One of the mottoes of 4chan was "only a fool would take anything said here seriously", and no matter what you think of such a site or the other seedier places on the net, I believe the words are worth repeating and are relevant to some extent everywhere, and in every forum. Yes, there is a lot of good information here, some people who really do add useful information or insight into the topics discussed, and there is definitely something to learn in this fine forum. That being said, one must also ignore a lot of the insane or inflammatory comments made by the peanut gallery, or introduced by sly trolls.
Some threads and topics may be about more scientific, objective topics, in which certain facts may be presented and taken into consideration. However, there are an endless amount of "Do you x?" "Do you think y is a good idea?" or the very so classic, slam your skull into the wall stupid "x is better than y"threads that are a cancer upon every web forum since the days of Usenet. They are purely "fun" threads and topics, intended to start flame wars, rile up subjective opinions, and create general mayhem. There might be a few brave and wise men who venture into such threads to offer a few bits of intelligent, objective advice into such topics, but you will soon realize that bulk of it is flame posts by very agitated people who hold very strong opinions about such a topic, or flaming trolls who enjoy the whole hot mess.
In short, in an open forum, you will see the free ideas of many diverse people. This will cause conflict, which inevitably leads to flaming and name calling. This will cause the less than reasonable people to escalate things to rather uncivil levels, and leave the more reasonable people leave felling insulted or alienated.
If you carry a .22lr you are crazy for carrying a toy. Carry a .44 magnum, you are an out of control vigilante, looking for a fight, with no regard for those who stand behind your victim. You like to carry a reload for your carry pistol? That's fine... if you're Rambo. Keep a gun in your bathroom? What are you, a wanna be James Bond? If you don't put onions into your chili mix, you are not only wrong about making chili, you are obviously insane with a break with reality for disagreeing with me.
1. Ignore inflammatory threads
2. Ignore inflammatory posts
3. Realize this is an internet forum where anyone, regardless if they own a firearm or not, carry one, leave one in the house for self defense, if they are a mall ninja, a gun controller, or wayward troll, can post whatever they want, not all opinions here are intelligent or relevant, and all posts should be taken with heaping spoonfuls of salt.
If you ever find yourself wound up, step away from the keyboard, and go do something productive somewhere else. Don't respond to trolls of flamers, don't make controversial threads popular.
