One thing that the internet has brought to society is the ability to communicate in a cyber world within nanoseconds of the enter key being depressed by the user. This gives the person unlimited access to the exchange of information at their fingertips and as such there are numerous firefighter forums that we, as firefighters can engage our fellow firefighters in whether its debate, sharing training information, discussing various calls that we go on, etc. I personally have visited numerous sites and decided that I’d share with you my experiences and give you my personal rating on each major sight I have visited. The rating will be on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest rating. I’ll also include their web address so you can visit and make your own determination.
Firehouse.com - The website is very user-friendly and easy to use and has numbers separate forums on different topics you can use. There are forums for volunteer, career, paid-on-call, training, and the like. From my experience, they don’t appear to generate a lot of traffic forum-wise but most of the posters in the forum are legit about having honest and frank discussion, tho’ there are a few flamers and trolls in there which the moderators are quick to address. Web address: www.firehouse.com Rating: 4
Nassau Fire Rant - Before you get any negative ideas, Rant stands for: Resources. Articles. News. Training. I must say that this is one of the most clear-cut interesting firefighter forums where you can have genuine dialog on firefighting. It is volunteer-friendly and those registering are told up front that if they are there to bash volunteers, they are wasting their time. The site has a nice layout and is very easy to navigate. Posting can be tough to start up as there appears to be a waiting period before the administrators will give you posting privileges. The members who post in there appear to be a friendly lot and I’ve yet to observe any animosity among the posters. The moderators obviously ride heard on anyone violation the TOS. If you are desirous of having good open dialog about the fire service, then this is the sight for you! Web address: http://www.nassaufdrant.com/ Rating: 5+
EMT Bravo.net – They have a nice design and layout of the website. Register and fill in the information they ask of you and your good to go. Unfortunately that’s where it ends. The clientele if you will, are composed mostly of very vocal Westchester/Fairfield County, NY career firefighters, some volley-wanna be career firefighters from the Greater Metro NY area in addition to a few brave volly’s who venture into the inner sanctum of this website. A great many of the posters in the forum are anti-volly and make it known to all present. Additionally, they engage in a great deal of censorship in that forum and while they have a perfect right to do so since it is privately owned, it nonetheless it discourages open and honest dialogue. To their credit, the moderators do attempt to maintain some level of decorum in there, but if your one of their “Outstanding Member Award Winner” they tend to leave you alone and I’ve read complaints on censorship in there. If you’re career, like copious amounts of whining and enjoy reading and/or engaging in volunteer bashing, then you’ll be in your zone. Volunteers, wear helmets when posting! Web Address: www.emtbravo.net Rating: 2-
New York City Fire.net – This forum is maintained by NYFD members and is more of a place to share information on alarms attended; there is some union politics on the forum, but as NYFD is unionized it is to be expected. They appear to be volunteer friendly; probably since they don’t feel threatened by volleys and many of them are two-hatters in the towns they live in for those who live outside the city. The site is user friendly and well laid-out and is relatively easy to navigate. The only thing missing more or less is participation from more firefighters. Its an excellent site for discussion on fire ground tactics-city style and news of rescue efforts, which in NYC is a constant given the amount of runs they engage in. Its definitely worth a visit to the web site. Web Address: www.nycfire.net Rating: 3
The Watch Desk.com – Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse. A quick visit to this website found that while they have separate forums for every state, most of the traffic is generated from Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Orange County, New York. And with the exception of Orange County thread, all of them, almost to the man, fight with each other, whether they are career or volunteer. If you’re a church or temple going person, you’d best stay out of the site as the language in there is worse then a sailor cursing after a night out in a bar. There is a constant exchange of “colorful metaphors” between the posters in there. The moderators maintain absolutely no control over what is said and done in there and as such, the posters run wild. Its amazing, when you think of it, that some of our brother (and yes, sister) firefighters have not met up and come to blows over some silly argument. Website design and navigation is less then desirable. If I were the owners, it’s high time to retool the sight, clean up the language and jettison those who refuse to comply. Normally I would have given them a “0” for rating but since Orange county thread is rather civil, they merit at least something on the chart. Enter the website at your own risk! Web Address: www.watchdesk.com Rating 1+
There of course are many more out there, including numerous satellite forums of the ones discussed here. And while this may generate some flack from the owners of some of the forums towards me, this is something I felt that firefighters, both volunteer and career need to be made aware of.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment