Wow! 10 years and 2 months I have been here at ICMag! I think I was the 20th member of ICMag.com. Seems like a lifetime! Nowadays I scan over the forums here and it's like a wasteland, a working, productive wasteland, but still a wasteland. So many members with "Banned" under their names. So many more names who just disappeared over the years, and especially over the past year or so.
Things sure have changed in the cannabis world over the last few years! Two states have legalized, CNN is mainstreaming cannabis, states are pushing cannabis legislation like crazy... Everything has changed, and is about to change at an even faster rate in the near future.
I believe the existence of websites like ICMag has catapulted legalization and normalization as much -or more than- any other factor. Think about it... thanks to the massive sharing of growing knowledge and wisdom that happened on these sites, there is a LOT more high quality herb out there. What this means is, chances are quite good that people smoking herb for the first time (maybe the first time in years) are, statistically, smoking much better herb than before these websites made sharing grow knowledge possible. When I started at Overgrow.com back in 1999, there was very little truly killer indoor herb around. Most of it looked and smelled like a dream but smoked like a nightmare. The concept of flushing nutrients out of the grow system was very new then, almost completely alien to the cannabis grow community. We know better now, and because of the cannabis growing websites, this knowledge, as well as the trading and sharing of cannabis genetics, has lead to the production of higher and higher quality smoking herbs.
So, have the cannabis growing websites seen their day? Have they done their part? Will they go the way of the Dodo soon? Will they evolve? Clean themselves up, dust off and refocus their purpose somehow?
When one of these sites is new it is like a clean, blank canvas. After a while there are volumes of excellent and helpful information deposited on the site, and a group of well-known and trusted members are established. Some become Moderators, others seed vendors, Mentors, etc. Then something else happens, the same thing that happened to Overgrow.com... TROLLS. And even worse... GROW NAZIS who believe their methods are so far superior to all other grow methods, that anyone who doesn't do it like they do, are a bunch off morons. Now, thinking such things to one's self is ignorant and bad enough, but making it a point to go around the forums and spread hate due to this divergence in growing methodology is... plain annoying.
So, the old guard, original members find themselves swimming in a sea of trolls of all types, from junior trolls, mid-grade trolls and mega trolls, to master trolls and even mega master rat trolls. The original, laid-back members get tired of the meaningless bickering between the troll camps, and next thing you know, the ship is overrun by trolls.
Now we have an ICMag that is somewhat beaten up, shaggy and limping along. The business leader and founder of the whole operation is in trouble for daring to be free in this Rothschild-run, anti-self determination world, and the dark gloom over the ICMag family persists. Sad.
I don't think these tough times will inevitably lead to a sad ending. I think it will take some radical decision making and some hard work to bring about a renaissance at this site. The great number of "Banned" and former members strewn all over the forums is depressing. It's like walking through the ruins of a great disaster where the locals never bothered to clean up the bodies. They're everywhere, and this trend, if not somehow halted and cleaned up, will make the site more and more depressing to visit. I don't know the answer, but I do believe it's an important problem for the Admin to deal with, soon. Perhaps a new mission statement is in order? A new face? A slight deviation from the current course?
The past 10 years at ICMag have been mostly great years of learning, making friends, spreading the knowledge far and wide. We have helped, in a significant way, to change the world! The work we've done at sites like ICMag continues to change the world. This is all very good, but what now? A slow decline, or a renaissance? Irrelevance, or a revised and modernized mission?
As for myself, I am so very proud to be involved in this movement which is changing the world as we know it for the better. I'm proud to cause betterment in the lives of others by providing the very best herbs I am able to provide. I am proud of all the positive vibrations my herbs have helped to manifest over the years. I'm working on writing for the pot magazines again. The first assignment I'm giving myself is: a review and history of the strain called, Killer Queen.
But first... I need to cuddle with my 2 year old son who is tired and needs some closeness.
cc
Things sure have changed in the cannabis world over the last few years! Two states have legalized, CNN is mainstreaming cannabis, states are pushing cannabis legislation like crazy... Everything has changed, and is about to change at an even faster rate in the near future.
I believe the existence of websites like ICMag has catapulted legalization and normalization as much -or more than- any other factor. Think about it... thanks to the massive sharing of growing knowledge and wisdom that happened on these sites, there is a LOT more high quality herb out there. What this means is, chances are quite good that people smoking herb for the first time (maybe the first time in years) are, statistically, smoking much better herb than before these websites made sharing grow knowledge possible. When I started at Overgrow.com back in 1999, there was very little truly killer indoor herb around. Most of it looked and smelled like a dream but smoked like a nightmare. The concept of flushing nutrients out of the grow system was very new then, almost completely alien to the cannabis grow community. We know better now, and because of the cannabis growing websites, this knowledge, as well as the trading and sharing of cannabis genetics, has lead to the production of higher and higher quality smoking herbs.
So, have the cannabis growing websites seen their day? Have they done their part? Will they go the way of the Dodo soon? Will they evolve? Clean themselves up, dust off and refocus their purpose somehow?
When one of these sites is new it is like a clean, blank canvas. After a while there are volumes of excellent and helpful information deposited on the site, and a group of well-known and trusted members are established. Some become Moderators, others seed vendors, Mentors, etc. Then something else happens, the same thing that happened to Overgrow.com... TROLLS. And even worse... GROW NAZIS who believe their methods are so far superior to all other grow methods, that anyone who doesn't do it like they do, are a bunch off morons. Now, thinking such things to one's self is ignorant and bad enough, but making it a point to go around the forums and spread hate due to this divergence in growing methodology is... plain annoying.
So, the old guard, original members find themselves swimming in a sea of trolls of all types, from junior trolls, mid-grade trolls and mega trolls, to master trolls and even mega master rat trolls. The original, laid-back members get tired of the meaningless bickering between the troll camps, and next thing you know, the ship is overrun by trolls.
Now we have an ICMag that is somewhat beaten up, shaggy and limping along. The business leader and founder of the whole operation is in trouble for daring to be free in this Rothschild-run, anti-self determination world, and the dark gloom over the ICMag family persists. Sad.
I don't think these tough times will inevitably lead to a sad ending. I think it will take some radical decision making and some hard work to bring about a renaissance at this site. The great number of "Banned" and former members strewn all over the forums is depressing. It's like walking through the ruins of a great disaster where the locals never bothered to clean up the bodies. They're everywhere, and this trend, if not somehow halted and cleaned up, will make the site more and more depressing to visit. I don't know the answer, but I do believe it's an important problem for the Admin to deal with, soon. Perhaps a new mission statement is in order? A new face? A slight deviation from the current course?
The past 10 years at ICMag have been mostly great years of learning, making friends, spreading the knowledge far and wide. We have helped, in a significant way, to change the world! The work we've done at sites like ICMag continues to change the world. This is all very good, but what now? A slow decline, or a renaissance? Irrelevance, or a revised and modernized mission?
As for myself, I am so very proud to be involved in this movement which is changing the world as we know it for the better. I'm proud to cause betterment in the lives of others by providing the very best herbs I am able to provide. I am proud of all the positive vibrations my herbs have helped to manifest over the years. I'm working on writing for the pot magazines again. The first assignment I'm giving myself is: a review and history of the strain called, Killer Queen.
But first... I need to cuddle with my 2 year old son who is tired and needs some closeness.
cc
