Monday, December 6, 2010

Helping the Noobs

You know, something happened today that irked me quite a bit.

Over the years I have had lots of people reach out to me and ask me advice. I always do my best to give them the answers they are looking for. Sometimes they are satisfied quickly and we exchange only 1 or 2 messages. Other times I have had month long dialogues with people as I try to help them along the way. If they ask me things I feel I cannot give good advice on, I always try and point them to a resource that can better help them.

Today though one such person tells me "I emailed a guy once when I was like 10 with some questions and his response was something along the lines of "leave it to people who know what they're doing." I was like... okay..... rude"

I asked her who it was but she can't remember. Whoever you are, I just want to say you are a jackass. If you feel you are too important to bother helping newcomers, let me be the first to knock you off that pedestal you've built for yourself. Because all I can see is up your nasty nose and smell your rancid groin when youre standing that high on your own ego.

I don't care if you've been chasing since 1970. That only means you were born sooner than me. It does not give you the right to be a pretentious jackass. You may be experienced, but you're still an anti social retard.

The ironic part is typically these types of people are the first ones to bitch about under educated people out there ruining the holy grail image of storm chasing. Of course though, they can't be bothered to help a person who has some genuine questions about getting started. Much like the people who bitch about StormTrack, I almost never see them contributing anything of use.

I dunno, I have always enjoyed interacting with people, and going out of my way to help others. I enjoy talking and discussing the topic. Seeing the level of excitement people have as they pursue something they are really interested in gives me a great feeling. Passion is truly powerful, and I've always encouraged people to pursue what they really love, and will always do my best to be whatever mentor I can be.

And I get the fact that some of you can't be bothered, you're too busy trying to balance your shitty 9-5 lifestyle with chasing and are juggling 19234785 things at once. Life is a clusterfumble of crap, I get it...but that doesn't give you the right to be rude. If you cant help, point the person to someone who can!

So again I say, to people who respond to people in a negative way. Go take your anti social narcissism and sit in the corner while you slap yourself in the face with a 2x4 repeatedly. Everyone deserves a chance to make the most of their interest. If you choose to still be an ass to them, just know that you lose any respect for yourself that I might have had.

2 comments:

Bob Hartig said...

Right on, Adam. Every experienced chaser started as a green pea, so there's no point acting like a jerk toward younger learners. It's like spitting on your own past. "Do unto others..."

Shane Adams said...

Hell yeah brutha