The Social Network & Community JUST for Firefighters
Bulletin Board or Discussion Website?
I am amazed at the sheer numbers of "new discussions" that are in fact, no more than a little personal sticky note.
"Drinking in the firehouse" can garner 124 replies while a very worthwhile discussion on "Have We Forgotten" can only salvage 14 replies. Why is that? Because one might cause you to have to think a little before you reply? Or perhaps, we are much better at dispensing advice on a personal level but balk at anything pertinent to firefighting?
There has been an effort by some to turn this website into nothing more than a "Dear Abby" offering. How many of you actually go to the news page and come back here to discuss it? And why is the color of a truck so important?
I like fun threads, too. Threads about whackers are always entertaining and I think it is important that, if you have a particularly bad one to come here and talk about it, BUT, if you are going to freak out EVERY time, then you have chosen the wrong field of endeavor. The stark reality of this business called fire/rescue is that there will always be a worse call. If you can't handle that thought, then maybe we should stop posting threads that are no more than trolling for partners and post information here that might actually help you to process the ugly event that you just suffered through.
Simply stated, I joined this website for firefighters and not lonely hearts.
And if that pisses some of you off, sorry. I have to be honest in everything I do and honestly, I think FirefighterNation is missing its targeted demographic. I don't mean to sound pompous, but damn; let's talk about some real friggin' firefighting stuff for once. If you don't like reading or suffer from short attention spans, then maybe we can put it into smaller bursts of info.
But for whatever reason, discussion ain't happening.
Let 'er rip. It won't bother me one bit, if it means getting some actual feedback.
Art
"Drinking in the firehouse" can garner 124 replies while a very worthwhile discussion on "Have We Forgotten" can only salvage 14 replies. Why is that? Because one might cause you to have to think a little before you reply? Or perhaps, we are much better at dispensing advice on a personal level but balk at anything pertinent to firefighting?
There has been an effort by some to turn this website into nothing more than a "Dear Abby" offering. How many of you actually go to the news page and come back here to discuss it? And why is the color of a truck so important?
I like fun threads, too. Threads about whackers are always entertaining and I think it is important that, if you have a particularly bad one to come here and talk about it, BUT, if you are going to freak out EVERY time, then you have chosen the wrong field of endeavor. The stark reality of this business called fire/rescue is that there will always be a worse call. If you can't handle that thought, then maybe we should stop posting threads that are no more than trolling for partners and post information here that might actually help you to process the ugly event that you just suffered through.
Simply stated, I joined this website for firefighters and not lonely hearts.
And if that pisses some of you off, sorry. I have to be honest in everything I do and honestly, I think FirefighterNation is missing its targeted demographic. I don't mean to sound pompous, but damn; let's talk about some real friggin' firefighting stuff for once. If you don't like reading or suffer from short attention spans, then maybe we can put it into smaller bursts of info.
But for whatever reason, discussion ain't happening.
Let 'er rip. It won't bother me one bit, if it means getting some actual feedback.
Art
Replies are closed for this discussion.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tony Leonard,Jr. on
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Well I think you have a valid point.But some of the discussions are up just for fun,like mine asking if your company/department patch is at walt disney world.Its only got one reply sofar.An as for the truck color one,we're kinda used to defending ourselves in my company,and thought it was interesting.But your right there does need to be more serious discussions around here.I posted one in the myspace group i belong to,when my son and i where involved in a accident in which a teenager ran out in front of me,and i couldn't stop.NO BODY REPLIED.Not one word of encouragement,nothing.An with all the problems i was having dealing with it some kind words would have been nice.An after 6 months I deleted the posting.SO I guess your right NOBODY CARES IF THEY ACTUALLY HAVE TO THINK ABOUT SOMETHING.
Stay Safe -Tony -
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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WebChief seems to be pleased with his membership numbers so far. I believe it's over 12,000 members now.
Another fire service website boasts of a half million members! Woo Hoo! BUT, of that, maybe half are actually in fire/EMS and of those, maybe 500 actually participate in the forum discussions. You go down the member list and look at all the zeroes; that is, no posts. Nothing to say? Are you kidding me? You call yourself a firefighter and you have nothing to say about idiots in cars who try to race you to a scene? Nothing to say about a firefighter who sets fires? Nothing to say about EMTs who cheat on their tests? Nothing to say about the two Boston brothers who died at a fire and were found to have alcohol, cocaine and pot in their systems at the time? Nothing to say about the increase in hours needed to stay current and to be a volunteer? Nothing to say about two hatting?
Jeez; the best we can do is: with all of the training, I won't have much time to DATE? Christ; stick an icepick in my eye.
I use to correspond with a firefighter from Dallas-Fort Worth. His username was mongofire99. He was one of the sharpest guys that I ever knew. We would be discussing in a thread and he would literally FORCE me to come prepared, because he was such a thinking man's thinker. He literally taught me the art of debate.
I don't want to see arguments here. I want to see meaningful discussion. I don't want to see fights. I want to see dialogue.
Why would anyone reveal ANY personal information to a bunch of faceless cyberFFs without at least establishing a report with them? I have met many wonderful people through websites like these. In fact, I had a benefit for one of my firefighters who has Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis, asked my internet friends for letters of support and what I got for Matt was over 200 patches from around the WORLD, T-shirts, yearbooks, photos, letters very personal to Matt and on the day of the benefit?
They came from all over Illinois, Ohio, Iowa and even CANADA. Yep; Canada. That is what I'm talking about.
We need to create a community here, but can we at least discuss and cuss and learn something about each other before we try to get a date here? I mean; there ARE websites for that too.
Look at what Tiger is doing with blogs. He has had some GREAT stuff that is basically being ignored.
It seems that people are just too busy pounding the keyboard, because a career guy pissed them off and they are missing some excellent information. Don't want to come here for information? Then watch TV. Watch "Survivor" or any of the other "re-cycled reality" crap.
Which reminds me; I wonder if WebChief can at least put in a feature that tells us how many views a post sees.
Jake and Vinnie are getting awfully lonely. I have 37 more episodes to post, but honestly, I think it's a waste. They deserve better. Especially Jake. Sumbitch has been through a lot. Just like some of us. Too bad no one gives a rat's patoot. Oh look; I broke a nail. Waaaah!
And to those contributing to the quality of this website, please don't dispair. Maybe it's too early in this website's young life. Give it more time, perhaps. But for the record, I am not going anywhere any time soon, so you all can get use to it. They don't call me a crusty old jake for nothin'.
Rant off.
Art -
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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I am with Siren. Alot of us have no powers that let us have any imput into the important issues. I read all discussions but comment only on the ones were I can provide additional imput. You have to remember that you are dealing with people and their insecurities. Why would anyone want to voice their oppinion when they could be attacked for their thoughts? Some issues, everyone has offered any ideas that I may have stated. Why offer my 2 cents when it is a repeat of others? You can only beat a dead horse so much. Some of the people may use this site to unwind. Some people may offer important details about themselves in hopes of getting that feeling of belonging somewhere in this big universe that is all about faster. Ex: speed dating, fast food joints that are more popular than a sit down meal, and of course microvable meals. After a bad day do you want to read fluff or about SOG's? That is why there is so much mindless crap on tv, because people just want to forget about all of their problems.
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[quote]people just want to forget about all of their problems.[End of Quote]
That's not "forgetting"; that's escaping!(wink)
Art -
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Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on
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Well Art, I'm sorry to let you down. I'm not much of a discusser. I spend a lot of time reading other peoples' posts to see what works for them and what they have done. Of late I've spent a fair amount of time replying to posts, just to erase them before sending. Why, I don't know. I suppose it's because there is often no right or wrong answer, or perhaps at times I feel that my reply won’t add anything to the discussion. Sometimes it's just not worth the energy crafting a halfway intelligent reply.
I started the "Drinking" thread and I am pleased that there were so many replies. I thought that a heated discussion would flare up after the two Boston jakes were allegedly found to have “stuff” on board that they shouldn’t have. It could be that we as a group decided (properly) that the way in which the information was gained was not official; or could be that we didn’t make the connection, or we didn’t see the need to discuss it further. I thought about bringing it up, but out of respect for the two members that died, and their families, I decided not to pursue it.
While it will never be known how many were volunteer vs. career vs. combo posters that contributed to that thread, I was truly surprised the responses were overwhelmingly stilted toward zero tolerance. I now have valuable information that I can use to begin to bring about change in my department, to get us toward a zero tolerance policy too. That's some of the "gold" I have mined from this site, so far.
Yes, we have seen “lonely hearts” and “trollers” and button-pushers and all other types on this web site. Hell, we have these types of people in the fire house. How many departments are there that don’t? It is a tribute to Firefighter Nation, for its membership truly captures the diverse types of FFs and EMTs serving America today. This is what makes the site so great. Keep them coming!
At this stage of my life, with 25 active years on the volunteer fire/EMS line, I would like to be one of the ones that encourages the younger volunteer men and women members in my department AND on this site to keep doing the job. I guess a lot of my posts have been written from the “I, me” perspective for this reason. If even a little bit of my experience can help them, or can shape the path of someone new - even just one person - I will consider my efforts here to be successful. I have spent a quarter of a century helping total strangers. I would like to begin helping our own members of Firefighter Nation in whatever way I can. -
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Permalink Reply by Spanner 122 on
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Yup! That's all I have to say about that.
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Permalink Reply by Really living is optional on
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I'm still fairly new to fire service. A little over 3 months. We get a fairly decent amount of structure fires I reckon, but I haven't been to nearly enough to really offer that much intelligent input. I just got cert on my three classes last week. So I'm still learning a lot. I guess two hatter is someone who is on at more than department? What is a jack?
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Actually, two hatter is a career/union guy who is also volunteering at another department. There continues to be talk that the international (IAFF) is trying to stop the practice, but officially, they are denying it. Locals are writing it into their by-laws that members can't do it, but officially, they will say that they aren't trying to keep their members from volunteering. It is a real hot issue in some circles.
Apparently, not here.
It's not "jack"; it's JAKE! A jake is a firefighter. The term "jake" comes from the key that was used to open alarm boxes many years ago. The key was shaped in a "J"; therefore, it was called a "J-key". So, firefighters were called jakey, which was shortened to "jake".
Here endth the lesson.
Art -
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Ahh thanks for the lesson Art, I enjoy learning history. Sorry about the misread, it was late and I've been sick.
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You're welcome and I hope you're feeling better.
Actually, it was CaptainGonzo who educated me on the term "jake".
I like history, too.
Gonzo is one of those guys who has a trivia brain. He knows ALOT of stuff. Especially about the fire service.
Art -
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Betz on
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OK Art, I'm on your side here. If you were to take a look, you'll see I don't reply a lot, but when I do, it is on the actual "issues" most of the time. I really don't care a whole lot about the other stuff either. It tends to make it harder to find the good stuff when I have to wade through the junk (sorry if I am rude, it's just my term for it). For the most part, I would only like to see good fire related stuff and some fun items, talk about the other junk on myspace!
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Permalink Reply by ffbam24 on
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I'm with you on the original message.
I'm finding myself coming here less and less due to the lack of substantial threads.
Granted I posted one asking people to not post photos of themselves in various states of undress and even got a PM chastising me for the photos of the friends I have on my profile. What am I supposed to do about that? Delete them as friends?
I'll lurk around a little more. Maybe learn another thing or two.
bam -
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