Among many other idiotic comments I read this today on youtube:
BelligerentAuthority
1 year ago 2  Hunting slings were typically used to drive prey in a certain area, like towards your hunting buddies who have the spears for poking. Or to drive it under a cliff where a huge rock could be dropped onto it. Of course you could kill small game with it, but for large game it's only a deterrant. And if you could deliver a debilitating wound and track the animal untill it dies that's just as good.
 
   There is so much stupid misinformation about slings on youtube that it's almost comical.  I suppose it's harmless, but it annoys me to some degree.  Before people post comments as if they were some sort of expert they should at least have some faint notion as to what they're talking about.  The way this guy spells should tell you all that you need to know about him!

I completely agree with you  ;)

Yea BelligerentAuthority is a dumbass I must admit, he doesn't know squat about slings.

If people want to learn the real deal, they can come over here.  I'd rather have all of the idiots on you tube than more respectable sites where people may actually believe them.

another youtube comment


that's stupid, your not supposed to make it go over your head, what are you trying to be, a helicopter?

People watch one video of a guy claiming to be an expert and then go to other videos and become "experts" themselves. And now, back to reality...

What gets me is people suspend all common sense and higher reasoning factors when looking at videos. They have an opinion and don't bother looking to see if anything from that video or others might support or disprove what they believe to be true. Bias is not terribly helpful if you want truth.

And yet, youtube has some good videos out there. They may not be perfect but they will open your mind and get you thinking in more direction then just your own. They are at least good for that.  ::)

that's why a lot of people remove the comments function, so that no one can post crap. another youtube video maker Nutnfancy gets some bad rep because he removes anything that is rude or insulting, but it's better than just preventing all comments.

xxkid123 wrote on Jul 27^th, 2010 at 3:48pm:

another youtube comment that's stupid, your not supposed to make it go over your head, what are you trying to be, a helicopter?

those commenters are everywhere around me in real life... arrrrrrgh

I think I might try calling in some 'yotes and taking them down with a sling and make a video for youtube. that should quiet the sling doubters.

It was a YouTube message that the museum sent to contact me and ask to use my videos, so its not all bad :)

Rat Man wrote on Jul 27^th, 2010 at 2:59pm:

Among many other idiotic comments I read this today on youtube: BelligerentAuthority 1 year ago 2  Hunting slings were typically used to drive prey in a certain area, like towards your hunting buddies who have the spears for poking. Or to drive it under a cliff where a huge rock could be dropped onto it. Of course you could kill small game with it, but for large game it's only a deterrant. And if you could deliver a debilitating wound and track the animal untill it dies that's just as good.      There is so much stupid misinformation about slings on youtube that it's almost comical.  I suppose it's harmless, but it annoys me to some degree.  Before people post comments as if they were some sort of expert they should at least have some faint notion as to what they're talking about.  The way this guy spells should tell you all that you need to know about him!

Well, I've seen worse - sometimes posted by people who turn out to be on this forum  ;). But yes, when it's free for all access, and no one is sanctifying the results it pays to take the comments with a pinch of salt. Hones one's critical faculties - a good thing.

In the age of Wikipedia etc. we are in the age of the 'instant expert' - which I certainly find irritating seeing I worked a long time to be a 'real expert' at what I do. At least B.S. on Wikipedia is usually fairly rapidly shot down by others. I think it just means us old fogies have to remind ourselves we're not watching the carefully crafted television documentaries of our youth, but something completely different.

Most non-constructive comments are usually do to pride and/or stupidity try not to let them bother you too much as it will undoubtly continue.  

Quote:

remind ourselves we're not watching the carefully crafted television documentaries of our youth

Lol the carefully crafted documentaries of my youth are the Deadliest Warrior series where they get the real experts on ;)

Lol as said, Youtube comments are full of rubbish, there is a reason they are at the bottom of the page lol All I can say though is Im happy alot of the slinging videos reference or give a link to this site, so if people actually are interested they know where to start.

Nemo

Don't get me wrong.  First, I consider myself a student of slinging, not an expert.  Youtube has some great slinging vids on it, many posted by our members here.  It can be a very valuable learning tool, and has been for me.  David Morningstar, pj, Brian Grubbs, and many others have taught me much through it.  Also, it's turned a lot of people toward us for the correct information.  I just wish the half wits would find something else to talk about.  There are some extraordinarily ignorant "experts" out there.

I don't see what was wrong with the comment.  Were slings not used to drive game to other areas for ambush?  They can certainly kill small game.  I doubt that a sling is going to kill anything bigger than a deer outright.  

After seeing some sword and knife making vids on the science channel, I'd say take anything you see with a grain of salt.  

Sling is a forgotten exotic weapon generally not considered as true deadly weapon, but rather as clumsy toy. People even don't recognize difference between slings and slingshots especially because in many languages the same word is used for both weapons.
However, people usually can't supress their excitment and surprise when seeing real sling in action for the first time.
There are lot of preconditioned assumptions about slings that only our slinging skill can change.

does SLINGING.ORG have a youtube channel ?

I tag all my videos with 'slinging.org' and many other people do too.

me2 wrote on Jul 30^th, 2010 at 10:42pm:

I don't see what was wrong with the comment.  Were slings not used to drive game to other areas for ambush?  They can certainly kill small game.  I doubt that a sling is going to kill anything bigger than a deer outright.   After seeing some sword and knife making vids on the science channel, I'd say take anything you see with a grain of salt.

me2, with all due respect, I can't tell if you're pulling my leg or if you're serious.  I know of no example of slings being used to drive game under a cliff so that a huge rock can be dropped on it or of them being used to drive game into hunting buddies with spears for poking.  A rock half the size of your fist traveling at 100+ mph is certainly more than a deterrent.  Also deer and small game are considered two different things subject to different hunting laws.  Small game is rabbits, squirrels, quail, etc..  Deer are considered large game and a sling can certainly kill a deer.  

Thats what I mean.  I'm sure a sling can kill a deer, but what about elk, moose, bison, buffalo, bear, boar, etc.  Deer are certainly not small game, but I have a hard time believing the other animals above could be cleanly killed with a sling.  Using any method to drive animals under a cliff sounds suspect to me.  Driving animals over a cliff is more believable.  And, with all due respect returned, driving some of the larger animals above to areas where ambush is set seems a perfectly reasonable way to use a sling, given shepherds use of them to keep the flock together and under control.  I know of no instances where slings were used to kill turkeys, but that certainly doesn't mean it didn't happen.  

ishi wrote on Jul 31^st, 2010 at 5:46am:

does SLINGING.ORG have a youtube channel ?

No it does not, but many channels with slinging videos are listed on the FAQ thread in General Discussion.

Though we're not officially affiliated with youtube I don't think it's a reach to say that it's a big part of what we do here.  

It seems like every video has some idiot posting insults to the videos no matter what your watching. If you don't like what your watching then why are you watching it.

Yep, it seems like there are people who spend all day spreading negativity on youtube. One shouldn't take it personally.

Fundibularius wrote on Aug 1^st, 2010 at 3:17pm:

Yep, it seems like there are people who spend all day spreading negativity on youtube. One shouldn't take it personally.

Right.  I watched this guy the other day.  He was covering the basics, as if he were teaching beginners.  I thought that he did an OK job, but he got torn to shreds in the comments.  Idunno.  What do you guys think?  Was he all that bad?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSreXRMhrO4&NR=1&feature=fvwp

There is no excuse for the mindless and insulting comments in some of the replies that have been posted on this clip. Quite a few are merely dumb personal comments about his appearacne etc. and have absolutely no relevance to the content. If anything like them were to appear on this site I and any of the other moderators would instantly delete them and repeat offenders would be banned.

However I don't think that it is necessary to give unthinking approval to every slinger (or whatever the subject matter) merely because we like the fact that he is participating in our sport. Objective criticism can be given if done reasonably and politely. As such, I have also seen this clip several times and am quite surprised by the number of times it has been viewed as both the slinging and the equipment are really quite basic. Bit of a pity in a way as for many it would have been their only exposure to slinging and their impressions formed from a somewhat limited demonstration.

My impressions of the clip are as follows. The sling is too short to give much power with the particular underarm style being demonstrated, the construction really quite rudimentary and not suited to holding a marble which is the ammunition being used. Spherical ammunition rolls around in a flatish pouch and can very easily come out the side prematurely with a rogue shot. Also any marble is really too light to sling effectively. He himself recommends, "an ounce or two", much heavier than a marble.

As for the slinging itself, he needs to rock the sling back and forth to get it started and then has a "crank-handling" style, rotating from the elbow instead of the wrist. This is probably a subconcious attempt to compensate for the overly short sling. Nevertheless it seriously hampers his speed. And when he does release he shaves even more speed off the throw by pulling his shot with his elbow well back, instead of an enlarged movement and a definite follow through.

In summary, he needs a longer sling and more secure ammunition, once the sling's rotation is commenced with a single movement, he should keep his right elbow tucked in close to his hip, forearm out to the side and rotate from the wrist with very little forearm movement. For the final thrust, he should step forward with his left foot and make an enlarged sweeping rotation with his right arm as he releases. By far the majority of the sling's ultimate speed comes from this final thrust and not the preliminary rotations.

As he himself says, excessive preliminary rotations are not required. Doing more does not add at all to the final release speed. However I think one or two allow the slinger to get a better feel for the shot and I don't agree that it's best to release on the initial time around. But whatever number of rotations you decide on it is important to stick to it to give consistency to your slinging. Consistency is absolutely essential to achieve any sort of accuracy.

There are many far better examples of slinging on YouTube, (and many of much worse as well) but most are merely demonstrations not tutorials. I hope that any potential slingers will seek out the good ones to learn from.

Really couldn't agree with you more Aussie...

Although there is nothing wrong with a healthy debate most of these people making these comments seem to me to be really mean-spirited individuals. I have to wonder if the world has become so ridiculous or if the internet brings this out in people that would otherwise just think it and stay quiet.

Morphy wrote on Aug 2^nd, 2010 at 1:22am:

Really couldn't agree with you more Aussie... Although there is nothing wrong with a healthy debate most of these people making these comments seem to me to be really mean-spirited individuals. I have to wonder if the world has become so ridiculous or if the internet brings this out in people that would otherwise just think it and stay quiet.

Thanks for your positive comment.

What the internet provides is anonimity. I doubt if many of the negative comments would be made if those making them had to do so directly. Just cowardice really.

xxkid123 wrote on Jul 27^th, 2010 at 5:51pm:

that's why a lot of people remove the comments function, so that no one can post crap. another youtube video maker Nutnfancy gets some bad rep because he removes anything that is rude or insulting, but it's better than just preventing all comments.

hell no - no comments is the only way to go.
No comments, no reply videos, don't let them use the vids on telly - and probably a couple of other things I switch off.

I think I've only recently started to leave the ranking on.

Okay it's not in the spirit of the weird amorphous uber-organism that mobile phones and social networking is creating. But who cares :-)

Aussie wrote on Aug 2^nd, 2010 at 1:28am:

Morphy wrote on Aug 2nd, 2010 at 1:22am: Really couldn't agree with you more Aussie... Although there is nothing wrong with a healthy debate most of these people making these comments seem to me to be really mean-spirited individuals. I have to wonder if the world has become so ridiculous or if the internet brings this out in people that would otherwise just think it and stay quiet. Thanks for your positive comment. What the internet provides is anonimity. I doubt if many of the negative comments would be made if those making them had to do so directly. Just cowardice really.

I have said the exact same thing many times, Aussie, and not just relating to slinging vids.  Many people will post very ignorant, racist comments on news articles.  I know that these same "people?" would never make the same comments at work, home, church, school, or whatever.  They know full well that they'd be ostracized so they make their idiotic, cowardly comments anonymously.
 I know that the video I commented on above isn't the best on youtube.  But it's certainly not the worst and I can see where it would have some value to a raw beginner.  My question is does it deserve to be torn to shreds as it was?

As I said, certainly not the worst example of slinging but it definitely is fairly basic. I do agree that it would have value to a beginner. However somewhat surprising that he should feel the necessity to make a tutorial style video as the implication is that he is an expert on the subject.

With regard to his being savaged, I think he may have been a victim of pack mentality. Once one "alleged expert" viewing the video who thinks he can do better (sad truth is that he quite possibly can) gets up the courage to post some stupid insulting comment the next idiot has a go and so on, each having to outdo the previous and so it snowballs. Unfortunately, YouTube often has this confrontational type of flavour so it's bound to happen. Doesn't excuse it of course.

Right. I can understand liking or not liking the video.  It's the degree of negativity that surprised me.  Your explanation makes sense.

I think it also is a "mob mentality", I'm ust a face in the crowd and I cannot be held really accountable for my comments.  Bill

Rat Man wrote on Aug 1^st, 2010 at 6:13pm:

Fundibularius wrote on Aug 1st, 2010 at 3:17pm: Yep, it seems like there are people who spend all day spreading negativity on youtube. One shouldn't take it personally. Right.  I watched this guy the other day.  He was covering the basics, as if he were teaching beginners.  I thought that he did an OK job, but he got torn to shreds in the comments.  Idunno.  What do you guys think?  Was he all that bad? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSreXRMhrO4&NR=1&feature=fvwp

the comments where stupid and pointless, however, he did teach it so that it sounded like there was only one way to do it.

I agree with Aussie and xxkid123. You both said everything I would: He isn't the greatest slinger or teacher, but he deserves to be treated with respect. That s90Jimmys90 guy however...
Quote:

thats not how ur supposed to use a sling smart one if ur right handed u have to swing over ur head clockwise and practice from there if ur left handed u have to do it counter clockwise thats how the aztecs did it :)

::) How does he know? He is a kid who posts videos about maiming his siblings with Hot Wheels and wooden guns, so why should people respect his slinging opinion more than nospleen?

He "knows" because he's seen it on Warrior or some equally authoritative show. Of course if it's on TV it must be right so now he's the authority and at liberty to give whatever criticism he feels like. Respect is not in his vocabulary. (Judging from the use of "u" and "ur" another aspiring high school dropout. Probably the inspiration for Sid in the Toy Story movie.)