UK AR15 Forum - Is there one?

[kennyc]

The AR15.com UKHTF (UK home town forum) had started to attract people that didn't shoot AR matches, put themselves up as experts about all things AR and generally hijacked the place. It also started to attract a large number of airsoft-u-like shooters who insisted on covering .22 rimfires in every conceivable piece of airsoft tat going. The UKHTF had long been used as an unofficial CSR hangout and longer-term members of the UKHTF (and paid up members of AR15) objected

On the face of it, that does sound like a bit of an over-reaction - you can't share a forum with people that have different tastes or less experience?

you should have been there, the venom, the hair pulling, the troll accounts...... the rewriting of the official history tongueout

[Blackknight1974]

you should have been there, the venom, the hair pulling, the troll accounts...... the rewriting of the official history tongueout

By all means feel free to give your version...

[kennyc]

you should have been there, the venom, the hair pulling, the troll accounts...... the rewriting of the official history tongueout

By all means feel free to give your version...

"my version"? I don't have a horse in this race , I gave a link to the CSR forums for the OP in good faith. I personally think your version is a "sanitised" version, it is not entirely untrue, but it glosses over a lot of the childish behaviour from a cadre of "old members" and that childish behaviour was evidenced on this forum earlier this year. The UKHTF was treated as a private forum, and what a lot of people forgot was it was not a private forum, and the owners finally stepped in, I still remember well the obscene and childish remarks directed at the moderator brought in to take control! most of the facts are still available, in part, in the AR15.COM archives some stuff has been redacted from the looks of it, but if anyone is bored enough to plow through about 30,000 words or so then they are welcome razz

[whatacrock]

The AR15.com UKHTF (UK home town forum) had started to attract people that didn't shoot AR matches, put themselves up as experts about all things AR and generally hijacked the place. It also started to attract a large number of airsoft-u-like shooters who insisted on covering .22 rimfires in every conceivable piece of airsoft tat going. The UKHTF had long been used as an unofficial CSR hangout and longer-term members of the UKHTF (and paid up members of AR15) objected

On the face of it, that does sound like a bit of an over-reaction - you can't share a forum with people that have different tastes or less experience?

'An over-reaction' - like banning folk who have a different view but are all involved in shooting a variety of disciplines? :roll:

Surely there is nothing more irritating that someone who professes to be what they're not, whether that is as an 'expert' on a specific rifle or military know-how? Albeit mildly amusing as a bystander as they find themselves in discussion with a true expert, it is really quite sad. emrolleyes Far better for a bunch of mates to get into heated discussion with no pretences and everyone is actually involved in the sport they're discussing, whether a novice or an expert. clapclap

[EagerNoSkill]

clapclap KENNY clapclap

I judge what I saw on here!

Christel was100% right
Brad and co ago can go and play in their playpen with "less rules than here"

As of what he does on a range I don't comment on cos I haven't seen that
Here I seen enough!

He ain't welcome at my fire

[Blackknight1974]

you should have been there, the venom, the hair pulling, the troll accounts...... the rewriting of the official history tongueout

By all means feel free to give your version...

"my version"? I don't have a horse in this race , I gave a link to the CSR forums for the OP in good faith. I personally think your version is a "sanitised" version, it is not entirely untrue, but it glosses over a lot of the childish behaviour from a cadre of "old members" and that childish behaviour was evidenced on this forum earlier this year. The UKHTF was treated as a private forum, and what a lot of people forgot was it was not a private forum, and the owners finally stepped in, I still remember well the obscene and childish remarks directed at the moderator brought in to take control! most of the facts are still available, in part, in the AR15.COM archives some stuff has been redacted from the looks of it, but if anyone is bored enough to plow through about 30,000 words or so then they are welcome razz

As I said, most of the people who were on the forum originally were good friends and so the banter was as you would expect (and you can call that childish if you want). When unknown people jumped in, it wasn't well received. They went and cried to the site owners and unsurprisingly it didn't go down very well. I actually spoke to one of the people in person and told them to calm it down; they didn't listen.

As you say, it wasn't a private forum, but up until that point, it had been one (to all intensive purposes). So rather than stay, the core members of the forum went elsewhere; however the people who had cried about the way they were treated, then cried that everyone had gone to another forum. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. The age of the internet tough guy is upon us - and unfortunately there are a lot of people who talk loud in cyberspace, but don't in person and from my experience, never is that more true than in shooting.

As for the treatment of the US moderator brought in when the existing moderators voluntarily stepped down, most people stood up for him (because some of them knew him in person) and most (if not all) of the old members (including those that were banned) have since made up with him - there was a thread on that not so long ago if you want to look for it.

[kennyc]

As I said, most of the people who were on the forum originally were good friends and so the banter was as you would expect (and you can call that childish if you want). When unknown people jumped in, it wasn't well received. They went and cried to the site owners and unsurprisingly it didn't go down very well. I actually spoke to one of the people in person and told them to calm it down; they didn't listen.

As you say, it wasn't a private forum, but up until that point, it had been one (to all intensive purposes). So rather than stay, the core members of the forum went elsewhere; however the people who had cried about the way they were treated, then cried that everyone had gone to another forum. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. The age of the internet tough guy is upon us - and unfortunately there are a lot of people who talk loud in cyberspace, but don't in person and from my experience, never is that more true than in shooting.

As for the treatment of the US moderator brought in when the existing moderators voluntarily stepped down, most people stood up for him (because some of them knew him in person) and most (if not all) of the old members (including those that were banned) have since made up with him - there was a thread on that not so long ago if you want to look for it.[/quote]nope good friends having a bit of banter is not childish, when that turned into bullying and name calling it became childish, as to whether y'all made up with VA-Gunnut is irrelevant, the bad taste it left for those that witnessed it remains, I'll leave the last words to VA-Gunnut he says it better than I can


I'm sick and tired of seeing new shooters come into this forum only to have the s*** kicked out of them by a bunch of people who should know better.

They are new shooters and we were all there at one time or another.

Many have bought semi-auto rifles and want some advice and perhaps even to get involved in competition shooting, but instead of welcoming them we take the p*** and abuse them. hardly a good advert to for British practical Shooting disciplines is it? With the expertise and knowledge on here we could actually be a good resource for new shooters, ins tread we come across as a bunch of idiots with "lord of the flies" issues. (not my words).

As for the .22 magazine? Fair enough. It appears that the tone of the magazine is wrong and the "waltishness" needs to be toned down. I can understand that. However, instead of the abuse and p*** taking, why not offer some constructive feedback and let them know what we. as shooters, think and help steer the magazine down the road we would like to see it go down. There's not that many decent shooting publications in the UK so this actually represents an opportunity to perhaps get more of what we would like to see.

if you still don't like it then don't buy it.

There is a cycle of vendetta's against people on here. It took me a while to see the pattern and at first i thought it was all just good natured banter. I'm no angel myself when it comes to a good p*** take, However, I have seen it unfold time after time after time and it's taking on a more unpleasant form each time that goes beyond the bounds of reasonable behaviour.

I know most of you personally, and I know that in person nearly all of you are thoroughly decent people.

It's time for a wake up call. Enough is enough.

If it continues we will lose the forum. It has happened before with some of the USHTFs.

[Blackknight1974]

I guess a lot of it depends on what your opinions on .22 shooter magazine and the conversations at the time were - the comments became nastier in response to the constant hijacking of threads and the marked increase in walts showing up.

I've been registered on here for a couple of months, however this is the first thread I've made any real contribution to - I've waited to see how things are before wading in. There are comments and opinions that I don't agree with; however I don't really know anyone here, so I've kept quiet - the members who fell out of favour, didn't do that on the UKHTF. There were new members who took their time that fitted in fine, it wasn't a blanket approach to all new members.

The sad fact is that the events led to the creation of threads such as this one, the demise of the UKHTF has meant that a forum that contained a large proportion of experts on AR15s in the UK (and I don't include myself in that) is now dead and its a shame that resource is gone. When I first got into ARs it was invaluable, had I found it sooner I would have saved myself a lot of time and money. It's a shame to see others make the same mistake, but the only way that the aforementioned people could continue to talk about CSR was in non visible forum.

[EagerNoSkill]

Blacknight
You make many fair points and I sense a sincere effort to contribute in positive ways

I welcome your insightb and look forward to your contributions

Most people must realise the written word is stark and open to filtered reading via emotion or expectation nevermind misinterpretation

We welcome positive contribution even on negative topics

[kennyc]

Blacknight
You make many fair points and I sense a sincere effort to contribute in positive ways

I welcome your insightb and look forward to your contributions

Most people must realise the written word is stark and open to filtered reading via emotion or expectation nevermind misinterpretation

We welcome positive contribution even on negative topics

good points, well made, I will leave it there.
PS just looked at my last post, I really need to get my highlighting sorted out