Tank Saftey

[Ten-Shot]

EDIT: Wrong forum my B

Why the bloody hell is that thread gone. I know it's "old news" and marked it off as that myself but then read a post in another forum on HPA + oil =fire incidents. And, oh by the way, that was "old news" too. This site gets more newbies than any other on the internet. Why the bloody hell arn't we educating them in more than how agg gear is? We know full well that new players who get just a little bit of information on the web think they are air smiths. They have no clue what the repercusions to dicking around with their gear is and the industry sure as hell isn't going to tell them. In my recollection they've consistantly supressed such saftey warnings in fear mommy and daddy won't let their little kid play.

Lets not follow the same path. I know I'm not a mod here anymore, which is completely understandable and fine, and thus don't have much of a say in the way these forums are run. But why do we have one of the most BS stories I've ever read about some retarded kid losing an eye, which anyone who has ever played at the lowest grade field knows and nothing whatsoever about tank saftey, goggle saftey, or overshooting saftey.

In addition to my old thread on Co2 saftey being deleted/let go I see no goggle saftey which I'm almost sure we had stickied. Those things NEED to be replaced once a year or the SECOUND they begin to wear. I see no thread talking about what wear even looks like and the your average newb its just "scratches." I see no threads on how overshooting someone can cause their goggles to break even if new (Skyball, late 90's). I see no thread on how a player got a concusion from being shot multiple times in the rear of the head at a novice tourny.

Stickey seperate saftey threads in the paintball talk forum because, as we all know, thats where all the people go. Most new players don't even bother with new player/welcome forums. And for Gods sake don't put them all in one abritrary "saftey" thread and hope people will read it. Put them in sperate threads, with scary names "fatal air tank incidents" "improper goggle matinance leads to eyes being shot out" "concusion and goggle breakage from overshooting"

It's more than fair to say that these are FAR more important than the majority of threads presently stickied. Paintball fitness? How paintballs are made? trigger pull games? the official guess the gun thread? Stickies arn't their to reduce continously obnoxious subjects, they are their to point out IMPORTANT issues. Saftey is more important, or at least it used to be.

I'm consistantly told (now and before) that readers of this forum have a 5 secound attention span. So lets not make some obnoxious lengthy thread with a less than credable story about someone playing renegade ball. Wouldn't a thread on someone taking off their goggels to clear the fog at a field be MUCH better. Or someone losing their goggels because skirimish thinks it's an awsome idea to use cable wire as the out of bounds tape, and losing their eye because they didn't roll into a ball and cover their eyes AND ears.

I've gotten into the habbit of clearly stating my point, giving a short little blirp with the pertanant information, and then going into the details/story. Lets make saftey threads in this manner. Scary, concise, and full of detail for those that need it. Lets remember who were serving, the 14-20 year old newb without a clue and a wealth of incorrect, sometimes dangerous, information in front of him. People are buying on the internet more than ever, and unlike the local pro shop there's no responsible person to inform the new people of how they can injure or kill themselves and others. Lets be that person. Or keep your pointless drivel, and pray you never take some poor kids eye out, or worse get killed/burned by the simpelton.

[NoelyDeezNutz]

eh... yesterday when i was playing... there were a bunch of people who took their masks off while playing... as in, getting shot at, and lifting their mask to yell at the shooter... saying "stop shooting me, Im out..."

i told them everytime i saw it, to keep their masks on untill they are OUT OF THE FIELD.... on the other side of the netting.... know what i got back most of the time? "**** off, ill do what i want, im not stupid"....

but rather than be a complete douche bag, and play against them aiming for constant head shots... i told them they couldnt play on any field we were on.....

i dont get alot of stuff with paintball these days... but than again... i dont get alot of the people who play paintball these days either...

i agree with the NEED for more informative posts on dangers of paintball, in hopes to PREVENT THEM.... paintball already has this negative aura around it... why should we let it get any worse, or even give them a reason for the negative views....

[Ten-Shot]

"agree with the NEED for more informative posts on dangers of paintball, in hopes to PREVENT THEM.... paintball already has this negative aura around it... why should we let it get any worse, or even give them a reason for the negative views...."

"the industry sure as hell isn't going to tell them. In my recollection they've consistantly supressed such saftey warnings in fear mommy and daddy won't let their little kid play."

Incidents happen at profesional fields and professional tournys and the reaction by the industry is "don't talk about it, it's bad for paintball." A short side note, "it's bad for paintball" or "make our sport grow" is groupthink that directly resulted from the propaganda campaign to get paintball on TV. As much as I'd love to rail on that subject I digress, we're talking about a more important issue.

The question is should we let anything whatsoever hold us back from the high standard of saftey we have. If you think that our "image" is more important, or should influence saftey warnings at all, than get out of my game. Now. That's why the incident in the post I made in the other thread occured. in 2002 warpig found this out and the industry said "don't make waves." If you simply don't understand why these saftey warnings have to be portrayed in a negative way allow me to explain.

First off its important to have a scary thread title. Saying "Goggel saftey: what you should know" is not going to attract anyone other than a bored poster who wants something to read. There is no "grabber" or "attention getter" the reaction is "I wear paintball goggels and keep em on." Posting instead "You can lose your eyes even with your goggels on" makes a reader go "Oh poop I better read that." People already know the basics, posting about them is pointless.

Secoundly we have to remember a saftey warning must be negative in order to make it effective. Suger coating it, sacraficing it's impact for this obscure and foolish notion of "somebody can use that against our sport!" is stupid, ignorant, malaice, wanton, low-life, uncaring, etc. Somebody DIED because some 14 year old kid neglegently installed a anti-syphon kit so liquid wouldn't feed into his POS JABB. Somebody is going to die if we don't stress a warning about information we've known from 2002.

An example of suger coating an issue is the stickied "so You think your superman" thread. It's confronting an issue, not wearing goggels, but I ask what are the circumstances? Do they apply to the majority of this forum? If your on this forum it's fair to say that you know to wear only paintball goggels. I doubt someone read that thread an went "oh, my sunglasses won't work" or "WOW! I never thought of wearing goggels before!"

A more negative, and thus more effective way, to state the issue is to apply it to a situation we know our members are far more likely to be in. For example a personal story, I was at surivial new york, some kid was behind a well built V bunker, lifted his goggels away from his face nd used his finger to clean off the fog. His hand was covering his eyes but when he was bunkered from the left side the paint when through the front venting and took out his eye. An incident of blinding, from paintball splatter, with the mask partially on, at a professional field still in existance. How many posters on this forum do you think, honestly, have no clue that could happen. I'd say a bunch.

I was about to go into specific instances in my entire time playing (about 9 years, maybe more maybe less) that situations at professional fields have led to injury or almost lead to injury. Negative warnings all make paintball look bad, but had I not been taught by experienced players before me, I would have been injured. To date I would have lost hearing in my left ear, killed someone with a HPA tank, lost an eye, and HAVE messed someone up badly from overshooting. These saves and misses have been because of paintball players more experienced than myself telling me the real deal, not some suger coated "OUR SPORT YAHH!" rederict.

So I repeate again, if you think our image is more important than educating the uninformed masses that flow through this forum get out of my game. Warnings arn't nice, they never should make paintball look "good" deal with it. The industry hasn't and won't. Flash fires on HPA tanks are still occuring. People still report Co2 tanks rocketing away into trees and walls. We have to pull players heads out of their collective arse and say it's more important to have a safer field, not more players.

[F.T. Phantom]

This may not exactly be the right forum for the topic, but, it is a good topic none the less. If you see a good thread on safety that could use pinning, let me know. I will pin it.

We lost more than a few good threads with the format change.

[Pyrate Jim]

It is a good idea to have something pinned that gives details of safety issues every player should be aware of and watching out for, especially the proper care of eye protection.
Some issues have a metric buttload of misinformation being posted, recent reports of injuries due to mishandling HPA/Co2 tanks is a good example.

Ignorance is cureable, but I won't force anyone into treatment...