carrot
Flashaholic
I mean to address this to all users of CPF, whether you are an old-timer, a seasoned newbie, or a budding flashaholic, if you feel that CPF is something important to you, I hope that (without myself being conceited or pretentious), you will read this. I plead to you, the reader, to save or bookmark this thread if it is too long for you to read right now. Read it in parts, maybe. But my hope is what I have to say is heard.
Please excuse me if my writing is a bit long. But the trends of CPF from my viewpoint are of a one year timeframe, complimented with the ability to look to the past (the archives) from time to time. I guess the most "old-timer" thing I can say is, when I was your age (judging by CPF join dates, of course), Luxeons and the first 1AA light to use a Luxeon (L1P) were the hot item. Which isn't much at all, but that year has given me enough experience to say that CPF has changed, and perhaps to the detriment of this enthusiast hobby.
I do not mean for this thread to be pointed at anyone or anybody in specific. I very rarely hold grudges, and in this case I have forgotten every particular instance of posts I have found distasteful. I hope that I do offend some people, but no one in particular, because if I do, it means my point has been mulled over, thought out and that it has been properly delivered. If nobody is in the very least incensed over what I have to say, then I believe my days on CPF might be numbered. Because what I have to say is about the direction CPF went over the last year, and where it may be heading.
If history professors are right about historical preservation and dated op-ed's being critical, this may be the most important thing (to myself, in the very least) I have ever posted or will post here, because it reflects not only myself and my relation to this hobby, but how CPF has changed over the past year, whether for better or for worse.
I have been on CPF for a year and a month now. I came here because I had just gotten a Surefire G2 and I was excited about it. It was my first, what we call here "real," flashlight. I had seen CPF months before, but first turned away as the not-so aesthetically pleasing logo and immensely large and active forums scared me off.
I made a few threads here and there, but mostly I read. And once in awhile, when I could offer information, I would, taking care to imply the amount of credibility the information was based on my sources and wording.
Turn back the wayback machine and go to the happy past. In display options at the bottom of any specific forum you can select the oldest threads to be shown. I selected "Last Year" and then after it loaded a new page, clicked "Last »."
You'll see topics that were posted, not just discussing "Which flashlight is the Best for $50," or "What should I buy?" or "I just bought xxx light!" but things that were a lot less consumerist/materialist in nature. You'll see topics like "Brainstorming about new designs," "Giving a toastmaster speech," "Flashlights on 'Company Time,'" and "Poll: The strength of your EDC flashlight." We were happy not discussing in every thread what our next supreme purchase would be, or what *your* next light should be, but to discuss our current ones, our uses, and our hobby itself.
When I stop reminiscing about the good old days, which frankly wasn't very long ago, I am jarred back into the future present where all of a sudden we are no longer happy with what we have. Certainly nothing about our lights have changed. They have not suddenly gotten dimmer, dumber or less efficient. As a collective whole, we have not gotten desensitized to our current EDC's brightness. Yet we are suddenly wanting and needing more.
The current hype is amazing. It is contagious, and it certainly eclipses the overwhelming reaction to the original Fenix offerings, which pretty much just started getting into the hands of greedy flashaholics all over the nation just as I came onto CPF.
Don't buy that light! It's outdated, underpowered, and there are new models just on the horizon, for just double the cost of the light that others have assured you will suit your needs! I feel like I hear this a lot nowadays. It disgusts me to the point that it almost makes me want to leave CPF, but I cannot because I still have myths and disinformation to dispel. Worse still, I sometimes see bashing of lights and manufacturers simply because they don't make what the user, or should I say armchair flashaholic, is looking for, or at least, what the flashaholic can afford. It often occurs to me that we are starting to act like sheep.
Certainly we would all like to pretend we *need* a flashlight that can put out a thousand lumens, throw a wide, usable hotspot across a football field, and run for hundreds of hours. But I am willing to bet on my little flashlight collection that if all of a sudden our high-powered hotwires and tiny overpowered Cree lights and "outdated" Luxeons were erased from our lives and all we had were Maglites and dinky Surefire E1e's and Arc-AAA's most of us would be quite well served.
Stand back for a moment and think, do you *really* need the latest and greatest? With the rate of improvements in electronics, I quickly gave up the "need" for having the latest and greatest gadget, and with the current rate of improvements in LED technology, I feel that trying to keep up is a very hard pursuit financially, and not worth it in the long run. All you gain by doing so is get bragging rights, and to someone for whom utility is much more meaningful, bragging rights means little. I have long ago stopped caring about letting people know what lights I own, because I don't need to broadcast what I have to feel special. If you go through all my posts on CPF you might get a pretty good idea of what lights I own and what lights I hold dear to me. But aside from a flashaholic's first purchase, few if any lights warrant creating threads announcing their acquisition. And so bragging rights becomes a really insignificant reason to own a light.
I now understand what one newbie asked us CPFers once, "do you feel that flashlights have intrinsic value?" I say unless they're in your pocket, or in your bag, or in your hands being used, they have a value of zero. That's right, ZERO. Because when they are not being used they have, for the most part, as much value as having a shiny polished rock on your desk or shelves.
Veterans are no longer treated with respect ("damned kids!"), and combined with the shift of focus from hobby to materialism, it is causing veterans to move on. More and more frequently, posts that used to be answered by veterans are answered by completely green newbies, and not an old-timer in sight. A great deal of information gets lost this way. We must do our part to keep information alive.
As I mentioned before, CPF has slowly coasted to a place where the flashlight hobby of using, maintaining, designing and appreciating lights is becoming twisted and distilled to a sad state of greedy materialistic armchair flashaholics. What was once a hobby is now a money drain, and lights are not so much being purchased to actually use, but to behold and to show off. Mass consumerism at its finest, indeed. It is saddening and it is disturbing, and it is driving away more experienced CPFers. This is truth, not speculation. This thread is only one of many examples. Others, such as tvodrd, JSB, greenLED and a few whose names I cannot remember off the top of my head, have already considerably cut down their activity on CPF.
So what can you do? Unfortunately it is difficult to go against a trend or the masses. But you can start by refusing to be a sheep, refusing to follow the masses, and by giving the less consumerist "hobby appreciation"-type threads more consideration and thought. You can start threads that help us remember why we enjoy the hobby and why we enjoy talking about lights, so that not every new thread listed is another about the latest and greatest. And you can buy from CPF-supporting modding parts vendors like Fivemega and Modamag and the Sandwich Shoppe. (Just names off the top of my head.)
Thank you for your time, and thank you for listening.
- carrot, self-described collector and distributor of (mis)information
Edit: Feel free to tell me off via PM, but I would prefer if anything thought to be important was shared in public view.
Please excuse me if my writing is a bit long. But the trends of CPF from my viewpoint are of a one year timeframe, complimented with the ability to look to the past (the archives) from time to time. I guess the most "old-timer" thing I can say is, when I was your age (judging by CPF join dates, of course), Luxeons and the first 1AA light to use a Luxeon (L1P) were the hot item. Which isn't much at all, but that year has given me enough experience to say that CPF has changed, and perhaps to the detriment of this enthusiast hobby.
I do not mean for this thread to be pointed at anyone or anybody in specific. I very rarely hold grudges, and in this case I have forgotten every particular instance of posts I have found distasteful. I hope that I do offend some people, but no one in particular, because if I do, it means my point has been mulled over, thought out and that it has been properly delivered. If nobody is in the very least incensed over what I have to say, then I believe my days on CPF might be numbered. Because what I have to say is about the direction CPF went over the last year, and where it may be heading.
If history professors are right about historical preservation and dated op-ed's being critical, this may be the most important thing (to myself, in the very least) I have ever posted or will post here, because it reflects not only myself and my relation to this hobby, but how CPF has changed over the past year, whether for better or for worse.
I have been on CPF for a year and a month now. I came here because I had just gotten a Surefire G2 and I was excited about it. It was my first, what we call here "real," flashlight. I had seen CPF months before, but first turned away as the not-so aesthetically pleasing logo and immensely large and active forums scared me off.
I made a few threads here and there, but mostly I read. And once in awhile, when I could offer information, I would, taking care to imply the amount of credibility the information was based on my sources and wording.
Turn back the wayback machine and go to the happy past. In display options at the bottom of any specific forum you can select the oldest threads to be shown. I selected "Last Year" and then after it loaded a new page, clicked "Last »."
You'll see topics that were posted, not just discussing "Which flashlight is the Best for $50," or "What should I buy?" or "I just bought xxx light!" but things that were a lot less consumerist/materialist in nature. You'll see topics like "Brainstorming about new designs," "Giving a toastmaster speech," "Flashlights on 'Company Time,'" and "Poll: The strength of your EDC flashlight." We were happy not discussing in every thread what our next supreme purchase would be, or what *your* next light should be, but to discuss our current ones, our uses, and our hobby itself.
When I stop reminiscing about the good old days, which frankly wasn't very long ago, I am jarred back into the future present where all of a sudden we are no longer happy with what we have. Certainly nothing about our lights have changed. They have not suddenly gotten dimmer, dumber or less efficient. As a collective whole, we have not gotten desensitized to our current EDC's brightness. Yet we are suddenly wanting and needing more.
The current hype is amazing. It is contagious, and it certainly eclipses the overwhelming reaction to the original Fenix offerings, which pretty much just started getting into the hands of greedy flashaholics all over the nation just as I came onto CPF.
Don't buy that light! It's outdated, underpowered, and there are new models just on the horizon, for just double the cost of the light that others have assured you will suit your needs! I feel like I hear this a lot nowadays. It disgusts me to the point that it almost makes me want to leave CPF, but I cannot because I still have myths and disinformation to dispel. Worse still, I sometimes see bashing of lights and manufacturers simply because they don't make what the user, or should I say armchair flashaholic, is looking for, or at least, what the flashaholic can afford. It often occurs to me that we are starting to act like sheep.
Certainly we would all like to pretend we *need* a flashlight that can put out a thousand lumens, throw a wide, usable hotspot across a football field, and run for hundreds of hours. But I am willing to bet on my little flashlight collection that if all of a sudden our high-powered hotwires and tiny overpowered Cree lights and "outdated" Luxeons were erased from our lives and all we had were Maglites and dinky Surefire E1e's and Arc-AAA's most of us would be quite well served.
Stand back for a moment and think, do you *really* need the latest and greatest? With the rate of improvements in electronics, I quickly gave up the "need" for having the latest and greatest gadget, and with the current rate of improvements in LED technology, I feel that trying to keep up is a very hard pursuit financially, and not worth it in the long run. All you gain by doing so is get bragging rights, and to someone for whom utility is much more meaningful, bragging rights means little. I have long ago stopped caring about letting people know what lights I own, because I don't need to broadcast what I have to feel special. If you go through all my posts on CPF you might get a pretty good idea of what lights I own and what lights I hold dear to me. But aside from a flashaholic's first purchase, few if any lights warrant creating threads announcing their acquisition. And so bragging rights becomes a really insignificant reason to own a light.
I now understand what one newbie asked us CPFers once, "do you feel that flashlights have intrinsic value?" I say unless they're in your pocket, or in your bag, or in your hands being used, they have a value of zero. That's right, ZERO. Because when they are not being used they have, for the most part, as much value as having a shiny polished rock on your desk or shelves.
Veterans are no longer treated with respect ("damned kids!"), and combined with the shift of focus from hobby to materialism, it is causing veterans to move on. More and more frequently, posts that used to be answered by veterans are answered by completely green newbies, and not an old-timer in sight. A great deal of information gets lost this way. We must do our part to keep information alive.
As I mentioned before, CPF has slowly coasted to a place where the flashlight hobby of using, maintaining, designing and appreciating lights is becoming twisted and distilled to a sad state of greedy materialistic armchair flashaholics. What was once a hobby is now a money drain, and lights are not so much being purchased to actually use, but to behold and to show off. Mass consumerism at its finest, indeed. It is saddening and it is disturbing, and it is driving away more experienced CPFers. This is truth, not speculation. This thread is only one of many examples. Others, such as tvodrd, JSB, greenLED and a few whose names I cannot remember off the top of my head, have already considerably cut down their activity on CPF.
So what can you do? Unfortunately it is difficult to go against a trend or the masses. But you can start by refusing to be a sheep, refusing to follow the masses, and by giving the less consumerist "hobby appreciation"-type threads more consideration and thought. You can start threads that help us remember why we enjoy the hobby and why we enjoy talking about lights, so that not every new thread listed is another about the latest and greatest. And you can buy from CPF-supporting modding parts vendors like Fivemega and Modamag and the Sandwich Shoppe. (Just names off the top of my head.)
Thank you for your time, and thank you for listening.
- carrot, self-described collector and distributor of (mis)information
Edit: Feel free to tell me off via PM, but I would prefer if anything thought to be important was shared in public view.
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(And of course, there will be some casualties financially along this journey.... haha )
