The problem with the internet

Is that it really is forever.  I have the same problem as Tam, inasmuch as I look back on some of the things I’ve said on gun forums (and even on previous iterations of this blog) and I just roll my eyes and cringe.  Usually this is accompanied by me saying “what was I THINKING”, which is rhetorical because the answer is clearly “nothing”.

It can be painful having your learning process displayed out in the open for the whole world to see, but at the same I feel that it’s also good for me to do that, because it helps keep me honest.  I can’t just bury the stupid things that I’ve said and pretend they never happened, if someone wants to dig up an old quote of mine and feed it back to me, they’re merely a few searches away from that. 

On the flip side, it’s also kind of neat.  It’s easy to look back at old posts, old match reports, old scores, and see how much things have improved.  I can see scores improving, but more importantly I can see my understanding of the mechanics of shooting has improved.  That’s in no small part to the friendships and relationships I’ve picked up from this blog – classes with Todd Jarrett go a long way towards improving one’s skill as a pistol shooter, for example.

The moral of the story of course is that the internet is forever, so think twice, post once.  But if you do say something dumb, like “Hi Points don’t completely suck” (they do) then just eat your crow when the time comes and learn from it.

6 Comments

  1. Funny, I often have the opposite experience reading threads at THR and TFL. I look at a particular post and think, “Wow I completely agree with this guy! Who is this genius?” Then I look at who wrote it and find out it was me. That either means I got it right the first time or I’m not growing and learning. I hope it’s the first instead of the second.

  2. I’ve looked back through my archives and found where I started becoming a gun nut. I’ve always liked guns, but it was the process of obtaining a CCW that opened up my eyes to the horrors our system has become.

    But what really bugs me are the numerous times I used the term ‘clip’ to refer to a magazine.

    Gah!

  3. At least I never did that. But I did once say that the Hi Point was something other than a wretched, pulsating ball of F***.

  4. I’ve been fortunate with regard to this. I can go back to some forums and comment threads to see questions I’ve asked that show how much less I knew even just a year ago. But I’m way too much of an engineer to state things as certainty without having actual facts to back them up.

    So I’ve never said anything like “Hi Points don’t completely suck”. However, until someone finally brought one in to use in the CHP class I help teach, I would frequently say something like “I’ve never used one, so Hi Points might not completely suck.” After firing one, I’d recommend a baseball bat over a Hi Point; neither shoots worth a damn, but the bat at least works as a club.

  5. Heh not to far back I was the KING of the “Revolvers Suck” and “9mm Sucks!” Crowd. And while I still personally would never own a Glock, I won’t deny that they do EXACTLY what they’re supposed to do with boring regularity.

    Of course go FURTHER back, you won’t find much from the internet per-se, but I’d been known to praise the idea of banning all “Assault Weapons”, and wondering why somebody would be so paranoid to carry a loaded gun around with them to “non-dangerous” places.

    When they say “Youth is Wasted on the Young” they really weren’t joking!

  6. Funny, I was thinking about just this same thing earlier today. I’ve been humbly noob enough about guns to keep my yap shut unless asking a question; however toward the end of my undergraduate studies, I had a sufficiently violent reaction to enshrined academic idiocy that I strayed a bit too close to the tin-foil hatters. I cannot even begin to quantify the statements I would retract if given the opportunity. Fortunately, none were made in e-ternity.

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