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How many Survival Sites do we need?

Strange post on TheSurvivalList Blog on whether there are too many Survival blogs out there. The comments range all over the place with some saying there can never be too many to some saying that there are way too many, the main issue seems to be that many of them are giving out false or untested information. It is a strange post really.

I left the following comment;

My view is that people come to these sites to pick up information and like the Internet itself some of that information is specific, some is heavily biased and some is actually rubbish. Your rely on other commenter’s, common sense and life experience to work out what is worth listening too and what needs to be discarded. The original articles and the discussions all widen your knowledge regardless of whether it is relevant to your own situation. It may also give you ideas for other areas where you have not considered some options.

In addition some sites have very narrow remits, looking at survival in specific areas, deserts, jungles etc. My own site looks specifically at the UK and only really has, slight, relevance to the suburbs in the US.

In saying that I only visit about 20 sites myself. These are sites I like and am happy with the information and the discourse. I’ll visit new sites as I find them but if after a few visits I don’t like the content then I knock it off my list.

However, considering that this is a US site following the American Way I am surprised that they consider that there can be too much of anything. The market will decide what works and what does not work and many survival blogs have fallen by the wayside over the years already. Here in the UK there have been many survival sites set up in the past yet none exist at this time although there are still shops and businesses set up to service survivalists and preppers. In the US people actually make a living from their sites and even ordinary bloggers make income from their sites whilst over here there is little chance of that. I pay for my own hosting for this and my other sites from my own income.

Considering our close ties with our American cousins we have an entirely different way of looking at things. I suspect it is because we have never had the freedoms that are the basis for the American Way in this Socialist country and coupled with the high taxes we pay to fund that wasteful monster. For example there is a market for bulk foods yet it is really an unserviced area. It seems that there is nothing offered and we just sit back and say ‘Oh well’. In the US people demand things and are willing to pay. Although as their country slides into Socialism I wonder if there will be changes in their business practices. I suspect that their mindset will not change that much too quickly.

Anyway, I’ll still be looking at servicing the very small niche market in the UK until this site is no longer needed.

6 comments to How many Survival Sites do we need?

  • Luddite

    “Here in the UK there have been many survival sites set up in the past yet none exist at this time….”

    Try P2S for a really good, UK based survival/prepper website and forum.

    (Found a link to your blog from thesurvivalistblog.net.)

  • Skean Dhude

    Luddite,

    Welcome and thanks. I’ve been around for a while and not seen that site before.

  • Luddite

    Thanks for the welcome. I like your site, it has the makings of being a great resource.

  • Skvez

    It would be more *efficient* to have just a few survival sites. But as survivalists we know the dangers of optimising for efficiency. Just-in-time is ‘efficient’ but as soon as something happens it becomes ‘just-too-late’. Having just one food crop may be more efficient but ask the Irish how that worked out when potato blight hit several years in a row (1845-1852).
    More sites gives more diversity and more redundancy. Permitting smaller sites (like this one) to support comments where more mainstream sites (such as http://www.survivalblog.com) would be overwhelmed with comments if they were permitted.

  • Skean Dhude

    Luddite,

    Thanks for that. Hope that it works out that way.

    Skvez,

    Not only that but sometimes the ‘right’ answer is different for everyone. I’m not trying to tell people what to do but explain how I am looking at it and how to work out what is best for them. The US sites are good but they cover a wide variety of environments from well below freezing to desert and everything that is supported by those environments. In the UK the range is much smaller and we are heavily populated so that narrows our requirements down a lot.

    As far as comments go I like them, I don’t know everything and they keep me on the straight and narrow. As for Survivalblog, JWR still has to process them and that must be a full time job.

  • Normal4Norfolk

    Hi guys

    I’m new to your site .I have checked out hundreds of different sites over the last 2 years and yours is the only one I have registered too.Everyone is sharing what they know and I have picked up some really useful stuff….not many nasties but there are always people out there who think its their right to put others down and they usually miss the point in the process.
    Thanks for being there.I was feeling a little isolated since in the UK we don’t/can’t do the gun thing (though I am a good shot with an air rifle and help sort the neighbours rat problem occasionally)and my family do think I’m a tin foil hat crazy.
    NFN