MacGyver101 wrote:Piotr, it sounds like you personally were given a rough time at LP101... that sucks, and I am honestly sorry to hear that.
I was not one of the people that was ripped off by Frank Spencer/Romstar. I don't like the guy on principle and I don't like lp101 on principle either.
Romstar hasn't posted anything on LP101 in over half a decade.
I know, so what? This isn't just about Romstar, its about the culture of a forum that enables him and others like him. Remember Schuyler Towne -- the person that pissed away over US$80K. He was also a darling of lp101 so it would have been impossible to criticise him on that forum.
Web communities change a lot in that amount of time: Keypicking didn't even exist back when Romstar last logged in on LP101 (many of the older community here were members of EZP at the time).
It's the same as it ever was because the managment is the same and the ethos is the same.
I don't think I've ever done anything to offend you,
Other than imply that I made up the whole thing about "digital_blue method". No.
and I'd hope you'd not paint me with a broad brush, based on the actions of some other jerk from six year ago that I don't even know.
You've decided to defend the toxic in-group/out-group culture of lp101. You are doing so voluntarily and you are doing so to demonstrate your in-group cohesion -- more
groupthink.
I've never witnessed group chanting about the "digital blue method" on LP101. (In truth, I've searched and I can't find even one post that refers to it by that name.)
You not noticing this is another example of
groupthink. You don't want to notice it because it would upset in-group cohesion.
A very effective method of learning is what most of us call the digital_blue method. This is a practice method made popular by the admin of Lockpicking101.com that involves picking partially-pinned locks and working up.
Source:
http://www.theamazingking.com/lock-spp.phpHe didn't break any new ground in that particular tutorial, but he did take the time to write a good lesson plan for beginners...
He just paraphrased the PP exercises in the 2nd edition of Weber's
Locks, Safes and Security. The exercises he describes do not represent any form of innovation or extension such that they merit the title "digital_blue method". It's just PP as it has always been known. But no-one dares post on lp101 what I just posted because (a) the forum is pervaded by a sycophantic stench emitted by those that are eager to join the "Adanced Section"; and (b) those that are in the "Advanced Section" fear being cast out, expelled from the in-group so the sycophantry persists even there. In other word because of
groupthink. The very same reason no-one criticised Frank Spencer/Romstar or Schuyler Towne.
Further to the point, why do you think that post editing is disabled on lp101? Do you recall the events that led up to the edit button being disabled? I do. It was because departures from the forum were so rancorous and laced with resentment that the departing erased their own posts. How can it be that those that at one point contributed substantive content apparently out of a generosity of spirit then want to take it all back in an angry and destructive rage? This is yet another aspect of in-group/out-group social psychology. The now disenfranchised members were motivated to make their contributions by a desire to gain admittance to the "Advanced Section" (or whatever the fuck it is called). There was no genuine desire to share knowledge or anything that noble. The primary motive was becoming a member of the in-group. When the threat of expulsion appears the tribute that was offered to become a member is withdrawn. For this reason the edit facility was removed. So content deletion in a fit of rage on a lockpicking forum doesn't strike you as odd and dare I say pathological?
and I've pointed people to it myself,
Thereby consolidating the misguided notion that Josh Nekrep made some significant contribution to lockpicking training.
in the same way that we encourage people here to check out mdchurchill's videos on Lishi picks, Kokomolock's tutorials on just about everything locksmithing-related, etc., etc..
But these tutorials don't paraphrase a fundamental of lockpicking and label it "The Kokomolock Method" or the equivalent. Do they?
I do understand that names matter, though, and they sometimes can rub people from other groups the wrong way. For example, I automatically think of Matt Blaze whenever I think of the type of attack he described in his "Rights Amplification in Masterkeyed Mechanical Locks" paper... and yet I know that older locksmiths call it "The Dayton Method", after the fellow who'd first popularized it within professional locksmithing circles, and feel that Matt Blaze somehow ripped him off. Everyone has their own community members that they like to recognize for their contributions.
At the least, Blaze's presentation and analysis was original. No such thing can be said of the "digital_blue method", it's just a moribund description of plain vanilla progressive pinning.
Anyhow... all that aside, I'm not looking to engage in some sort of "us versus them" debate. I'm just respectfully asking to not be cast into some sort of bucket with some other jerk who mistreated you many years ago.
No, you are trying to defend the norms of the in-group to which you belong. You are contending that Frank Spencer was incidental to the culture of lp101; I'm suggesting that Frank Spencer (and all the other odious characters that have passed through lp101) are a product of that culture. As I already stated, I was not one of the unfortunates that was ripped off by Frank Spencer/Romstar. I have no confidence in the judgement or integrity of anyone that moderates/admins lp101. The absence of any criticism of Romstar when he was active and the failure to criticise Schuyler Towne more recently strips the management of lp101 of any moral authority. I also am confident that the next Schuyler Towne is being cultivated and groomed at lp101, in that sterile
groupthink atmosphere where everyone leaves their critical faculties at the door.