The Ham Rep: "Nags"

So as a bit of a follow up to my article on using GMRS with Ham radios, I recently saw a reddit conversation surrounding using radios, and of course the usual contingent of rule followers showed up to perpetually remind the poster that GMRS with a Ham radio was not legal or if you listen to any emergency traffic you had better make sure you don't TX or YOU'LL BE SORRY... to which the fellow chuckled and called the folks all nags... and I think they were onto something.

By and large... ham radio folks really seem to love their rules, and I use the word "love" intentionally. These folks don't just like rules because it makes their life simpler/better/whatever, they LOVE them. To these folks, rules mean the world to them, blindly, and they need to make sure everyone else respects the rules... even if the ultimate outcome of it is pointless or a reasonably cautious adult can approach the limit of the rules safely... you MUST RESPECT THE RULES, they are FAULTLESS!

Boy... if that isn't love... I don't know what is!

Perhaps it's my comfort and history in sports where you can push your limits but live with your consequences... but to me the risk aversion nature of the gorup along with the blind rule following earns Hams their desrved reputation of: nags.

What can we do about it as a hobby? Does it even matter? What is the ultimate goal of Ham, where is it trending, what is it up to and what keeps it appealing in the modern age? That's all above my paygrade, but having a bunch of ancient nags clogging up otherwise reasonable adult conversations sure isn't helping!