Perhaps it might help this place out if it had it's own obituaries section and maybe a small spot where people could talk about their illnesses/hard-luck under the guise of a "prayer request" section? After just seeing some of these thread titles its just so much of a bummer I have to go over to Youtube and listen to some James Brown or something?
I think you have a great idea. My prayers go out to all who have lost family ,friends .Many have gone on to be with our Lord ,but we love them ,respect them a and wish they were still with us .
I used to think it was kinda strange that someone would post that they had lost a loved one or a close friend on a traditional hot rod site. I would, most of the time, just skip over those threads. Then, a little over three weeks ago my mother passed away and I became one of those "kinda strange" folks and started a thread about her passing. Oddly enough, reading all the warm wishes and condolence's from everyone made a difference, it helped ease the pain just a little bit. Ryan, I hope that you will leave thing's as they are and I thank you and the mod's for letting these "off topic" posts run thier course. Also, I want to thank everyone that responded to my post and I doubt that I will be skipping those "kinda strange" threads again...
Ditto Jim. I also feel things should be left as they are. Loosing someone is a terrible thing, but it is part of life. Allowing members to post these loses along with the daily business of the HAMB is the real thing. When I'm gone I want to be remember in the mix of "getting a car done", "finding a part", "loving the look of something just found", it's what all of us are here for. Hope this makes sense, I know what I'm trying to say.
Many of us have lost family and friends and maybe never had a family worth a shit in the first place.I see a post saying so and so dies at 93 and all the RIPs and condolences follow.And I think,man to leave a full life and die at 93,shit,most of us won't make 83.So on one hand I say it's a Facebook mentality and you got to tell the whole world..And then I think they are hurting inside and that's how they deal with it. There's a guy here ,BobbyD,he's got just a short time left,and I can shed a tear because he's still alive,barely.............
I don't recall anyone posting such a thread that wasn't tied to hot rodding somehow. Regardless, when hurting we tend to turn to friends. Consider yourself lucky to have such a large group of people who think of you as a friend. I lost my dad, a hot rodder and HAMBer, in December. Hardest time of my life.
There is a social group called the H.A.M.B Chapel you might want to check out. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=186
I for one will never understand why someone needs 100 strangers telling them they are sorry for thier loss or sorry they got sick or whatever.
i hear that! seems kinda creepy when somebody loses a loved one and they're first thought is "i gotta go post this on the hamb" i suggested an obituary page to the mods a while back. i ended up catching shit about my signature instead. and it was shit that i guess i deserved at the time.
Bottom line! a post is like a TV remote if you don't like it,don't watch it, change is just a click away.
Everyone mourns differently. When my sister was murdered in 2000, my hamb buddies rallied around me. I don't have a lot of friends outside of the hamb. Most of my close friends started as "strangers". The HAMB Chapel was started to help people that are having these issues. I would never wish that any hamber would be hurting and we tell him/her to move on and get over it.
I think you should look at this from there angle. Alot of people on here feel as if this is there extended family and in some sense they probably are. I mean we don't get on here to help one another out with there car problems or what ever just to act like no it all's, but to help. And to want to help one another takes feelings for what they are going through. We post hotrod legends when they pass, why not the people in our lives who were our hotrod legends, father, mother, sister, or brother.
I believe losing a loved one whether it be parent,spouse or child is one of the most difficult things a person will ever have to deal with in their lives and for the person who makes that initial post on the Hamb it is way of letting others know how they feel. To some,the Hamb just might be the closest thing they have to a family. I realize these threads are not on topic but I also know that the Hamb membership as a whole are a great support group and do actually care about each other,,a few words of support can and does go a long way when another member is faced with a tragic loss.HRP
Yeah those kind of "OT" posts come up every now and then, no big deal. I thought about posting when my Dad passed last year. He was also a HAMBer. I chose not to because it seemed weird. I've never lost my best car buddy, coach, lending inststution, tool rental, build consultant, midnight tow service, along with many other things he was all at once. A year later I still can't read or comment on a post without thinking of him and his influence on me. Since his passing, I've paid more attention to "those" posts because I got smacked in the face with the reality that there is more to all this than metal, grease, and rubber. Hot Rods and Kustoms don't build themselves.
I think it is a downer, and completely weird. However, I agree with Ryan. Who would want to be the guy to delete the thread or close it when they are grieving? That would just be a dick move and bad ju ju for the soul.
Well said but I respectfully disagree. I can weed through things that I don't like as well as the next guy but that's not what I joined up for either. And while I can certainly be moved by someone else's loss or personal tragedy but I think we all need to be careful about what we air here. Otherwise we'll all be doing a lot of weeding. It's a forum relating to traditional style cars. The H.A.M.B, like so many other things is an extension of all of our collective personalities but I think it should be about the cars.
Seems like the Hamb being a big family of hotrodders doesn't mean anything anymore. Just a dang forum to some that want everything their way. This threads title is proof of that. If you don't like the threads nobody is making you read them.
I have dealt with sickness and death in my family, some well before their time, I understand the grieving process and have compassion for those people. But I come here for traditional hot rod talk, it is my escape from the real world where we have to deal death and sickness. I think maybe there should be a group for obituaries and prayer request and the like but keep the downers off the main board.
There is a Social Group for Prayer Requests. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=186