Us vs Them In a Nutshell

I often get asked how we differ from other quit sites out there.  I typically don’t really respond other than to tell folks to check us out and see if they like what they find.  More often than not folks tend to stick around.

Every once in a while, we’ll get someone on our forums or on our Discord Server that gets rubbed the wrong way and takes his ball and goes home crying about how we’re too rough or have said something that has offended them.  I will say with nearly 100% certainty that we’re guilty.

No bones about it… we rub some people the wrong way.  We speak our minds and piss some people off.  As the header of this blog says, we are “Recovering Nicotine Addicts Telling It Like It Is“.  And while that may sound great in theory, there’s a kicker to it… nicotine addicts who have just started out in their quit really don’t like to hear the truth sometimes.

So here’s a few Us Vs. Them items that really sum it up in my humble opinion.

• We NEVER ask for money to run the site.
  We’ve said it time and time again.  Our site is free to use for anyone who wants to use it.  We don’t solicit donations or funding.  If someone wants to donate to us or purchase from our store we’re absolutely thrilled and offer our sincere thanks.  However we made a decision long ago that this should be a free resource for anyone. That’s our pledge.
• We don’t support NRT.
  NRT (or Nicotine Replacement Therapy) contain nicotine.  While our site is called KillTheCan.org (which is obviously a reference to the cans that chew or dip is sold in) we recognize that our battle and our addiction is with NICOTINE.  As such, these products are not allowed.  Other non allowed products would include: dip, chew, snus, cigarettes, cigars, etc.  It seems silly that we have to put this out there but there are other sites out there that think these products are acceptable.  In our opinion this is akin to giving someone addicted to Jack Daniels a lite beer.  It’s absolutely ludicrous.
• We don’t accept failure.
  There are some sites out there (quite a few actually) that think failure is just a part of quitting.  They feel that you should just  give it the “old college try” and if you fail you should get a pat on a back, an “atta boy” and be on your way with another attempt at quitting.  This is a recipe for continued failure.  Our site is built around personal accountability and accountability to the others in our community.  As such, failure is met with swift and sometimes brutal retaliation.  If you think this is unfair… well, so is cancer.

Please don’t respond with, “But Chewie… I’m so addicted I just CAN’T quit.”  I’m sorry, but that’s bullshit.  That’s your addiction speaking.  I was just as addicted as you are and I’m quit.  And if by some chance you did chew more that I did or for a longer period of time, I can guarantee you that someone on our forums has you beat.

Please don’t respond with, “But I quit with NRT… it works!”  Thank you for bringing that up… it leads nicely into my next point.

• We believe our way is the BEST.
  Period end of story.  We think the way we quit and the methods we use are the best out there.  Otherwise why would we be doing it?  Notice I don’t say the “only” way to quit.  We fully recognize that there are other ways to quit and even be successful at it.  We just think they’re sub-standard to what we’ve put together.  We’ve got more than 10,000 16,000 members on our forums so I can’t be the only one that thinks this.  Is this me just “Drinking the KTC Cool Aid?”  Hell yes it is.  Cool Aid Man line up another round.
• We understand that we’re not for everyone.
  Yes… we get it.  We say some harsh things.  We tell people what they NEED to hear rather than what they WANT to hear.  If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times: “We bust balls because we care.”  We can tell an addict what a doctor, a spouse or a child cannot.  We speak from experience.  But we realize that our “brand” of quit is not for everyone.  I routinely refer folks to other sites and organizations where I hope they can be more successful.
• We are addicts.
  We’re a bunch of addicts.  We do what we do to help other addicts attain the freedom from our addiction that we’ve managed to secure.  We don’t (generally) hit you with a bunch of statistics or some study that tells you how bad nicotine or tobacco is for you.  We don’t get caught up in the “harm reduction” mumbo jumbo.  We feel that NOT being addicted to a substance is better than BEING addicted to one.  And we help people quit.  It’s what we do. 

So I rambled on a bit more than I’d planned to, but there you have it.  Next time someone asks me what sets us apart I’ll be pointing them to this post.