With almost daily requests, and today reminded by Roy in a different section of the board, I' wanted to discuss a revisiting the idea of a separate NY section of VFTT.
I've been talking with Darren about this on and off for quite some time and the frequency of requests to me provides me with the oppty to make the suggestion. Of course, its Darren's board, and he's been doing this a lot longer than all of us.
There is a part of me that enjoys everything in one place.
Overriding that is that there are many, many VFTT members, though, who feel that information, trips, and general ADK and Catskill posts get swallowed up in the overall New England flavor of this board.
As a result we've seen the establishment of 2 new boards rise and flourish: The Adirondack Forum and ADK High Peaks. I belong to both of those boards as do many VFTT members. Any time I hike with New York VFTT people, correspond or speak with them, the most uniform topic that comes up is why don't we have a NYS section on VFTT, though?
In all fairness to the history, VFTT is the longest running(and in my opinion), the most information-rich of the northeast hiking boards. Thats due to the very experienced member base we have and the fact that VFTT is strongly information-based by design. No intention here to slight the 2 other boards, but they are by design more cozy, have a narrower scope of geographic interest, and have some very knowledgeable posters.
In the past, when this discussion has risen and put to a vote here, the voice of the New England people who largely predominate membership has prevailed.
In speaking with many of my New England colleagues, they prefer not to have to browse another section of VFTT. In deference to the minority, though, many of the ADK-Catskill folks first prowl the 2 New York boards, and come here on a secondary basis.
So long at we don't split the General Backcounty information section, or Trip Reports, I'd personally like to try a "things related to NYS(ADKs and Catskills)" section of the board. First, in deference to the many, many, people who've been asking for it, and at the same time, 'declutter' the other portion of the Northeast portion of the board for those who come in here to look for New England related threads. On balance, the one-extra-click to go to an additional section, would be outweighed by all the extra clicking around to read through threads or posts whose titles might be ambiguous enough so its not clear whether they apply to your geographic interests or not.
As to the extra work, I'm on this board often dozens of times a day, and will be of no extra moderation effort for me to keep my eye on it. What I'd like to see is this done as an experiment, and then the members and moderators take a look at it in 6 months to see if it should be kept, improved, or scrapped.
For those who might instinctively be against the idea because you also read about NY, I'd ask your indulgence with this...If VFTT had its origins in NY, I'd certainly be interested in an experiment to see if establishing a New England section might make this more efficient, and perhaps useful to a strong, but growing minority.
For partisans of both camps, pls let me pose one other idea. When you read posts like: Whats your favorite mountain, or an ambiguously titled thread turns out to be about NY(or New England), and you have no interest in that other area, that takes a lot of time, in little bites over the months.
It was only that Roy raised the topic elsewhere that got me thinking. And last nite I got a phone call from a good friend who belongs to both boards and she had some good ideas about a NY section. I had some time in the car today to think about it, and then Roy's question jumped out at me.
I've been talking with Darren about this on and off for quite some time and the frequency of requests to me provides me with the oppty to make the suggestion. Of course, its Darren's board, and he's been doing this a lot longer than all of us.
There is a part of me that enjoys everything in one place.
Overriding that is that there are many, many VFTT members, though, who feel that information, trips, and general ADK and Catskill posts get swallowed up in the overall New England flavor of this board.
As a result we've seen the establishment of 2 new boards rise and flourish: The Adirondack Forum and ADK High Peaks. I belong to both of those boards as do many VFTT members. Any time I hike with New York VFTT people, correspond or speak with them, the most uniform topic that comes up is why don't we have a NYS section on VFTT, though?
In all fairness to the history, VFTT is the longest running(and in my opinion), the most information-rich of the northeast hiking boards. Thats due to the very experienced member base we have and the fact that VFTT is strongly information-based by design. No intention here to slight the 2 other boards, but they are by design more cozy, have a narrower scope of geographic interest, and have some very knowledgeable posters.
In the past, when this discussion has risen and put to a vote here, the voice of the New England people who largely predominate membership has prevailed.
In speaking with many of my New England colleagues, they prefer not to have to browse another section of VFTT. In deference to the minority, though, many of the ADK-Catskill folks first prowl the 2 New York boards, and come here on a secondary basis.
So long at we don't split the General Backcounty information section, or Trip Reports, I'd personally like to try a "things related to NYS(ADKs and Catskills)" section of the board. First, in deference to the many, many, people who've been asking for it, and at the same time, 'declutter' the other portion of the Northeast portion of the board for those who come in here to look for New England related threads. On balance, the one-extra-click to go to an additional section, would be outweighed by all the extra clicking around to read through threads or posts whose titles might be ambiguous enough so its not clear whether they apply to your geographic interests or not.
As to the extra work, I'm on this board often dozens of times a day, and will be of no extra moderation effort for me to keep my eye on it. What I'd like to see is this done as an experiment, and then the members and moderators take a look at it in 6 months to see if it should be kept, improved, or scrapped.
For those who might instinctively be against the idea because you also read about NY, I'd ask your indulgence with this...If VFTT had its origins in NY, I'd certainly be interested in an experiment to see if establishing a New England section might make this more efficient, and perhaps useful to a strong, but growing minority.
For partisans of both camps, pls let me pose one other idea. When you read posts like: Whats your favorite mountain, or an ambiguously titled thread turns out to be about NY(or New England), and you have no interest in that other area, that takes a lot of time, in little bites over the months.
It was only that Roy raised the topic elsewhere that got me thinking. And last nite I got a phone call from a good friend who belongs to both boards and she had some good ideas about a NY section. I had some time in the car today to think about it, and then Roy's question jumped out at me.
