Welcome

[papasequoia]

March 28, 2006. That was the date I found smallstreams and excitedly started participating. How do I know the exact date? Because when I tried to visit here a few days ago, my password didn't work. So, I went into my files and found my original "Welcome to smallstreams.com Forums" email from Adam (I really have to clean out my inbox one of these days!) and checked my password and login, but they still didn't work.

I had no idea that the site was down, I had no idea of anything happening with smallstreams for quite awhile. All I remember is that there came a point when it wasn't as fun to visit as it had been at first. There was an all-out internet flame war going on, and for every fishing report or story there seemed to be a dozen angry diatribes. So I just quit visiting. I don't know how many others there were, but there must have been some. It was a shame, but other sites filled the void. Still, I did miss this spot, because there had been a lot of good things to like about it. So, I really hope that all of that stuff has been settled and put behind everyone. I don't want to appear to be pointing fingers or anything like that, because I neither know nor care what the "inside story" was. I just hope it's over and the new beginning is a true new beginning, for all.

I like to write, so my reports or tales are often lengthy and descriptive. Not long after leaving here, I posted one that I thought was pretty good on another site. It was fairly large, but I had peppered it with some pictures every couple of paragraphs. However, when one of the responses was from someone who said that they only opened reports to look at the pictures and another person agreed with them saying that they barely skimmed the written part, and then only to see if there was any information they could use (I almost always exclude locations, and rarely include stuff like type of fly used, instead concentrating on the narrative) I knew I was really going to miss smallstreams. And I have. Glad to see it up and running again! Jon

[adam]

Jon, that is how life is.

But I'm glad you are back.

My experience here is similar!

Your post is reason enough for me to explain a little, it might help, it might not.

Anytime you want to know what kind of person you are dealing with on a web site, check out the "search users posts" function. Pretty quickly, you will get an idea of what kind of person someone is. In a nutshell, you can quickly see what they put into the site.

I learned early on from looking at the forum statistics, what users where looking at, what site they came to smallstreams from and what site they went to after leaving smallstreams. Policemen, judges, lawyers, doctors, nurses, engineers, chemists and the like, all human, not all good things they were coming from or going to. I learned early on from before I started making web sites that there was a "clique" in the guys who made bamboo rods. The old "newsgroups" is full of this example and this is way before the proliferation of web sites on the internet. Life didn't change, and neither did the online participants.

I studied what I was doing, educating myself and what I came up with is that the internet is like alcohol. What ever personality people have, the internet amplifies it, when they are online, it's like they are drunk. People who don't get drunk, there personality does not change, it matches what they write and you have everything in between. That would be just a brief of it.

Names do not matter to me. There are people that I have never meet online that I would call a friend, others that I have known for years, they treat me worse than someone they have meet on the street.

It's very disheartening.

I no longer research it, the more things change, the more they remain the same.

And then I (a while ago) got a message from a young woman who's husband was lost at sea fishing a wild spot in Hawaii. They found the story I had written, he printed out, in his briefcase, went to the spot, found his rod... Funeral, hundreds of people there, a little internet search and I found the reports from the memorial, the search for his body.

People make choices every day how they want to communicate with others.

How they want to present the forum, the rules, what ever.

I am a guest here.

Gus Strand owns the site. He bought it from Nick. I sold the site to Nick after many many years of taking care of it and it fell into a state of disrepair. I prompted Gus and he obtained the site, I told him I would help him get the feel back and I believe I have done that to some degree.



But if you look around, there are still elements that are like bits of trash on the stream. Posts that have nothing to do with fly fishing. People hanging out at the board and talking to people like they would if they were drunk at a bar.



It's an old web site, Gus has restricted the flow but it will grow and it's not going to be all nice.

So I ask you to please help keep the stream clean.

Do it on your own.

Post the things that you want but how in the world Tony Danza has anything to do with fly fishing is just odd to me. I look at those sorts of post like I see a beer can on the side of a stream.

You write some nice stories. I hope to find your participation here enjoyable but you may not get out of the site what you put into it, I never have but I keep trying because every once in a while you will meet quality people, I've meet a handful over the years and it was worth it.

Take care Jon.

[gusstrand]

Danza, truly off topic and totally odd... but honestly, that is the purpose of that particular section - the catch all, non fishing topic area that keeps the rest of the stream clean.

People's nature is to post stuff like that, not unlike the random discussions on barstools in the diner before dawn on the way to the stream or at the little local grill at the end of the day, or... if I provide a place for it it keeps most of it out of the water and off of the banks... you get the picture.

It's at the bottom of the list for a reason. From the "garbage" perspective, you can think of it as the trash can in the gravel parking area at the trailhead... a place to leave all your unrelated cares and worries and odd stuff... :)

...and yes, the flow is restricted and monitored to keep the rest of the water flowing and pure.

[papasequoia]

Thanks for the thoughtful response, Adam. The part about Hawaii was quite moving as well. Perhaps I shouldn't have brought up the past, but I had been sitting at the desk tying up some #24 midges for an upcoming trip, forcing myself to tie "just one more" before taking a welcome break and catching up on what had been posted here so far. So, I had been thinking about it (smallstreams) while I tied, remembering and wondering, hoping that things were back on an even keel, and I suppose that is why I wrote something about it (like lancing a boil to get rid of it). It's good to see you here, and I'm glad that Gus has revived the site, apparently with an eye both for the past (the good stuff, the original flavor of the board) and the future. I look forward to it. Jon

[adam]

That's what I'm after, introspection, I love it.

Around ohh, I don't remember exactly, I started a forum for chatter, the gravel bar I called it, I think I called it the "grovel bar" a play on words, a double entendre' I made it for a couple of reasons. Gus templated the site, put his own touches on it and you know it's hard to be a guest in your own home but he has made me feel like family and that's what I'm looking for (bite your lip Gus).

There are a ton of old stories to tell. Smallstreams used to be a lot different. Stories would come in and I would "schedule" them to appear in the different sections. We had a different message board, that was kind of cool. The architecture you see here works well for me and Gus knows it well, he compliments my weakness in knowing the code.

I am grateful that Gus was able to rescue the site as well.

But like anything, you won't be able to go home and have the same old thing, life just doesn't work that way. I'm going to go forward with what I know and I've learned a long time ago, I'm not going to be able to make everyone happy. But if people hang in there with me, they will see that I am extremely kind and willing to see bad things through and promote and bring forth the good. Years and years (mid 90's) of huge internet web sites (some bigger than this one and international in scope) has prompted me to be secure in who I am.

It's just a defense mechanism.

I/we offer the chance at bamboo fly rods, promote good writing, help charities, offer a place where you can meet with like minded anglers and all things fly fishing. It's a great site. I've meet way more cool people than a handful, that was for effect.

#24 wow, cool, midges.

I've got a box full of tiny tiny midges from Hans, Reversed Parachutes from you know who, I carry many things with me on the stream, often times like you, the best things are memories from this place. Cool of you to point that out.

Again, good to see you here.