Scouts are known for knowing knots. How many have you actually used in the past year in your outdoor or indoor adventures? For the purposes of this exercise, let's exclude tying knots for the purpose of training others on the knot. I'm thinking actual practical application.

Throwaway account.

I've been in Scouting for 35 years and served from pack to troop to council boards and committees. How has Scouting changed? I see everyone complaining about the "Big Book of No Fun", YPT, two-deep leadership, and how things were better back in the day.

Here is my rant and reality check

1) "every regulation is written in blood": I sat on my council Risk Management committee. I've seen the reports and seen the changes from National and even ones we put in. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM WAS WRITTEN IN BLOOD OR THE SUFFERING OF A CHILD. Every one. I learned the phrase came from OSHA/safety and it remains true for Scouting. You want to go back to the "good old days" where scouts were injured, abused, killed (as recently as a few years ago with the Hawaii scout camp killing)?

2) Insurance costs money folks and somethings won't be covered for any even unreasonable cost: Related to 1). The single biggest expense we had when I started on council was the summer camp (and we broke even because it was our biggest revenue). Now it is insurance, bar none. Insurance costs because of all the injuries, abuse, death, and claims against National and Councils BEYOND the sexual abuse/bankruptcy. And if you want to operate Scouting with no insurance coverage and each leader takes personal legal and financial liability? Good luck. Want to know why some shooting and other events are not happening? Because the insurance quotes were either monstrously high or we could not even get insurance in the first place because NO insurer will touch it. Same for a lot of things.

3) Legal environment: Ever hear the story of the fish who doesn't understand what water is? Two young fish are swimming along when one turns to the other and asks, "What the heck is water?". The point is that they are so immersed in it, so used to it, that they don't even consider its existence. We, Scouting America, my council, our scouters, and our units do NOT live in the same legal environment as in the past. It surrounds us and we are not even aware of it (or people who complain about "Big Book of No Fun" are not aware). WE HAVE NO CONTROL OVER THIS ENVIRONMENT. Scouting has to swim in the water we are given. And that water is such that any time something happens it can be directed "The Unit/Council/Scouting America, KNEW OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN, that it was a risk."

So normally I sit quietly watching and listening as people who have no clue what they are talking about rant about how evil Scouting America is or the Council is because certain things are now banned or restricted. So here's my challenge to those who know so much and those who want to scree about "Big Book of No Fun".

1) Identify an insurance carrier willing to cover the liability for the events or activities you want for anything even closely approximating a reasonable cost.

2) If you cannot get 1), identify where we can get the millions of dollars needed to self-insure units and councils to offset the massive increases in insurance premiums.

3) When a scout inevitably DOES get injured anyway based on 1) and or 2), please indicate the name of a law firm that operates pro bono to cover the claims, depositions, and other aspects that will come about as part of any litigation, even if it never goes to court/is settled before a summons and complaint is filed.

That's all. It's the "easy" right?

So go back and complain about shooting sports and the "Big Book of No Fun". I will keep doing everything I can to try and get realistic answers that keep the Scouting program alive, safe, and fun.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/apr/2/scouting-america-hurting-boys-girls-alike/

I’m honestly jealous of people who have so much free time that they can have whatever questionably motivated and unfettered opinions they will into existence thrust upon the general public.

Pairing the intellectual laziness of the article and the setting is prime rage bait territory.

They want the provenance that comes with Scouting but they don’t want to endure its natural evolution. Fine. It’s a franchise system. Go and set up your own unit. I’m sure if you get enough of them going you’ll even be able to have your own special segregated week at summer camp.

A bit of a rant. I needed this https://www.scoutshop.org/unit-leader-award-of-merit-knot-emblem-610091.html but could not buy it online and I'm not driving 30 minutes to a store for a knot.

So I just it got on eBay.

If anyone from national is reading this. Just get rid of restricted items already. It benefits nobody, it's driving my advancement chair nuts when he has to buy belt loops and scoutbook has problems. It's just bad. A Scout is trustworthy right? Just trust us to buy what we need.

Open up your shops and let us buy what we need without submitting paperwork.

I started looking into Trails End popcorn after being shocked at the sky-high shipping charge. Who really benefits from Trails End? Turns out a private equity firm bought the company which makes Trails End popcorn.

https://www.denverpost.com/2007/09/05/boy-scouts-burned-by-popcorn/

Mike Weaver, president of Weaver Popcorn Co. of Indianapolis, which produces the Trail’s End brand

https://www.just-food.com/news/us-based-weaver-popcorn-snapped-up-by-aua-private-equity/

January 4, 2024

Weaver Popcorn Manufacturing has been acquired by AUA Private Equity Partners.

https://auaequity.com/team/andy-unanue/

Andy Unanue is the founder and Managing Partner of AUA Private Equity Partners

AUA’s business model is driven by Andy’s own family background – he’s a member of the Unanue family, which owns and runs Goya Foods, the largest producer of Spanish- and Latin-American foods in the United States. Andy’s grandfather, Prudencio, founded the company in 1936, and Andy’s father, Joe, was a legendary CEO of the company himself. Andy was a leader of Goya for many years, ultimately serving as its Chief Operating Officer before founding AUA.

As we all know, private equity firms are famous for keeping prices low and not pumping and dumping ... ok, I can't continue saying that with a straight face.

My Dad was an eagle scout. For family reasons I didn't go past AOL but my son just crossed over into BSA scouts. It's pretty cool to have this shared experience across my family's generations. How's many generations of scouts are in your family?

Uncle passed away and left a ton of scouting merchandise and memorabilia. I know scouting was a big part of his life for years but I also don't really have a place to keep everything. He has just about everything you could think of. Uniforms, patches, camping, etc. Do people buy old scouting memorabilia? Thank you in advance.

The image is our current Snoo (mascot)

There has been some discussion related to updating it.

As a mod, and a graphic designer, I offered to head up the project for the other mods. We wanted community input.

If you could change or update something specific for our Snoo, what would it be?

So I have a favor to ask everyone. I’m working on my first novel. It’s science fiction set in the 26th century. I don’t know if Scouting will appear on screen (except at the very end).

Just in case it does, I was hoping to hear ideas for merit badges in the 26th century. Humanity is interstellar at this point with terraforming, Babylon 5 and Halo type stations.

Looks to be in the general vicinity of where the Chiefs say they will build their new stadium ("near I-70 and I-435")

Based on feedback and a desire to share more information and spur interest in the subreddit, the mod team has set its sights on two medium- to long-range initiatives.

NAM Follow-Up Series

Starting June 1, we will auto-post a question, comment, or item that came out of NAM on the 1st and 15th of each month through April 2027. We have already identified 24 different items. The first several include:

• June 1: NAM Follow-ups: Military Fee waivers
• June 15: NAM Follow-ups: A month later, what are your thoughts on NAM
• July 1: NAM Follow-ups: Unified Platform/ScoutConnect: August 2026 New BeAScout & Registration
• July 15: NAM Follow-ups: Data Standardization & Governance: August 2026 Elimination Dup IDs/unified member ID
• August 1: NAM Follow-ups: "When we talk to simplification, how do we apply that to scouting?"
• August 15: NAM Follow-ups: Unified Platform/ScoutConnect: September 2026 New Renewal System

And so on through May 2027. Several posts are timed to coincide with expected actions or announcements (for example, the September 2026 New Renewal System will be discussed in mid-August, ahead of the expected release).

The February 1, 2027 item is: NAM Follow-ups: If You Could Attend NAM 2027 and Ask the National Key 3 Anything, What Would It Be?

Crowdsourcing the Guide to Advancement 2025: Section by Section

THE FOLLOWING ARE STATEMENTS AND ITEMS THAT HAVE BEEN MENTIONED IN THIS SUBREDDIT AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE OPINIONS OF THE MOD TEAM.

I did not think the above needed to be spelled out, but I guess I have to spell it out. The following are based on criticisms seen in this subreddit, they are not my criticisms. They are not those of the other members of the mod team.

Critics argue that at 60,000 words, the Guide to Advancement (GtA) is too rigid and complex.

Some suggested options include:

1. Abandon Guide to Advancement (2011) and return to Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures (2009 version)
2. Abandon both the GtA and Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures and return to a system where units, districts, and councils have broad discretion to set advancement policies and procedures, as long as they do not directly contradict Scouting America guidance
3. A middle ground: significantly reduce the GtA to provide broad general guidance while allowing units, districts, and councils greater flexibility

Regardless of the approach, one goal is to get more specific: why do people dislike the GtA? Is it too detailed, or not detailed enough?

To support this effort, over 13 weeks, the subreddit will crowdsource edits to the GtA, section by section. The 13-week timeline will begin soon.

If you have any additional ideas or suggestions, please let us know by sending the mod team a DM.

r/BSA Mod Team

Is the new Safeguarding Youth 20-min refresher going through for anyone else? I don't have credit for it. My login expired while I was taking it, but the URL took me to the sign-in page, I signed in, then the URL seemed to pick up from where it left off but nothing happened. I gave it a day just in case but nothing.

Do I need to make sure I'm logged in again before I finish it?

The mod team has now had to pull 4 posts or comments in the last 6 hours because posters have decided to use foul, abusive, vulgar, and/or unscoutlike language. Just going to chalk this up to a weird coincidence.

That said...

Not only do we not accept unscoutlike language (generally), but I would note that there are Scouts who frequent this subreddit. You know the words I am talking about, and you know what scoutlike language is and is not.

Please conduct yourselves accordingly.

TLDR: In the last 12 months, 20 different posts have asked some version of the same question: what do you use for troop/pack/unit communications?

For simplicity and sanity, we are creating a Megathread that will serve as an FAQ for future reference.

The following is a list of all known/currently used messenger apps/communications.

If you are using some OTHER method, please leave a comment with the name of the app or method.

DO NOT PUT COMMENTS OR COMMENTARY about "We use [NAME OF METHOD] and love it/hate it." Comments should be simply the name of the app or method NOT already on the list below.

Thanks.

1. Band
2. Basecamp
3. Discord
4. Email (mass/group list)
5. Facebook
6. Google chat
7. Google Groups
8. Groupme
9. GroupSpot
10. Phone Trees
11. Scoutbook/Scoutbook Plus
12. ScoutTrek
13. Semaphor
14. Signal
15. Slack
16. Spond
17. Stack
18. TeamReach
19. Telegram
20. Text/SMS groups
21. Troop Campfire
22. Trooptrack
23. Troopwebhost
24. WhatsApp

EDIT:

1. Teamsnap

2. Troopmaster

3. Microsoft Teams

4. Remind

5. Heja

Scouting does not happen without adult leaders who are willing to help, guide, and inform. When I was asked to come on as a mod for this subreddit, it was with two goals in mind: accurate information and open dialogue.

First, thank you to the adults in the (metaphorical) room who were willing to discuss and engage in dialogue about the items from NAM in a respectful way. Passions may run high, but no one resorted to personal attacks. The Mod Team extends its thanks to all of you.

Second, the megathread will remain up for at least a week, possibly longer. We want to hear from you and what you have to say.

Please post your NAM comments there (not here).

Third, two Redditors stepped up in a big way to help, guide, and inform, and the Mod Team has decided to give them special recognition: u/jpgarvey and u/blatantninja. They did not engage in rumor, speculation, innuendo, or guesswork. They quoted (or came close) and provided source materials and references. They worked to inform using direct, authentic sources. They provided a real service to this subreddit, and we want to acknowledge that. Both will be receiving r/BSA Snoo Pins as our way of saying thank you for being there when we could not.

Finally, as a reminder, NAM 2026 videos and presentations will be online shortly at https://nam.scouting.org/presentations/ (2025 items are up for now) and on the Scouting America Vimeo channel: https://vimeo.com/user39050689

Thanks.

r/BSA Mod Team

Over the last 3 months, more and more and more people have decided to make this subreddit about debating the merits of political parties, individual politicians, movements, etc. When direct attacks do not get the message through, people resort to passive-aggressive "stealth" commentary and posts attempting to wrap their own political views in the Oath and Law and beat each other over the head with them.

Enough is enough. You want to debate/talk politics? GO. SOMEWHERE. ELSE. It is possible to discuss civics and duty to country without snide little comments about how the "other side" is not being very patriotic/loyal/adheres to the Oath and the Law. You are not fooling anyone; this is a political attack dressed up as a Scouting Discussion.

The mod team has decided on the following

1) This is a general warning. The mod team is loath to issue bans, but this situation has gotten out of control, and warnings, comment removals, post removals, etc., are apparently not getting the message through.

2) A possible (note POSSIBLE) rule on outright banning posts that attempt to inject politics or political discussions into this subreddit is currently being considered, with exact wording to follow. It is not easy to craft when we do NOT want to stifle discussions about civic duty, "duty to my country", but to devise something that does not continue to allow this subreddit to turn into a political food fight. Again, you want to debate/talk politics? GO. SOMEWHERE. ELSE. And before anyone says "free speech," you are absolutely free to launch into political discourse, diatribes, and discussions in the appropriate forum/subreddit. This subreddit, however, is not it.

3) We are NOT going to debate individual moderation decisions on threads. Send a mod mail.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

-Mod Team

• Why is Scouting America raising membership fees? 70% of Membership/Council Fee Revenue Used to Support General Liability Insurance Premiums and Serve Debt from the Bankruptcy in 2024
• Why is my council raising council fees? 70% of Membership/Council Fee Revenue Used to Support General Liability Insurance Premiums and Serve Debt from the Bankruptcy in 2024
• Why was range and target restricted last year? 70% of Membership/Council Fee Revenue Used to Support General Liability Insurance Premiums and Serve Debt from the Bankruptcy in 2024
• Why was range and target paused? 70% of Membership/Council Fee Revenue Used to Support General Liability Insurance Premiums and Serve Debt from the Bankruptcy in 2024
• Why does the Guide to Safe Scouting ban this activity? 70% of Membership/Council Fee Revenue Used to Support General Liability Insurance Premiums and Serve Debt from the Bankruptcy in 2024
• Why can't we climb trees anymore? 70% of Membership/Council Fee Revenue Used to Support General Liability Insurance Premiums and Serve Debt from the Bankruptcy in 2024

This is the harsh brutal reality.

• There are no magic money trees.
• Scouting America and councils are not going to self-insure.
• We cannot wave a magic wand and return back to civil litigation practices circa 1955.
• We cannot erase hundreds of millions in bankruptcy debt by wishing it away.

I said it before, I will say it again and I notice no one answered the last time.

1. Identify an insurance carrier willing to cover the liability for the events or activities you want for anything even closely approximating a reasonable cost.
2. If you cannot get 1), identify where we can get the millions of dollars needed to self-insure units and councils to offset the massive increases in insurance premiums.
3. When a scout (or someone on a Scouting America property) inevitably DOES get injured anyway based on 1) and or 2), please indicate the name of a law firm that operates pro bono to cover the claims, depositions, and other aspects that will come about as part of any litigation, even if it never goes to court/is settled before a summons and complaint is filed.

“It is pay to play because we need to stay alive.”

Why is Scouting full of rich old men at the top? Because they are the ones giving and donating money.

My council VP for programs and I, whom I have known for two decades since we were den leaders, were talking the other day about this attitude. He has worked for not-for-profits for years and brings a different perspective. In short, he describes two “boards” in our council, and I guess this is true for Scouting and not for profits/charities in general.

The “Board” is made up of lots of people, all of whom either promise or have donated a certain amount of money to the council, plus some ex officio seats (district chairs, OA advisor) who are not expected or obligated to spend a dime. These are people, some of whom were never in Scouting, or who just want to give because their kids were in it, whatever. You donate some amount, you get a seat. You keep donating, you keep the seat.

The “Executive Board” is made up of the actual power players who make decisions: the council president and VPs.

When I think of a board for small businesses, I think of a few people. My council has dozens of “board” members, but only a few “executive board” members. The “board” seats are pay-to-play because the board brings in 10–15% of total revenue each year.

I do not know how I feel about this.

On the one hand, I am too busy with my units to even think about adding more responsibilities to my plate. These retired old guys have all the time and money in the world to worry about that. I also get the idea that if someone is giving a lot, they want a seat at the table.

On the other hand, it means that unless I happen to know someone (my buddy is a VP), there is no input, no feedback, no nothing. We, the volunteers, do not get to vote on any of them. This has to be the only membership organization I can think of where the members get no vote whatsoever.

I don’t know what to think.

Does BSA have any volunteer IT corps? I just saw a post on Facebook of a screenshot of an error coming from Scoutbook and it caught me off guard because I know what system the error originated from because I'm a software developer in that platform. I'd be interested in volunteering on the technology side to help out BSA. But, I don't know where to go. We all know BSA could use some help somewhere for their technology.

I've been asked to work on getting more people trained to their position's minimum standards. The council has promoted the online trainings, but our completions are super low.

I am thinking of creating a rotating schedule of the in-person versions of these classes, but breaking it into sections so people aren't taking a weekend day to come out for a class.

Taking the individual sessions and grouping them lends itself to one hour chunks. Would you as a leader be more interested/willng to attend weeknight classes that are 1 hour, but more sessions or 2 hour classes with fewer meetings?

Cub Scouting and Venturing break into 5 1-hour chunks and Scouts BSA into 4. My thought was 2 sessions a month, on a constantly rotating basis so people can attend as needed and in any order.

Location would move throughout the council, so travel times would be short, some areas of council have a fairly long drive so "central" isn't the best.

Lets assume that Space, The Final Frontier, becomes more accessible to the general public and less lethal to venture out into with the development of tech. Space Scouting will happen. So, what merit badges do you expect this development will necessitate the creation of?

Instead of multiple threads and in keeping with the prior practice of creating Mega Threads, all (EDIT: May 2025) bankruptcy news is to be put here.

News: Boy Scouts Beat Bankruptcy Plan Appeal Over Liability ShieldBoy Scouts Beat Bankruptcy Plan Appeal Over Liability Shield

Decision: https://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/231664p.pdf

BSA statement: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/scouting-america-statement-on-the-us-court-of-appeals-for-the-third-circuit-decision-302454507.html

A scout in my troop once threw his knife at what he thought was a tree but it might have been just a severely rusted pole.

I've noticed that in Europe, comics involving scouting were and are much more of a thing. Same goes for novels. I'm curious, would people would be interested in a middle to YA based webcomic about scouting? I was considering making the main characters like wolves or other woodland creatures. I was going to mine my own experiences, particularly with my cubscout master who was a marine and just awesome. But is there anything other people think would be fun to have?

As Scouters, whether here in the U.S. or part of the world scouting movement, we all recognize the need to protect the health/safety/welfare of scouts. In the United States, that takes the form (in part) of Youth Protection Training and Barriers to Abuse as detailed in Guide to Safe Scouting.

Because Youth Protection and the Barriers to Abuse are so vital to scouting, individuals must receive accurate, official information on such questions. The source for such answers, at the unit or individual level, is your local council executive. Not a subreddit. Unfortunately, several recent posts and comments have, in essence, been in direct opposition to YPT/Barriers to Abuse, or in some instances the information provided by well-meaning Redditors was accurate but no longer is due to updates and changes.

As such, starting today, the mods have adopted Rule 8.

Not the place to interpret YPT or Barriers to Abuse This subreddit is not a substitute for official interpretations of Scouting America's Youth Protection and Barriers to Abuse as detailed in Guide to Safe Scouting. Questions regarding these should be directed to your council scouting executive.

A scout and a scouter is helpful. But it is so, so vital that we rely on official information when it comes to matters related to Youth Protection Training and Barriers to Abuse. And this subreddit is not that.

Questions on Rule 8 can be directed to the modmail.

-u/ScouterBill