I probably get a half dozen or so a week. All start off pretty much the same, “Hey bro I was wondering if you might be able to help me out”…….
That’s how they start. Its innocent enough, a source check, or more aptly a source request. Sometimes its an inquiry about a specific source but most often it is flat out asking for a source. I try to help if I can but most of the time I cannot. People probably think I am a prick. I am sure people think a lot of things. People tend to think being on staff or being a vet at a forum has these amazing perks, well newsflash, it doesn’t.
I know when I first came to the boards I figured the staff guys were probably getting hooked up with free gear for referrals, free rc’s from site sponsors. You know what, at some forums they probably do. You can tell the forums where this happens. The staff vouches for these sources, posts up stupid crap like “XYZ’s deca is amazing, I can feel my strength going up and my delts are filling out”. All this 3 days after they supposedly received this amazing gear LOL! These are the same forums where inevitably sources come and go and members end up scammed, the board covers for them, and all is for some damn reason forgiven and forgotten. You all know the places, heck some of those forums are the reason you are here on this forum. You see enough of that shit and you realize “The Game”.
I have been around the boards for quite some time and in this lifestyle for much longer than that. I have seen more sources come and go that I can even begin to name. If you send a pm to a senior member on a CREDIBLE forum and wonder why they don’t just help you out consider this. If they care at ALL about their reputation and have any integrity at all they are fairly wise not to put their name on ANY sources. Why is that you say? Well eventually they ALL go south guys. I mean all of them. Sources that people trusted implicitly 5 years ago are long gone and chances are when they left they left with a good amount of some people’s cash and they left those people holding their puds in their hands. That’s “The Game”. That’s how it works. Does it suck- yes, is it happening right now as we speak, your damn right it is. Ask the guys who went with Viking and who is wondering the real truth behind what happened with Paxton? You mean to tell me that all these vips from Pax were shorting them cash? GTFO and open your eyes.
It never ceases to amaze me what goes on and what gets overlooked and what gets forgiven. Hell there are forums that have backed out and out scammers and let members lose thousands and for some reason people go back to these money grubbing POS boards. Are there good forums, forums that avoid being source boards or forums that handle their business properly and protect their members to the best of their ability? Hell yes there are and chances are if you are reading this you are on one of those forums as we speak.
At some point I think to myself this has to end. People have to see WTF is going on here. However apparently they don’t. Either that or they just don’t care or they are a direct part of the problem. Maybe there are that many newcomers that don’t know better that can be preyed upon. People so desperate for a source they believe some guy behind a keyboard they have no idea who he is or what he stands for. They think well if I go to a staff member surely they won’t steer me wrong. Sadly that is not always the case my friends. If you are on one of the forums I referred too earlier, the POS ones, it is likely that the staff person is a damn big part of the problem.
Let me tell you what it is like being on staff at a good forum. A forum with some integrity. First of all lets go over what you get from the board being on staff. Well there is no salary, at all. Monetarily you get nothing. Well surely there must be some amazing perks right? No, there aren’t. No free gear, no free rc’s, no inside line, none of that. What you get is you get to devote a lot of your time to try to help people, share your knowledge and experience and participate in a lifestyle you enjoy. You maybe get the gratitude of the Admin or the forum owner. You maybe get the appreciation of the members. You def get to learn a ton from other people in this lifestyle. That’s the biggest thing you get. Access, yes access. Not to sources, not to free gear, but to the knowledge and experience of guys that have been living this lifestyle for decades. Well wait isn’t that what any member can get? Yes, it is!!
So why am I rambling on about this? Am I going to tie this all together? Yes, I am. I get a PM from XYZ, he is a new member, he wants a source. I have devoted hours and hours of my time to a forum. I have done my best to help as many people as I can. I have taken a ton in the form of knowledge and tried to give back a small portion of what I have received. So I get said pm and I don’t give him a source. You know what I am, I am a prick that is hiding this secret information, the inside line on all these great sources, that, are you ready, just don’t exist guys. I have access to what you do, no more no less. So scenario one I am a prick who is unwilling to help a member and share this deep dark secret list of stellar sources that the staff keeps all to themselves….not.
So what is scenario two? Scenario two is I give member XZY a source. He send off $400 of his hard earned cash hell maybe even $1000 of it. Meanwhile the source I give him contacts him quickly, gives him the info, he sends the funds, all seems good. Then all the sudden….nothing. This is it, the time has come for this once respected source to go south and he isn’t going empty handed, he is going with thousands of dollars of peoples money. So now what am I? Once again I am a prick. A prick who gave member XYZ a scammer source, probable because (in members XYZ’s mind) I was getting tons of free gear or maybe even cash.
Those 2 scenarios are the potential outcomes being on staff at a credible forum and giving out a source. How the hell can I “win” here? Scenario one happens all the time and it happens all because as staff I fear if I do give out a source scenario two is going to occur. Either way member XZY thinks Jimmyinkedup is a prick. All the time, the hours invested no longer mean shit. You get my point here guys?
If you are going to be a part of a forum, do so carefully. If it is a source board try your best to find a credible one. You have to look hard but as I said if your reading this on it chances are the forum is doing right by their members. If it isn’t a source board try to understand why it is so hard to get a source from a vet or from staff. We work hard, the last thing we want is to refer a member to someone and have them ripped the fvck off. Say what you want, I hear it all the time,” I understand if it doesn’t work out it has nothing to do with you” BS man. There is this thing called human nature, you cannot escape it. You want a name or a face to blame when you get screwed, we all do, and the only one you have is the guy that referred you to the source in the first place.
Next time you pm a vet or staff person and they respond that they cant help you out remember what you have read here. Its not that they don’t want to help you out, its just that they don’t want you to get screwed man. Its all a part of “The Game”. It sucks but it is what it is. We are all in the same game guys. Maybe it is time we start to see these POS forums for what they are and focus on the ones with integrity. There are always going to be scammers but if we focus our efforts on the forums that want no parts of sources or the ones that put the members first, The ones that place the responsibility on the source to prove he is doing right BEFORE dozens of members lose thousands we can make the scamming that occurs occur much less often.
One final thing, do not get me wrong, I am not crying poor me. It is an honor to be on staff or be a respected vet on a respected forum. I just want people to realize that it quite possibly is not what you think it is in the way of perks and inside knowledge and so on. I also want people to realize WHY it is so difficult to give out sources and the bottom line is it is because they all go south sooner or later. I sure do not want to be responsible for anyone losing their hard earned cash to some scumbag thief. Also there is a flip side to this. Based on the info I have just written if someone who is on staff at a credible forum DOES refer you somewhere, you can bet your ass to the best of their knowledge they are an A+ source for whatever. If they weren’t you would not be getting the referral. So there is an upside I just would like people to see “The Game” from all sides!
Have a Great Weekend!
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Originally Posted by 212OlympiaBound
