“I don’t even turn the thing on. Too many commercial charter captains yammering on about nothing” my uncle said, motioning toward the CB radio tucked under the dash of his fishing boat.
That day, we caught 5 Mahi-mahi, the longest of which clocked in at over 45 inches.
Fast forward two days. My uncle decided to pay a professional to take us out fishing for Cobia. “That’s how you learn” he said to me, winking.
On the charter boat the CB radio was featured prominently, with our captain contributing to the banter about where the good spots were, and where to avoid. Much of the back-and-forth was punctuated by our captain telling us—off-air—how full of sh** the guy on the other end of the radio was.
We went on to catch exactly zero Cobia that day, with a pro. An insider.
There are insiders and outsiders in every field.
I’ll take being a CB radio outsider with a cooler full of Mahi-mahi any day.
As a old-enough-to-know-better WordPress developer, I find myself approaching communities like the core development Slack channel and the Advanced WordPress Facebook group with a certain level of intimidation, knowing that my piping up there is akin to the rookie fisherman weighing in over the marine radio on the best brand of spinning reel–marginally helpful at best.
So I mostly just keep my head down, and keep reeling in the Mahi-mahi of engaged, happy users and raving five-star reviews.
There’s a place for contributing and collaborating, some day. But until I’ve got a few more fish in the cooler, it’s best for me to focus on fishing.