"What's the Deal with TGR's Forums? Just Me?"

[Phill]

http://www.newschoolers.com/web/foru...ead_id/337944/

Hey Guys,
After not having posted or really looked at TGR's forums for close to a year, I decided to get back on some of their message board's in hopes of maybe finding some new partners to ski backcountry and some new areas near where I live in Summit/Eagle County, Colorado. Wow was I surprised by what I found among TGR's members. Within a day of posting a message reading:

"Hey Guys,
I am lookin for a potential partner to hit up some backcountry around Vail with from this upcoming Friday 12-22 through New Years. I am a 21 year old undergrad at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden where I live and I will be staying in Vail for 8 days and am lookin to check out the East Vail Chutes, Mushroom Bowl, Machine Gun Ridge/Lions Head towards Minturn/Camp Hale, Some of the BC hike access stuff off of Earl's Bowl at Blue Sky Basin, ect... I know Vail inbounds extremely well and out of bounds moderately well, and have hiked most of thesr areas before. I ski on 06' K2 Seth's mounted with the Marker Duke AT bindings and some G3 Climbing Skins, and have avy gear [Beacon, Shovel,probe, GPS, Avalung] and know how to use it. I Like to ski mostly steeps and trees but occasionally will mess around in the park and can't pass up rippin a zipper line in bumps. I have pretty good BC experience and like to hit pretty gnarly terrain and would expect the same from you. If you have an AT or Tele setup that would def. be a big ++
too; saves time and effort hiking. If you have a sled then we are golden haha... I'm also always down for hittin some of Vail's inbounds stashes, most of which I know pretty well, always am lookin for new people to ski with. Anyways yeah give me a holler if you'll be in the area and wanna hook up, also I have room at my place for 1 or 2 people for a few nights if someone wants to come up from D-Town or somewhere and ski with me a bit.
Peace,
Phil"


I had a bunch of messages blatantly calling me a dumbass and private messages with such polite requests as 'go fuck yourself'. A more thorough search of the website's forums revealed dozens if not hundreds of posts where faceless losers trolling the abyss of useless crap known as the internet had insulted and debased people and skiing in ways I didn't even know was possible. I like newschoolers in many ways but figured perhaps since I know newschoolers can be more park-oriented sometimes, I might have better luck finding some people for ski mountaineering/backcountry on a place like TGR, right? TGR the company seems to be all about the 'core scene' and the local ski bum culture and rippin big mountain stuff right? Well this might be true of their company [which I am beginning to doubt a bit too] but certainly doesn't cover all their supposed followers.

I know there is a lot of hating and trash talking that goes on in any sort of internet forum but man, these people at TGR are taking it to a new level! Holy crap! What are these people so angry about? Skiing is about being outside and having fun, right? Regardless of whether you have been skiing for 10 days or 10 years we are all here becuase we like to ski, no? I never thought I would say this, but mad props to newschoolers on the wholw for remembering what we are here for and not gettin carried away in the bullshit and details.

These 'maggots' at TGR could take a hint. And thats another thing, they seem to have this obession with the word 'maggot' like it's some exclusive cult or something. From what I understand, the word originally was synonymous with an underground fraternity of [supposedly] badass, hardcore big-mountain stylr skiers who shunned the commercialization of skiing and lives a rag-tag dirtbag lifestyle. Now it seems it has morphed into anyone with an I.P Address and an Attitude. The thing is though these people seem so fiercly proud of this word, like 'WE are fuckin' MAGGOTS, this is OUR word, and you guys are NOT, you are All gapers and newbs and posers." I just don't know where all the hate is from. Last I check the word 'maggot' was a pretty nasty, negative word with pretty bad connotations, perhaps these people are so badass they thrive on being affiliated with fresh-eating insects, becuase that somehow elevates them into another level od badassness above all us newschool gapers and punks.

It seems the people on TGR are roughly divided into three groups: 80% mediocre, average skiers who see maybe teo week max a season on the hill and take out their rage at being from unfortunate parts of the country on the rest of us, ~9% legit, good skiers who are just out there having fun and don't need to brag about their latest cork 9 or 40-footer, and maybe 1% rediculous, pro/semi-pro big-mountain skiers who seem to be entirely out of place and post insane trips reports that provoke a mix of awe and envy in the rest of us [I'm not Hatin' on these guys they kick ass!]

Anyways yeah maybe I'm just frustrated at some inadaquecy of my own or somethin I'm sorry to rant, but I just was really frustrated and dissapointed at the immaturity and triviality I found over at TGR. Again, never thought I would say this, but Newschoolers, keep up the good work.

Best Regards,
Phil.
'Tis The Season To Be Steazin'.

Good Job guys!

[The Reverend Floater]

Yeah! That's killer!

[funkendrenchman]

Apparently 10% of us don't exist (kinda makes sense).

[Phill]

Apparently 10% of us don't exist (kinda makes sense).

Aliases, although I'd put that at more than 10%

[Lone Star]

i wonder how iceman likes being split into percentage chunks

[iceman]

i wonder how iceman likes being split into percentage chunks

I'm not even a maggot, I couldn't give a shit either way, live or die, thrive or disappear, I don't care. I certainly have no alter egos on here, not a single alias, but go on and talk.

Like-minded people will find a way to stay in touch.

[Deep Days]

Now it seems it has morphed into anyone with an I.P Address and an Attitude. The thing is though these people seem so fiercly proud of this word, like 'WE are fuckin' MAGGOTS, this is OUR word, and you guys are NOT, you are All gapers and newbs and posers."

I actually agree with this part. GawdDAMN do people take the defensive by being offensive here... The massive influx of new people here in the last year has made it even more vicious out of desire to feel included (the paradigm that "if I call someone a JONG, people will agree with me, gang up on the JONG, and include me in their circle"). Fuck that. This stuff does bother me a little, but damn sure not enough to make me leave. How the hell else would I avoid studying?

The rest just makes the dude sound like an ill-informed tool. Kinda like me.

[Lone Star]

I'm not even a maggot, I couldn't give a shit either way, live or die, thrive or disappear, I don't care. I certainly have no alter egos on here, not a single alias, but go on and talk.

Like-minded people will find a way to stay in touch.

I was actually trying to make a [funny] reference to "we're all iceman." nothing more than that.

[iceman]

Whatever man, I'm kinda pissed off tonight. Not your fault.

[72Twenty]

We are fuckin' maggots? I wouldn't fuck half of you. Unless I was drunk.

[AsheanMT]

Whatever man, I'm kinda pissed off tonight. Not your fault.

Hope you're not paces the floors of your house with a bloody maul in yr hand!

[O G R E]

[dk_alaskan]

We are fuckin' maggots? I wouldn't fuck half of you. Unless I was drunk.

even then, you still couldn't most likely, from the rumours i have heard....Now if we were all SHEEP, then it may be a different story....

[ski3 P O]

I'd have to say that if this guy wonders if it is "just him", my response is, "yea, it is just you". So, he logs on and gets torched on his first post. So what. I joined about a year ago, and have posted less then 100 times, and never been treated bad.

Why?

Cause I didn't start out with some stupid post like, "I am a level 10 skier, and I can ski anything, steeps, cliffs, bumps etc... What kind of skis should I buy"? Or, I am so great, lets go into the backcountry.

Register, lurk, and post when appropriate, otherwise STFU till you have something to add. Like others have said, do I consider myself a Maggot? Not yet. Just cause you register, it don't make you one...................

[TJ.Brk]

I'm not even a maggot, I couldn't give a shit either way, live or die, thrive or disappear, I don't care. I certainly have no alter egos on here, not a single alias, but go on and talk.

Like-minded people will find a way to stay in touch.

Iceman no offense but you have been part of "shared Alias" before.

Frankly the trolling is getting way out of hand. Being "Jonged" used to be seen as a way of saying hello and welcome to the fold. Now it is being used as an asshole term.

Personally it is close to an election year. Economy is shit, gas is nutty, Christmas presents are fewer this year. I believe that has more to do with the poor attitude than anything else.

But then again there are these intangibles.

1. I have skis, boots, season pass, and warm clothes.

2. I have somewhat enough food to eat.

3. I have my maggot friends to ski with and for support. Even with this BS lately.

I'm a very wealthy, yet extremely broke ski bum. I get to make turns tomorrow. I'll take that

[rometheworld]

i'm just pissed 'cause the fucker misspelled every other word. I mean, come on.

[The word Gaper is overused]

If I have a join date of Sep. 2007 but keep working on my post count to get up to 2k by July, do you think I'll gain some respect by then?

[RootSkier]

A more thorough search of the website's forums revealed dozens if not hundreds of posts where faceless losers trolling the abyss of useless crap known as the internet had insulted and debased people and skiing in ways I didn't even know was possible.

Pure. Fucking. Gold.

[WWCD]

I'm most amazed by people taking the time to PM the guy over a post like that. Lame.

[jtran10]

Aliases, although I'd put that at more than 10%

That made me laugh.

[Tye 1on]

I could only read your post long enough to add you to the ignore list.

[BigJay]

I have mixed feelings about this post. I haven't quite put my finger on it. Part of me is sick and tired of the useless shit being posted in the Ski and Snowboard forum (remember when the only forums were ski/snowboard, gear swap, tech talk, and...I can't remember the last one--that's where the "maggots" came from). But another part of me thinks that post is mildly amusing--especially given the responses over at NewSchoolers.

I would expect this much crap being posted in the summer, but the east is going off, the PNW is going off, UT, CO, MT, and WY aren't doing that bad. Let's try to keep to the skiing. Thanks.

[KillingCokes]

I have pretty good BC experience and like to hit pretty gnarly terrain and would expect the same from you

First of all developing trust in the bc takes time. It took a a whole season for me to trust my partners last year. You have to progress things slowly so you don't end up in bad situations. I don't give a shit what gear you have, beyond AT/Tele, Alpine or Snowboard. By the description it sounds like the poster is really young and trying to impress. The only thing that impresses me is the right answers regarding snow pack, following safe travel good protocol and not falling. The building of trust dictates what terrain you hit.

Not doing this can lead to big trouble. This shit is very serious. I have had too many people I know die

Next time try "Anybody wanna ski Vail BC tomorrow"

I have a beacon/shovel and probe. I'm on AT gear.

Send me a pm

[72Twenty]

[PulverSchwein]

If I have a join date of Sep. 2007 but keep working on my post count to get up to 2k by July, do you think I'll gain some respect by then?

you'll always be respected for what you are Gaper, no need to waste any extra effort