When I first started lurking /k/, I barely understood half the things people would say.
Words and phrases like IWB, nugget, AWB and cas confused me and made me feel like an outsider, and I was.
So I lurked. I read the sticky, watched the training films, learned about gun legislation and came to understand why the right to bear arms was held so dearly.
That was about a year or two ago. Now I have a happy family made up of an AR, AK, 12ga, 9mm, .357 and .308. I can participate in a meaningful way and occasionally even contribute. I feel like I make the board better when I participate, no matter by how little.
At the same time, it feels like the quality of the board has been slowly degrading. It seems like for every good thread, 2-4 "bait" threads show up to push it to the bottom of the pile.
I realize I'm in no position to judge an entire community, no matter how many of them may actually identify as being a part of it. I just wanted to ask, was it always like this?
Did I just not know any better and let myself believe /k/ was some kind of oasis of gruff, but fair gun enthusiasts? Were there always 4-10 threads that started with the line "using X in the current year" with 200 replies?
Should I just leave and do what makes me happy instead of trying to assimilate into a board culture I'm not sure I like anymore even though it includes some of the only people I feel like I can relate to?
>>28470737
Once you're here, your here forever.
Besides, night /k/ is very nice and relaxed.
>>28470778
I feel like you're right.
It just hurts watching people post this stuff.
It's like /k/ is a house and I took a good 5-10 minutes making sure I didn't track in mud just to watch people sling shit in through the windows.
yea this used to be like militiaman general. i dont know when /out/ was created, but i remember when i first started coming to k there were a bunch of really interesting innawoods and bug out bags and utilitarian threads. it was like a class even. now its just a bunch of dick measuring faggotry posting picture after picture after picture of redundant guns and comparing their hobby items and acting like general fudds.
actually on that note. this place used to despise fudds and hobbyists, but now its full of them. i would love if i could just leave k and go to out, but out has very little content and they are more like hikers and not survivalists. k was about being off the beaten path,
>>28470778
I don't think there is a night /k/ anymore.
>>28470811
k is all shitposting. also grats on ironic shitposting
Did there used to be so many general threads?
>>28470737
From like 2007-2011, I learned more on /k/ than I did on almost any other site. I used to have screencaps of threads that would put archives of dedicated gun forums to shame. Based on images that people on /k/ have posted, and opinions of (dare I say it) some tripfags or the better posters, I've been able to make smart decisions regarding firearms in the past.
It has its nuggets of goodness, but mostly it's degraded now to memes and faggotry. Also, EDC threads with the same 5 fags reposting every single week, etc. These were always there, but at least there was more good to offset it.
>>28470737
Oh yeah, it's also full of IRL role-play types now. All of those "ZOMBIE APACALAYPSE" kids were like 14-17 when /k/ was good. Now they all have guns, and make up a large portion of /k/.
You can see them, with their keffiyahs (i don't know how to spell that), balaclavas, gas masks, and all the other trappings of people like them who treat owning firearms like some sort of cosplay bullshit.
>>28470737
You've grown out of it, just like me. It sounds like a cliche but /k/ was a lot better back then.
Now it's more of a mix between /pol/ and /v/. With short, memeic posts. The good guys left and only the shit remains.
But hey, I come back to lurk from time to time, but I don't contribute any more, there's no real point.
its always been shit with occasional gems thrown in
>>28470865
>>28470853
Yeah, looks like you kinda agree with my posts. Most of the guys have gotten families, moved on to other hobbies, or just are tired of all the bullshit 4chan brings with it.
Again, FULL of wannabe survivalist militiamen who know jack shit about firearms. It's always the same recommendations, regardless of the situation
>first gun? 10/22. GTFO!
Yeah, except .22 lr is impossible to find, so recommending a new shooter get one is asinine.
>>28470873
I remember that Iranian military/hezbollah guy and his exhanges with that Israeli IDF-guy.
Only /k/ could bring IDF and Iran/Hezbollah together.
>>28470737
This is 4chan, a community of trolls. I should know, I make 90% of the shit posting click bait threads and am 70% of the tripfags.
>>28470881
what are you talking about, it used to be more military/operation of weapon oriented, now its all civilian hobbyists. its less militiamen, not more
>>28470892
>>28470778
Night /k/ isn't what it used to be.
>>28470881
>53 KB
where are you that .22 is still hard to find?
>>28470895
Old /k/ was practical militia. not ARFCOM idiocy.
>>28470737
first time I encountered /k/ it was mostly low speed threads about swords and pole arms
welcome to k now git out
keep new out of k
.etc
as for the shit storm of bait threads across all boards
I'm becoming convinced that it is the work of shills
>>28470905
thats exactly my point. my response is concerning the statement that the thread is riddled with militiamen now and thats the reason its gone to shit, when its the opposite
What's everyone's opinions about non-firearm threads? Some anons (proabably the same ones) say they're cancer. Do they add to the board?
>>28470895
I said WANNABE, dude.
There used to be TONS of actual non-POG military dudes here, too
>>28470737
its been shit since 2012
I keep coming back hoping it gets better
it hasn't
and ive been here 5 years
basically, all the generals are tripfag containment threads, and everything outside of them is shitposting most of the time
>>28470919
I'm still laughing at the army picture, holy shit
>>28470915
Well, yesterday the most popular thread on /k/ was about how cool it would be to have the Spartan Armor from Halo in combat, and why we don't have it. It's not even cancer any more, it's the norm.
>>28470919
Army actually looks pretty appealing.
>>28470936
I meant stuff like military history, tanks and planes, that kind of stuff rather than "/k/ related" threads, which tend to not go so well.
>>28470945
>military history, tanks and planes
Those threads are awesome. Old /k/ used to have a lot of those. But nowadays they die out because the main demographic of /k/ are debating Halo spartan armor vs CoD: Advanced Warfare exoskeleton.
>>28470900
>>28470801
Maybe not, but it's a lot better. I try to use /k/ just at night when the /pol/fags are out
This Saturday I'm breaking free of the oppressive yolk of my liberal parents and buying my first gun, a 10/22.
I can't wait to spend the day practicing shooting downrange with MY gun.
I'm a hilariously bad shot, but I never learned so whatever.
Anyways I guess regardless of how you feel about this place, it's served me pretty well in getting interested in weapons.
Thanks for helping me along the way /k/
>>28470971
I went the slavshit route and got a mosin as my first.
Never got over the fireballs.
I've noticed /k/ got increasingly shittier ever since we got the influx of /pol/ faggots.
It seems like every other post is just some /pol/-tier shitposting nigger this jew that.
I mean nobody even talks about nuggets anymore except for the few of us that hold onto it. And I remember night /k/ being good but now its the same tripfags that stay up all night shitposting.
And another thing, /k/ is pretty much just generals now. AR general, AK general, military enlistment general etc.
>>28471086
Don't forget thg and milsurp
>>28470919
I've been coming here since 2012 too and, like yourself, I keep coming back hoping it gets better.
Sadly that is not the case, and sadly, the last part of your post is just too true.
Hard times my friends.
>>28471099
but /thg/ is good though
All I want is a place to be myself with other people that think similarly.
You would think with the internet it would be easy, but it seems like it's only made it harder, if not impossible.
>>28471200
Try meeting people offline. Works for /tg/, why not for /k/?
>>28471207
I want to, I've just been burned in the past and it makes it difficult. I guess I should stop complaining if I'm not going to nut up enough to put myself out there.
>>28471028
I was going to go Mosin but a friend talked me out of it.
Apparently nugget food is too valuable to waste on a first time gun owner.
Seems about the same as it's always been.
>>28471228
Yeah I looked around for 54r cans and they just aren't in stock and it's a feeding frenzy when they are
>>28471228
Nuggets are pretty shit anymore.
Prices rised. Being milsurp quality is fucking all over the place. Why buy one when you can grab a brand new rifle for a little more?
Years ago they were a steal, now? Nah. Pick up an entry level bolt action like the Ruger American instead.
Don't worry it's not just /k/ but the entirety of this website. /k/ has just been hit especially hard by /pol/
I still think my time here is at least semi-worthwhile. You just have to dig a bit, there's still some decent content.
>>28470913
Yeah it seems the bait threads aren't just on /k/, its every board and they're getting worse
>>28470966
Thank God I can only really lurk/post in night /k/ because of my job hours.
You should have seen /k/ back in the days of meplat and HM. It was funnier.
>>28470737
Same here OP. I was a slightly liberal noguns who believed in registry and other faggotry when I inherited my pappy's 870, and I was expecting this board to be just as cancer as others like /v/. I made a thread asking about it one night, and /k/ was surprisingly helpful and welcoming outside of a few faggots. Started coming here more, and now I own 7 guns. Also appreciate the 2nd amendment way more and became a lot more libertarian.
As for the board, just like any, there's a lot of stupid shit, but it's worth it to wade through and find the good threads imo.
>>28470737
We went mainstream. And it killed us.
Those Vietnam threads have been good
Did opchan take too much? Or did they go to the other chan
>>28474114
I'd simply say they outgrew the whole chan thing.
>>28474114
Probably a little of both. And that people just got burned out after all of the bullshit from the chans and signed off for good.
>>28470936
And yet we still can't have threads on gun control and firearm legislation. The only board to have restrictions against discussing the legality of the board's central topic, told to go to iBetTheJewsDidThis.jpg /pol/. And then a bunch of bootlickers will turn up to angrily defend the sticky, apparently not realizing how brand fucking new that bullshit is.
To the OP, I feel like the degrade is real, and has seen a bit of a noticeable downturn recently, but I also feel like we've had shit seasons before so this might well pass. It's a combination of being denied our political discussion, some cooler folks like Willis dropping off the radar, and then a two-front invasion. (Supposedly Stormfront wanted to essentially annex /k/, so you started getting RACE WAR NOW bullshit for awhile, and then after Dylan Roof and San Bernadino you had a bunch of redditors and generic anti-gunners shitting up the joint with antigun bait threads.)
There's still some good discussion around, it's not that bad. Be the change you want to see.
I was always a /b/tard since the beginning. I had never been on /k/ or any other board for that matter. Then one day some /k/ommando came over to /b/ to recruit some new people and it was an AMA thread. Well I had (ironically, though didn't know it at the time) just bought a 91/30 nugget as my first gun. So I started asking questions about proper cleaning and a whole bunch of stuff. Next thing I know I'm on /k/ 24/7 and I'm addicted. In the past 6 months since I first hopped on /k/ I have gone from one nugget to a total of 7 firearms and I don't plan on looking back. Thank you /k/ for receiving me with open arms.
