Many of our readers may not be old enough to remember a time when the internet was a wonderful world of promise, where folks with knowledge and a passion to share could stake a claim in cyberspace and share that knowledge with anyone who had a similar interest. There may have been some banner ads or links to other retailers, but there were no clickbait headlines that are completely misleading and borderline fraudulent, there were no paywalls in order to read anything more than the first paragraph, and there were pictures and content that were generated by an actual person and not artificial intelligence. My dear readers, I proclaim today, that the internet is broken.
The funny thing is that I myself, the founder and president of Sniper Central, have made my career on the internet and in the technology realm, but yet I have seen this demise transpire over the past ten years as the internet transformed and was slowly morphed by the titans of the industry into this bastard child of freedom of thought and the greedy bean counters of behemoth corporate overlords who are abusing the tenants of capitalism. We yearn for the days when you could type a search phrase in a search engine and enjoy perusing the various links to the results that would take you to unique little corners of the web where you could see what different individuals were doing and sharing. This was the very tenant that Sniper Central was founded on. The sharing of a passion of various individuals who had some experience with a unique aspect of the military and law enforcement realm and were willing to put in the effort to share what others may not have the opportunity to experience, or to help other practitioners make decisions and continue to improve their tradecraft.
So it is with pride I declare that while the internet is broken, Sniper Central is not. You will still see a few ads on the site, but we refuse to put up paywalls and ESPECIALLY refuse to put up click bait articles just to get people to click in to a page to try and generate advertising revenue. We promise to continue with thought provoking articles on the status of sniping in the world today, especially as it continues to evolve, and we promise to continue with products reviews that are thorough and focused on sniping. Not to mention historical articles, fieldcraft guides, writeups on unique kit, and even industry visits. If you think this is of value to you, and you have a little bit of spare coin to donate to keep the Sniper Central cause going, then by all means, purchase something from the store, or donate by clicking the donate button. But we also understand you may not have any spare coin to give and things may be tight, we get it, we have been there, and so I say enjoy all of our content at no cost, that was the original purpose of the world wide web, the free sharing of information and experiences.
I recognize that this article was just a rant, but it was one that has been bothering me for years. The internet used to show so much promise, it used to be a wonderful place to learn and share and grow…that seems to have died, it is broken. So I encourage folks to support those “mom and pop” internet sites, not just Sniper Central, but any of those old school places where folks are dedicating time and energy to share unique knowledge and experiences to anyone who will listen. Not just the regurgitated headlines that were simply reorganized in a different way by an algorithm. True, thought provoking opinions and insights by folks with experience. Help preserve at least some small parts of the internet, find your favorite places out there on the web, and keep visiting!
Mel
Sniper Central
Leave a Reply