at every turn that you can, and often at great expense, such as 200$ for tuning alone... This in my opinion should require sponsorship / vetting from the administration be it here, fb, or wherever.

It's not just toxicity, imposters and liars that can be a cancer to communities, its exploiters and money extractors as well, the issue is far broader than guys the OP mentions, it branches much further than the lack of common courtesy and common sense. There are types that aren't here to help for the good of their hearts, rather the goods of their wallet.

There are a lot of behaviors that drive people away, from scams, toxicity, to those that overwhelmingly seek financial gain. Often none of these sub-types are cut and dry with facts, more often they are wet and slimy and lack factual basis.

I'm also not a fan of dog piling so I won't speak on anyone specific, because then you're just part of the problem.


-Matt

 

[MrP]

All good thoughts, and I know this is already in all of your minds but thank goodness for all of you with a real passion for the hobby and an interest in helping / educating others. Clear honest communication without conflict of interest is

 

[Stubbers]

All good thoughts, and I know this is already in all of your minds but thank goodness for all of you with a real passion for the hobby and an interest in helping / educating others. Clear honest communication without conflict of interest is

Exactly! Seems to be a rare thing these days, just as rare as common sense and common courtesy. Far too often do people require some kind of financial incentive to help others, remove that incentive and they'd remove themselves from the equation. Just like the youtubers whose channel stagnates, money dries up, and then we don't hear from them anymore because their focus goes where the money goes....How many times has this happened? History repeats...

-Matt

 

[boscoebrea]

i am a cancer survivor,hope everyone can be.I see the word and I get pissed off.

 

[GeneT]

I'm amazed that anyone works on airguns (for hire) these days. How much is someone willing to pay? I can do a lot of things, but I wouldn't touch someone else's gun, because I'd probably end up working for $1 / hour so I could hear them gripe about the cost. For anything less than a Thomas, it would be very easy to put enough hours into a gun to be a significant portion of its purchase price.

The corollary to the aforementioned is: if someone is offering to do something significant to your gun for $50, well, if it sounds to good to be true...

GsT

 

[Motorhead]

I'm amazed that anyone works on airguns (for hire) these days. How much is someone willing to pay?

GsT

With experience most gain a lot of wisdom
Learning what & where you can create modification for a better product or do enough improvements that the Fee $$ charged is seen as a value to the customer. While at the same time sufficient monies have been collected that the effort is worth while to continue doing.

Learning to say NO is very key, as without this ability to respectfully decline, a service tech finds himself in the mire of problems, parts or quality lacking in the product being now worked on.

Most see this as they have done similar work & do know better but failed to act prior to going down the slippery slope of working on stuff that quite likely will bite them in ass, waste time and in the end have an unhappy / dissatisfied customer.

Similar to running any business be it brick & mortar, home spun etc ... Know what your doing first, realize the pitfalls and avoid them where practical or possible, If you screw up OWN IT and make it right best you can. Learn from these screw ups and if a specific product or type service related .. STOP DOING IT and in the future respectfully decline with a No thanks.

In closing to a Soap Box session ...
Creating a cash flow opportunity from a hobby or passion is VERY admirable IMO, and for some it's just a matter of getting some quality work out there so ones reputation gets a foot hold. So lets not view the upstart tuners as bad, but do praise those that get it right and treat customers right.

The End

 

[msouth12368]

And the countdown begins.

"He's 15 years old" but you've got to admit that it is interesting (meh) to have more than 1 person with the same 1st middle & last name in the same town in MS. No Jr. , the II or III just the exact same name. And they are all 15 years old?

A shame for anyone new using the classifieds that people-anyone- are allowed to erase all past history and start fresh just by changing user names. Makes researching feedback & past post for info about them absolutely worthless.
Also adds to "old timers" burnout but at least we are old and we know stuff and........... already have what we "need" (ya need, kidding kidding).

msouth12368 , any other handles?​

John

"msouth12368 , any other handles?" I might have an old, old profile floating around here... I honestly don't know / cant remember. If I do I doubt I posted anything of consequence, and I don't buy or sell through the forums so... IDK ? I know on other platforms This particular individual has MULTIPLE profiles , some of which he has even changed his age, ( in one the DOB is 1987) but when you scroll through the content its all the same. And on this forum he has posted as "anonymous member" , I'm assuming either he's afraid of the backlash of his comments or he simply cant post as himself because he's been blocked. Either way it shows he is aware that his comments are "out of line"....​

 

[Stubbers]

I'm amazed that anyone works on airguns (for hire) these days. How much is someone willing to pay? I can do a lot of things, but I wouldn't touch someone else's gun, because I'd probably end up working for $1 / hour so I could hear them gripe about the cost. For anything less than a Thomas, it would be very easy to put enough hours into a gun to be a significant portion of its purchase price.

The corollary to the aforementioned is: if someone is offering to do something significant to your gun for $50, well, if it sounds to good to be true...

GsT

1$ an hour? You need to put in 100+ hrs into a gun? If I need to send my impact in to someone because its out of warranty and they tell me its $2k for the repair, they can kiss my grits.

In what world, and economy does that even make sense, just go buy a brand new gun with new warranty.

-Matt

 

[wwo2015]

There seems to be a trend in the airgun communities in both the online forums and on Facebook.
Toxic slanderous comments about this builder or that smith.
And there are people who are very young and inexperienced leading the charge to smear this person or that person's name/ business without ever having actually done business with them. One person in particular comes to mind, his name is Conner Holifield. From what I understand he's like a weed. He gets banned and pops back up with a new profile only to start the same toxic b.s. again. He's 15 years old and claims to be a builder, He claims to be good friends with prominent builders with no evidence to support his claims. And there are others, he just seems to be at the forefront.
The internet insulates the jerks enough without the extra childish crap feeding into it as well.
Any remedies or solutions?
Garbage like this is driving away decent smiths and airgunners....
That's my rant. Have a good one.

We live in a narcissistic society-people will do anything to get attention even at the expense of wealth or health of others. I remember a kid doing this exact thing on the old Yellow Forum. Emailed me directly under an entirely different name trying to get under my skin. I called him out on it, and he came clean. Never dealt with him again after that and he eventually disappeared from the Forum. As far as custom work-find someone who doesn't say yes to everything. A custom provider after they have established themselves will only say yes to what they are the best at and make money doing which means they will be saying "no" a whole lot more than they will be saying "yes" to projects. Hopefully what you are wanting is in their wheelhouse. I am a cancer survivor too but do realize there is cancer of the soul as well as the body. Both are life threatening.

 

[Struckat]

There seems to be a trend in the airgun communities in both the online forums and on Facebook.
Toxic slanderous comments about this builder or that smith.
And there are people who are very young and inexperienced leading the charge to smear this person or that person's name/ business without ever having actually done business with them. One person in particular comes to mind, his name is Conner Holifield. From what I understand he's like a weed. He gets banned and pops back up with a new profile only to start the same toxic b.s. again. He's 15 years old and claims to be a builder, He claims to be good friends with prominent builders with no evidence to support his claims. And there are others, he just seems to be at the forefront.
The internet insulates the jerks enough without the extra childish crap feeding into it as well.
Any remedies or solutions?
Garbage like this is driving away decent smiths and airgunners....
That's my rant. Have a good one.

There is still time for you to buy his Mrod @ $3 per fpe.