First you said this:
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I reported him but dont have a pic so I doubt anything will become of it.
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Then you said this:
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I am just passing on what I know to help all of us wheelers take care of our own so the athorities dont have to close more of our muched needed trails. I know we cant stop everyone but I figure if we can pass on info that we have we can work together to stop some of it. If that offends any one here I am sorry.
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Sounds rather contradictory to me. First you said you reported him then you said something about policing our own so the authorities don't have to be contacted.
You handled this incident extremely poorly. The first thing you do is tell someone what they did was wrong. Face to face. You explain to them it was wrong. Tell them the ramifications of their actions. Most people will understand this and will think twice next time. If the person decides to say, "but everyone else does it, why does it matter" or something of the nature that's when you report them. Reporting someone otherwise does no good. The first thing it does is alienate the offender and make them care even LESS. Next, it puts the fact that this is happening on the books. When things get on the books environmental groups really love it. Little is done to the offender the first time. It isn't until a bunch of incidents stack up against them that something might be done. So, if someone is a proven asshat, then report them. Otherwise keep the popo out of the loop.
Fellow offroader pressure is far more efficient and effective. It has a daisy-chain effect that propagates throughout. When someone gets a call out of the blue from the police because they were toying around on a closed road the first thing they think is some wretched environmentalist got a bug up their butt. That just causes more hate, less respect, and more chances of the guy doing the same crap again.
Ostracizing someone the first time they do something isn't the way to go about it either. If they've got a track record of doing it then fine. Otherwise you're just making the sport as unfriendly as any other. Just remember to tell someone why they shouldn't be doing it. Just telling them it is wrong is retarded.
On another note, I find it entertaining that you came here assuming the worst. Groups meet up on the trail all the time. In fact, I bet it happens more often than not. I know when I go out in the woods I always meet up with somebody because either they're going slower than me, faster than me, or they're looking for someone to recover them. Sometimes, as a group, you do things you wouldn't normally do. It's a side-effect of groupthink. The larger the group, the dumber the group can often be seen as true.
I can tell by your choice of words that you find the non-Jeep guys offensive. But that isn't a real issue. It may be the reason why you actually put forth the effort to come here in this case though. Perhaps that's why you came here to tattle. I don't know. I don't have beef with tattle tales unless they're whiners. With a little bit of luck this entire thread will tell people how to better handle such situations and how it is imperative that we police ourselves. Policing ourselves doesn't mean be Johnny Dogooder either, that'll get you labeled as a pest and you won't ever have any respect and won't be taken seriously.
