mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
That's what she said.
Are You Promoting our Hobby in the Best Possible Way
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That's what she said.
What are you doing to promote your hobby? Forget about yourself for a second and consider if what you are doing is helping or hindering others who share the same hobby as you?
- Physical Appearance:
This might vary for some hobbies that have safety requirements or require wearing specific clothing. When undertaking your hobby, are you presentable in your clothing and appearance? While I am not suggesting for one second that you should go out in a three-piece suit, is your clothing neat and tidy? Are you presenting yourself as somebody you would want to talk to? Nobody wants to talk to somebody who looks “rough”.
Recently I was in a local take away outlet where I saw a couple of well know amateur radio operators, they looked like “homeless bums”, they had HT’s on their belt and club tops. They simply were not selling their hobby in a positive light.
Much like how employees are expected to represent their employer in a professional manner when wearing their uniform, should the same not also apply to those who are clearly representing / displaying their hobby (no matter what this is)?
- Attitude:
If somebody came up and spoke to you, would you welcome this interaction and provide them information on your hobby and answer any questions? Do you look for opportunities to both promote your hobby and demonstrate it in a positive light to anybody who shows an interest? Do you avoid the well-known “old boys club” attitude which is so very clear in a lot of radio clubs?
- Language:
Do you speak in a tone and manner which is welcoming, and do you reframe from swearing, especially around children? If you are asked questions, can you answer them in a manner which would encourage more people to join into your hobby or would you be seen as pushing people away?
- Equipment:
Is your equipment stored and used in such a way as to not be a risk to others? Is it well kept and not dangerous? Do you consider other people when setting up in public spaces?
- Online presence:
If you have an online presence (website, blog, Facebook page), is it regularly updated and used to promote your hobby as something other people might like to be a part of?
The key point in all of this is that what you do as an individual reflects on everybody else who also undertakes that hobby, both in a positive and negative way. Much like wearing a uniform with your employers branding, you need to present yourself and your hobby in a positive light.
While it is not right that we all “get painted with the same brush”, the reality is that it happens and what we each do can and does impact how your hobby is seen by the public and can impact others enjoyments of their hobby.
Recently I was out with my family when I noticed a man racing a remote-controlled car at a park, he didn’t seem out of place to start with. Over a short period of time he ran the car at a group of kids and then approached one child, it was clear from the parent’s reaction that this person was not known to this child.
What gets to me is that by a few actions, this person has now made these parents think twice when they see somebody with a remote-control car. What was this guy doing and why did he run his car at the group of kids? What could have been a positive interaction and a chance for this guy to promote his hobby instead turned in to a negative interaction. I know as I spoke to the parents of the child later.
Some hobbies are “mainstream” and easily explained, others look weird or geeky and it is these hobbies which we need to really take the time to paint in the best possible light. Making a geeky hobby more so, does nobody any favours and only pushes it and those who undertake it further in to the edge of society, make the gap even larger than what it needs to be, both now and in to the future.
Be smart and think about what you want your hobby to look like tomorrow and how what you do today is shaping this.
Are You Promoting your Hobby in the Best Possible Way
Blog about radio scanning in the greater Launceston area, covered by the 7250 post code.7250radioscanning.blogspot.com
Apologies if I'm mistaken, and not intending to bash or such, but if i recall you blogged some time ago about wearing high visibility clothes and putting out traffic cones on the side of the road on one of your scanning adventures ? Kind of goes against what your promoting I thought and plenty of potential for a bollocking in these "unprecendented " times.
Agree with the principle, promote any hobby with some care and attention and you'll generally strike up a positive conversation or go unnoticed depending on your intention.
tglendye
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River
I think this "gentleman" filming this video is not promoting the hobby in the best of lights. I think most of us are here because of positive aspects of this hobbie, ie: involved or interested in public safety, interested in radio, etc. This guy is clearly in it to give the cops grief and to be a youtube hero to fellow like thinkers.
N8IAA
Member
People like this are all too common. The one thing I have found is that the second you start taking their picture, all of a sudden the right to photograph/video anything in the public view doesn't apply to them as the subject and they usually go away.
spacellamaman
Member
i had planned to make some joke along the lines of "hey you jerks! quit making fun of me! and take my video down!" but skipping thru it, as there is no way i can force myself to watch all 20 plus minutes of that moron mayhem of his, i think i'll just pass on even that much.
i have no doubt he did have one, but does a scanner ever make an appearance in the vid?
tglendye
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River
I didn't make it all the way through either, but I remember hearing some audio traffic in the background that appeared to be on his person, and I think you can see the scanner a couple of other times.
What I found the most interesting, is all of the comments on YouTube supporting what he was saying. Another reason we are seeing departments going toward encryption.
spacellamaman
Member
yeah, i just missed those parts. i just remember him saying the covered something up, which i have no doubt happens, but darned if i could see where it might apply on this one. yeah the supporting comments seemed pretty cookie cutter too.
the main proof the guy is unhinged is there being a serious situation going down, its broad daylight, there are a thousand cops hovering around a person on the ground, and there he is, the only other non-officer within 100 yards i noted, bout 10-15 yrds away, close enough to be in the way huffin, puffin, and hollerin, which no surprise, is not viewed favorably by the cops.
and if, to use a purely hypothetical example of worst case scenario here, he had just witnessed a summary execution of a little ole lady for felonious jaywalking, his behavior would not help the victim in any way since he is making himself the next target, thereby nullifying any video he took, which would never see the light of day.
I couldn't endure all of it either. It's crazy, %uc#*rs and self-appointed "First Amendment Auditors" that encourage law enforcement to avoid the media. He makes it difficult for any legitimate media to do their job. The guy isn't even remotely articulate in his verbal diarrhea. Knuckleheads like that make me glad I no longer work in the news media.
DJ11DLN
Member
There seems to be an unfortunate tendency for people who have never audited a journalism class to start a blog and dub themselves "media" these days. People like the one who put that video up just make things worse for everyone. I couldn't watch it all the way through either.
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Yeah tough video to watch and I only skimmed through it. Retired now but I remember when I first started as a full-time staff photographer for a large Daily newspaper the old-timers would tell us... Sure you have the First Amendment and all that but you need to work with these guys especially if you plan on staying around here.
Hey we were the guys that carried cameras and scanners but in those days... we wore ties. You never argue or speak to a cop like that if you're a professional and that guy's just a crackpot and those cops know it.
A trick I learned very early was show up at a scene and don't let anybody see you, use a long lens and get all the shots you need for the front page and the inside. Then show up, respect police lines, when a cop asks for a print, provide it, be professional and polite, if one particular official asked you to leave the scene or says no pictures! You just put your hands up in the air and surrender and say yes sir and disengage and retreat.
Meanwhile you have the entire scene on film without them even knowing it. That official that asked you to leave because no pictures allowed... Try to put him on the front page LOL
In more than three-quarters of a century, I've held all kinds of jobs. In the last 50 years, they were in either radio/TV or law enforcement. I'm fortunate that the morals and mores were different back when. Things started to change with the Rodney King incident and ballooned when cameras came with cell phones. I'm glad I'm out of both fields of endeavor.
(And, it's not true that after the Rodney King incident, they enacted the Daryl Gates law that introduced a 3-day waiting period before you could buy a camera. For those that don't remember, Daryl Gates was the LAPD chief.)
(And, it's not true that after the Rodney King incident, they enacted the Daryl Gates law that introduced a 3-day waiting period before you could buy a camera. For those that don't remember, Daryl Gates was the LAPD chief.)
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I remember that. I moved from staff to Chief photographer, I was a writer and a columnist and became a department editor. Many different hats.
What really changed things was, Lady Di's death. We were photographers with scanners and cell phones. We really worked the streets, something that's not really done much now, it's all rewriting press releases and wire shots.
As a decent professional photojournalist who carried a cell phone and scanner along with his Domke bag, I was perceived as a bloodthirsty paparazzi who caused Lady Di's death. That was a rough patch.
EXACTLY!
Here's one of my favorite photo war stories. I was assigned to shoot some exterior photos for the business section of a savings and loan that was being taken over by the Feds. Just so happens it's next door to our office. So I walk over and start photographing (from the sidewalk) the building and the sign. "Joe" security guard comes running out, waving his arms and yelling "no photos". I was wearing my (police issued) press card, standing on the public sidewalk. The guy demands to know what I am doing and I tell him I'm photographing the building and sign. He tells me that's "forbidden by Federal regulations". I, of course, step aside and continue to shoot. The guard is getting more and more agitated and is waving his arms and yelling at me so I switch to the camera with the 20mm lens so as to include him in a few shots.
I get what I needed, then walk back to my building. The guard follows me across my parking lot. I go in the front door and he follows me in, still waving his arms and demanding my "papers". Inside our front door is a security desk. Our security officers were all off duty or retired LAPD. I wave and point to the security guard who is following me through the door, and I go through another door. Our security guard explains, in not so polite terms, how the world works and pretty much kicks the renta cop out the front door.
By way of explanation--There's no Federal regulation preventing photography of federally chartered financial institutions from a public sidewalk. And anyone can photograph anything in public view from a sidewalk, without having to explain their motive. My press ID card was is plain view, and I'm not obliged to submit to interrogation by an ill-informed security guard. We ran a photo of the building with the sign, but not one of the flustered guard, although it did make for some good laughs in the office.
You mean I cant sit at my radio naked ?
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Yeah but after the bank robbery, nobody objects to getting the FBI guy dusting for prints from inside the bank with a reflection of the name of the bank in the window. So many good stories to recount. It was always a job I would have done for nothing even though I got paid well.
Whether you are a hobbyist or use a scanner as part of your job, it is important how you appear in public using scanners. The nitwit in the video is a perfect example of how not to behave and it sullies the hobby and scanner listeners in general even if it's just to law enforcement.
Level-headedness and good judgment always prevail... On a busy day we had a bank robbery and my staff was tied up with sports and other assignments. I was the Chief Photographer at that time so I went to the bank robbery and met with a cub reporter, I got everything I needed... Then he orders me to take a picture of an elderly woman talking with the FBI giving a description of the bank robber and details of what she saw... get a headshot, get a headshot he says, I'll get her name and address.
He was new and he did not know who I was but I just turned to him and told him to **** off and went back to the office.
When you're out with your scanner whether it's for hobby or job it's always a good idea to represent yourself well and not act like that Bozo in the video.
Yes you can but please warn us ahead of time, just in case.
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Sure, just don't live stream it
DJ11DLN
Member
Lots of great info flying around this thread. I've never worked in media but I've been the guy who had to talk to them, on both the LE and Fire/EMS side. I always appreciated it when they were polite and took, "That's all I have, sorry" at face value. I've had to deal with a few, definitely the minority, who were sure that I was trying to put something over on them and they mostly weren't very polite about it. Such people give the whole profession a bad name.
And I see the "no actual reporting, just re-writing releases and statements" thing in most of my local media and it makes me sad. It gets worse when I read it on their website because I missed the broadcast and the spelling and grammar are so bad that they'd have gotten me tossed out of 2nd Grade...
I've also had to deal with "foamers," which is what we always called the people who heard an incident on the scanner and rather than staying away just had to come out and see it for themselves. Some of them will stay out of the way but many just had to get up close and personal, and this has gotten much worse over the years. Once upon a time such people would actually offer to help, now they mostly not only don't want to but they think you have time to show them around the scene and explain everything to them. I've had to have LE remove people from fire scenes because they were interfering and refused to leave, had to have vehicles towed because they blocked the access and the tankers couldn't get back in.
So yeah, I get it...I really do. And I'm also pretty happy that it's all behind me now.
And I see the "no actual reporting, just re-writing releases and statements" thing in most of my local media and it makes me sad. It gets worse when I read it on their website because I missed the broadcast and the spelling and grammar are so bad that they'd have gotten me tossed out of 2nd Grade...
I've also had to deal with "foamers," which is what we always called the people who heard an incident on the scanner and rather than staying away just had to come out and see it for themselves. Some of them will stay out of the way but many just had to get up close and personal, and this has gotten much worse over the years. Once upon a time such people would actually offer to help, now they mostly not only don't want to but they think you have time to show them around the scene and explain everything to them. I've had to have LE remove people from fire scenes because they were interfering and refused to leave, had to have vehicles towed because they blocked the access and the tankers couldn't get back in.
So yeah, I get it...I really do. And I'm also pretty happy that it's all behind me now.
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Remember I'm from the old days. It was all about establishing relationships long-term and dare I say it, Trust. Generally at a fire scene or a crime scene you're not going to get your pointed questions answered immediately you just make sure you have the contact information with the chief or officer in charge, remind them of deadline and you talk later.
Things have changed of course, old school people are retiring off. The nitwits getting kicked out of a scene are not professionals. The powers to be know who the real guys are, sometimes they need us as much as we need them.
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