Why do people always ask about buying cheap equipment?

[diamond_SEA]

Originally Posted by Greylocks

Very simple; newbies dont read anything, specially NOT the Newbie Guide or the Information section.
When they do, and when they are under 18, they try to find every possible loophole. Then they get pissy about it, cry about maturity, etc.

We see that almost every day, it never stops.

The only solution would be to lock these forums to a Read Only status until age-verified (with options for out of country members). Then they would have no choice but to read and learn.

bad idea, sadly, these noobs will become the next generation of airsofters (scary thought), and as much as we generally stick to shadows of society, promotion of the sport is needed to continue it. Discouragement will not accomplish anything. Every sport has to deal with annoying newbies, airsoft, paintball, r/c car building, stamp collecting, etc...

My suggestion: make the "new thread" button for age verified users. Then they gotta read and search.

[Zilgorn_Zeypher]

Not all new airsoft players are like that however, I'm not defending those assholes that are that way but for me personally I dropped 650 on my first gun and around that much of my gear. My first gun I bought way back when I was 19 working for $8.00/hr it's just the way of things. Most of the current generation is as has been said above and I agree with it, they want everything now and they want it how they want it and F&^%^ everyone else.

[LoricTheMad]

I had expected a few replies. But I honestly expected most people to skip by this thread. I think it's good that people here can reply about something like this and still keep within civility. This answers my questions pretty well.

Thanks.

[Scarecrow]

Cheap is good when you don't have money. Simple as that.

[Farmboy]

Still compare my $60 SIR mailorder tacvest to my 204 tactical plate carrier... there is almost no comparison.

Try comparing both of those to Tactical Assault Gear, High Speed Gear, Eagle etc.

A lack of awarness about what is out there and how much the quality differs.

At one event I have an "EAGLE" CIRAS (I put that in quotation because I see lots of guys advertising that they want one or have one for sale for $150 and don't even bother to add that it's a "REPLICA", not that knowledgable buyers wouldn't know by the price)...anyway, I had one on display and I had someone come over who was very familiar with the Phantom replicas. Well the drool coming out of his mouth was quite a bit and he said something like "No wonder it costs so much, it is amazing, it's way beyond the replica"

Until you get your hands on all levels of gear, equipment etc then people will make up their mind on price alone.

For some it comes down to trying something new and they don't want to drop a fortune on something they might not stick with.

It also depends on what their buddies recomended, "Oh I bought such and such at this place and it's the sh%$"

All you can do is smile and nod

[ScottMcLeod]

There's a difference between CHEAP and finding a GOOD DEAL.

I've never been able to afford new guns here, but I've managed to snag just about every good deal that's come my way. Why? because with a little TLC, even a beater gun can be reliable.

My SR-16 cost me 280$ with mags and batteries.
My Beretta Cost me 200$ w/ mags
My MP7A1 Cost me about 300$ + shipping w/ mags & batteries
My Glock 23 Cost me 125$ish

All of these guns work, most of them were pretty reliable, and the first two got me many hits before I got myself out of the sport a few years ago.

I met a guy at TTAC3 the other night that had an MP5K PDW that was shooting 320ish, came with a locap, hicap, battery, charger, EVERYTHING, for about 325$CDN imported from the states. Echo I believe was the brand? Nice gun for the money, and they apparently copy more than just MP5K's.

Yes, this sport is expensive, but as for the guns, they're only expensive if you buy them new, or buy the FIRST gun that pops up, without being a little patient.

Gear and accessories on the other hand...

[Styrak]

If you don't want to commit to a gun, go out to a game and look at /touch /try out /rent a gun and see what they're like.

[ScottMcLeod]

Originally Posted by Styrak

If you don't want to commit to a gun, go out to a game and look at /touch /try out /rent a gun and see what they're like.

+1

Vondnik lent me his guns the first time I was out. I bought an MP5 off of REXTER the following week with 10 lowcaps and thigh rig, and stuff for under 500$.

[MrEvolution]

Originally Posted by Greylocks

Very simple; newbies dont read anything, specially NOT the Newbie Guide or the Information section.

I think we should move these areas to the top of the forum list.

[Greylocks]

Originally Posted by diamond_SEA

bad idea, sadly, these noobs will become the next generation of airsofters (scary thought), and as much as we generally stick to shadows of society, promotion of the sport is needed to continue it. Discouragement will not accomplish anything. Every sport has to deal with annoying newbies, airsoft, paintball, r/c car building, stamp collecting, etc...

My suggestion: make the "new thread" button for age verified users. Then they gotta read and search.

What is wrong about read-only? That does force them to read, right? Same as the privilege to post like you mention?
Or are you saying newbies cant read at all?

The only reason this would not work would be if the person cant read. That begs to ask that if they cant read, what are they doing on the internet?

If you can read this site, you CAN find out the following; what to buy, where to buy it, age required, places to play, and lots of contacts/events to go get verified or learn more. I dont see a problem there, just a lot of advantages.

[Greylocks]

Originally Posted by MrEvolution

I think we should move these areas to the top of the forum list.

It used to be, and guess what...

As far as going to games, like I always repeat, what better way to learn/see/handle the really good and proven guns is there? We dont have stores where we can drop in, and I know for a fact that other players dont mind at all talking about their equipment in person.

Few like to type for hours trying to describe something that can be talked about in 5 minutes. Fewer still like to type the same shit every day (I know, guilty of that one). But if newbies read the basic stuff, these repetitions would be far fewer.

[SuperCkicken]

meh, i dont think read only is the best way to go about it, anyone ever go on the stupid garys mod forums?

if not this is how it works, or so i believe it does (havnt been on it in a while)
you start out when you join with a certain level of intelligence points, everytime you say something retarded you lose some, and you need a certain amount of points to be able to post and even more to start a thread, so before you can start posting threads like crazy talking about MAKE MY MIND UP FOR ME, you are forced to make a few intelligent points prior.

(however the gmod forums do lower ur intelligence for impror grammer, effing soup nazis)

but im sure this system would require alot of work for the admins, and i dont think anyone not getting paid, should have to do that much work reading every post
(an appology to anyone who actually read my whole post)

[Greylocks]

It's impossible to check each post, that would be a full time job.

But it IS possible to make the forums read-only until you are age-verified. It is already used for the classifieds except in this case folks would still be able to Read the important information AND find out more through the links.

Again, if you can type, then I guess you can read. If you can read, you can find all you need to know on these forums until you are age-verified. If you are from outside Canada, an email to a mod should suffice.

I really want to hear why this would not work, or why a teenager would suddenly say he/she cant cope with this (because, well, they would have read this comment, right? Means they can read more, right?).

The system is already mostly in place (age-verification) to full see a section of the forums, so just make the rest of the forums read-only until verified.

It works elsewhere, quite well too. You should see how calm and idiot-free those forums are. Also how really informative the posts are.

[Dracheous]

Greylocks, a lot of that is just bullshit and non-sense.

First, not only new players try to save a buck, just look at ALL the business Huang is getting for cheap products that do the job we need them too. Heck even some of the "Old" players are buying just to save $100 in gear, accessories etc etc. So that theory is out the window.

Second, making this site a "READ ONLY" site would pretty much kill the idea of it being a "Forum." Also, it would just make said persons go to another website where they CAN interact with people. ASC is only considered the "Hub" of airsoft due to the fact that it has so many people signing up too it. Remove the forum bit to it and it will all but die, seeing as there are SO many other forums out there just for the Canadian Market. And not to mention the "loop-holes" teens will jump to get "Out of Country Status" to by-pass age-verification. Making the system more complicated NEVER works out the kinks.

Third, its not your site, and frankly if the mods/admins/owners and so on did not heed your advice, why continue saying the same idea over and over for several years. Its not going to happen because forum admins don't want the forum to die. Kill the new members, kill the forums.


Fourth, Look how long it takes to get people age-verified JUST for classifieds, imagine multiplying that 10-20 fold, you want a full time job? Forget just trying to read every post, start trying to catch up on the people that are waiting to get age verified ((Yes, its a BIG back up, that's why you see a thread a day "Where is my verification!? ))

[Greylocks]

My point is they can still read about what is available. There is the Reviews section, the links to retailers, etc.

However, feel free to answer all their questions if my idea is not acceptable.