Keyboard Jockeys, KJ’s, or whatever other name they may acquire, everybody in a lair knows who they are. They always have the advice no matter which question is posed, yet they are never out in the field nor have field reports on their own.

They have every excuse in the book:
“I’m not really working on it right now”
“I have to get some things in my life together first before I can really work on pickup”
“I have 3 girls in my harem you guys don’t know about so I don’t really need to pickup anymore”

Yet when it comes to proving their wild claims, they always seem to disappear. They post in the forums multiple times a day, have the highest post counts, show up to every lair meeting, but when it comes to actually meeting out in the field, they’re always a no-show.

The thing about KJ’s is a lot of times they really do have good advice. They know everything “by the book” and will tell you how easy it all is, yet they have little real world experience with it themselves. Thus, they can often be deceiving especially to newbies who are taking their advice verbatim.

A good lair leader will always look out for keyboard jockeys. It might not seem like a big deal at first but a few KJ’s have the ability to make a lair not fun anymore. Everyone wants constructive criticism. If one has sticking points they want to resolve it helps to get outside points of view. Yet nobody wants to get shouted down by a KJ.

The biggest problem will keyboard jockeys is that deep down they are usually validation seeking. They get their validation in pickup through the lair and “helping” new guys. Yet if they were to get out in the field themselves they would lose that validation, and would have to admit first hand that they have a lot of work themselves in understanding social dynamics. Thus, they avoid the field at all costs, they avoid demonstrating their skills in front of others, and they avoid peer review. All the while they criticize everyone else’s viewpoints but their own.

When called out, KJ’s have the capability to turn into full-on trolls disrupting the forum. They may attempt to gather favor with new guys and other lair members to turn people against one another. The end result may weaken morale and attempt to fracture the lair.

Thus, lairs should take steps to avoid keyboard jockeys from dominating the forum. Certain rules can be applicable to everyone. Such as:

Everyone has to post 1 field report a month
Everyone has to attend one lair event per month.
Everyone has to make a certain amount of approaches per night

Etcetera. If these rules are not met, the individual is instantly put on probabation, and eventually expelled if they cannot meet the simple requirements. These requirement s can be enshrined in the lair constitution to make them official.

Of course, each lair has a different set of circumstances and thus different possible solutions to the matter, and the above only serves as a theoretical example.

The most important thing to remember is KJ’s need help too. By pushing them to go out and approach and be subject to criticism by their peers they will see their flaws and where they need help. They will be thankful that they were pushed to go out and improve rather than their natural inclination to sit on the sidelines.