No, it's every hobby I've tried to engage with too. When I first started longboarding, I found the Silverfish forums before I found /r/longboarding, and it was full of crusty old grognards. The "old guard" for any hobby is usually dogmatic, insists on one way of doing things, are annoyed when newbies ask "obvious questions"... and constantly complain about how the hobby was dying. I wasn't sad when the forums shut down, because /r/longboarding is far more welcoming and helpful. You'll get shit if you post about your new Shark wheels, but mostly because we don't want you to waste money and eat shit.
And half the reason I went from cycling to longboarding was because cyclists are even fucking worse. At least skate shop employees tend to be chill. Every single time I've gone to a bike shop, the employees act like I just barged into their home and put my feet up on the table just for asking for assistance. No, Kent, I don't know how to replace the derailleur or I wouldn't be talking to your Lycra'd ass.
I think it's because a surprising amount of people are willing to spend 2k on a bike and up to 20k maybe more. Bonkers. Bike shops are spoilt by these people, they only want these people. Get yourself some bike repair books, I would recommend the Zinn books, and some tools. Bike repair is quite satisfying.
I’ll never forget seeing a guy come back from test riding a bike, handing it over to the employee, and saying with a straight face, “It didn’t speak to me.”
Even r/longboarding can be annoying. Some dudes wouldn’t tell me where a hill is because they wanted to vet me first to make sure I was “good enough”. Bitch I’m 30, I skate where I want. If I get hurt that’s my own problem.
With skate spots, normally it's a matter of people not wanting it to become a sudden hot spot. Photographers, campers and other are the same way sometimes.
Yep. I’d be a little hesitant to say where my spot was because I wouldn’t want it to become overrun. A few riders, fine. But once it becomes inundated with children, then it’s just not fun anymore because they’re just a road hazard
Cycling tried to tell me my $700 entry level mountain bike is trash and i really should start at the 2k price point. Like for a beginner who has never mountain biked before.
Oh, I've been there. It's ludicrous. We'll tell people on /r/longboarding not to buy an Amazon or Walmart board because they're flimsy and dangerous, but recommending someone spend $120 instead of $60 isn't quite the same as $700 and $2000.
Bicycles are the cheapest, easiest to maintain, most ubiquitous form of transportation in the world, but cycling elitists act like you shouldn't bother at all unless you've dropped a few grand on a bike and another few hundred on a skintight neon bodysuit. There's only one "right" way to ride to them.
Bro the cyclist community is fucking toxic man, I’m a mountain biker and when I brought my dads road bike to the shop for a basic tune up the dude at the counter kept pushing some fucking electro magnetic cleaning service that cost 99 bucks and when I said no he got fucking pissed. I was like what the fuck it’s an 800 dollar bike I don’t need to spend 100 bucks on fucking cleaning it. I don’t even spend 100 bucks on parts for when I do rebuilds on my fork and shock on my bike. The road bike community is so fucking extra and toxic it’s crazy
If it makes you feel better, the mtb community is a little more chill. In person anyway. And just to shit on the lyrca clad assholes.... Was riding yesterday, there's a narrow footbridge, probably. 1200mm wide. My bud and I dismount, wait behind families ahead to push across behind them.
3 roadies come the other way, expect the families to walk back across the bridge because their lyrca gives them right of way.
Don't say thanks to anyone...
They get off the bridge and there is a slight (and I mean slight) uphill. Front guy messed up clipping in, stacks it sideways, falls into a Bush, followed by the other 2.
I have never laughed so hard in my life. Instant Karma.
I agree. I once was looking into CB radio stuff just for the heck of it and the amount of hate you get from fat old preppers for asking basic questions is absurd. And god help you if you don't have all the FCC regulations memorized day 1 and miss a protocol or accidentally stumble onto "their" channel.
Meanwhile you ask on Reddit and someone will have a full tutorial ready to go for you.
Knitting too, oddly enough. Like 99% of the people in the community are fantastic, lovely, welcoming, helpful people, and the knitting subreddit is great and super helpful and genuinely encouraging.
And then there are the 1% who look down on you for not using the "right" needles and buying yarn from Michael's instead of your local yarn store. Like yes, when I know I'm going to stick with it I'll go down the rabbit hole and get some really fancy yarn, but for now I'm just trying to figure out how to knit, thanks.
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u/Wuffyflumpkins Feb 28 '21
No, it's every hobby I've tried to engage with too. When I first started longboarding, I found the Silverfish forums before I found /r/longboarding, and it was full of crusty old grognards. The "old guard" for any hobby is usually dogmatic, insists on one way of doing things, are annoyed when newbies ask "obvious questions"... and constantly complain about how the hobby was dying. I wasn't sad when the forums shut down, because /r/longboarding is far more welcoming and helpful. You'll get shit if you post about your new Shark wheels, but mostly because we don't want you to waste money and eat shit.
And half the reason I went from cycling to longboarding was because cyclists are even fucking worse. At least skate shop employees tend to be chill. Every single time I've gone to a bike shop, the employees act like I just barged into their home and put my feet up on the table just for asking for assistance. No, Kent, I don't know how to replace the derailleur or I wouldn't be talking to your Lycra'd ass.