Proposal to have NY section of VFTT?

[una_dogger]

I tend to cross post my trip reports on VFTT, ROT, ADK High Peaks, and ADK Forum...
I'm not opposed to a separate NY Discussion Area but think we should keep all the Trip Reports in one neat place here.

 

[dug]

I'm for status quo. I barely have time to check the boards I go to now, if I have to go to another one I'll never know anything about the ADK.

 

[BriFly]

Same goal, different solution

This 'categorization' problem is a common issue for sites like this ... Do you group by topic? Do you group by geographical location? How many forums do you create? How many nested levels of forums do you create? And so on. If you get carried away, you'll end up having too many fragmented forums and the site will become too cumbersome to use. (Heck, I'm a fairly new member, and I've long since given up on going to each forum to read postings. I only use the 'New Posts' link now.)

Being a software guy, here is my $0.02 ...

One way to address this problem is the capability to add 'flags' (or attributes) to our postings. For example, if I were to write about a hike in NH, I'd flag it as 'White Mountains' and post it to Trip Reports. If I were to write about a hike in upstate NY, I'd flag it as 'Adirondacks' and post it to Trip Reports. Same forum. All the postings are still together. The postings just have different flags.

Once you have flags, then you just need the ability to filter postings based on these flags. To see only Trip Report postings for the White Mountains, a user just needs to click the the 'White Mountains' flag, and viola! Only White Mountains postings are displayed. The Trip Reports forum is just an example. It would apply to other forums too.

To avoid confusion, you might want to limit the setting of flags to only the first posting that starts a new thread. You could also simplify things by letting users select which flag(s) they wanted their postings to have by default (in their user profile).

I expect the vBulletin software that powers these forums provides powerful tools/scripting to implement this flag/filter capability, but the 'proof of concept' version could just be a glorified version of 'Search' -- Simple 'Flag' buttons to add special text to a posting, and simple 'Filter' buttons to search for that text.

-BriFly

 

[Peakbagr]

"I'm for status quo. I barely have time to check the boards I go to now, if I have to go to another one I'll never know anything about the ADK.z'

I respect all the different slants on this.
Question- Is one extra click so much of an inconvenience? I see some of the folks reading and participating in multiple threads on a daily basis. A click to Q&A NY seems like one more for those who are interested.

 

[funkyfreddy]

When I come on the board, I usually click on "New Posts". This saves me time having to wander through all of the forums and I can easily see what I'm interested in quickly.

As a matter of fact, VFTT could add a dozen more sub forums and it would still be easy to navigate this way, IF you read the board fairly often like I do.

 

[Woody]

One Place

I like seeing things in one place. Although I haven't played in the 'Daks since about 1982 when I was stationed in Plattsburgh I enjoy reading about some places I would like to hike. I'll get there again soon. I'm working my way thru Vermont.

 

[NewHampshire]

I post fewer and fewer of my trip reports here simply because they don't seem to generate anywhere near the interest that they do on ADKHP.

Hey Neil, you know the best way to judge the success of a trip report is not necesssarily the posted feedback you get, but rather look at the view counter! Lets face it, I am sure many of us can only take so many "gee what a great report" posts before we go "ok, this is getting a bit annoying." BUT, if the view counter steadily ticks away.....ahhhh, then you know you have succeded!

Brian

 

[Puma concolor]

Over on Summit Post, the entire eastern seaboard is covered on the same board. Makes for interesting reading and an interesting group of people.

The problem here that I see is that New England hiking has become so dominant that the New York stuff gets quickly buried. I think a New York board could be interesting, but it doesn't change the fact that there don't seem to be a lot of active NY posters left on VFTT and registration is restrictive so it will be hard to reverse the tide. Even NY trip reports are often "cross-posted" on multiple sites.

Other than for trail conditions, I don't spend much time on VFTT anymore as I haven't been in New England much the last couple of years.

 

[BobK]

NY section

I've been a participant for several years and vote for trying a NY section. VFTT has been the premier NE board but with the apparent increase in usage, more segregation is worth a try. ADK Forum has begun to catch up as a critical site to check for NY activity.

Another thought (not to complicate thiungs too much) - I really concentrate on BC XC skiing in the winter. I'd love to see ski specific conditions and recommendations somewhere.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

I'll put in my voice as being AGAINST a NY section, in spite of the fact that is where I do most of my hiking. To me, this place it the community and it's interaction as much as the place.

 

[dug]

"I'm for status quo. I barely have time to check the boards I go to now, if I have to go to another one I'll never know anything about the ADK.z'

I respect all the different slants on this.
Question- Is one extra click so much of an inconvenience? I see some of the folks reading and participating in multiple threads on a daily basis. A click to Q&A NY seems like one more for those who are interested.

Probably, unfortunately..........

 

[Kevin Rooney]

I don't wish to fragment this thread too much, but if we're talking about additional forums, how 'bout having a separate forum for arranging all the beer blasts? I like a beer as much as the next person, but it's a bit of a stretch to consider all these drinking threads hiking-related. Still, this may be one of the few ways people can arrange to have a Bud with like-minded people, so why not segregate them so they don't get intermingled with threads more related to hiking? (I know some jerks will flame me for suggesting this, but ...)

 

[Peakbagr]

"The problem here that I see is that New England hiking has become so dominant that the New York stuff gets quickly buried. I think a New York board could be interesting, but it doesn't change the fact that there don't seem to be a lot of active NY posters left on VFTT and registration is restrictive so it will be hard to reverse the tide."

Some excellent points made above. You hit on exactly how most of the NY members feel about ADK and Catskill stuff getting buried. Thats one of the reasons you see a dimished participation. The registration issue isn't really a problem as the members are still there, they still check in here, just not as often and a 'why bother' attitude.

Hey, its only my opinion and I apologize for the doggedness and persistence. Its just that I come from NY, hike in NY, and have been the sounding board for these opinions for a few years now.
What I'm trying to do is in-interest some the the NY members by what I feel is a small change in the board.
My concern is that if we DON'T do something, the NY resource is going to truly go away, and that really WILL diminish VFTT.

 

[jjmcgo]

Do it

Peakbagr has been a great moderator and has discussed this fully with Darren. They see a need. Others note a decline in NY postings and Neil says he doesn't post TR here anymore.
With inclusion, I've read about great ADK destinations and spent time this summer kayaking near Saranac Lake. If separated, I might spend 90 percent of my time here away from the NY section and miss good stuff. I learned about Alander Mt. from the NY folks. I don't like learning that valuable contributors don't feel they have a home here.
It looks like the plan is to keep all TR in one section. I like that.
I think Peakbagr sees a need, has a vision and will be a conscientious guardian of the forums.
I guess NJ goes in the NY section?

 

[askus3]

JJMCGO. You brought up a good point. Alander Mountain. If I were to post a thread, "where is the trailhead of the South Taconic Trail near Bash Bish Falls", which forum should I post in?

"I want to visit Tories Cave near Danbury, CT? What is the best route?"

"When is the best time to see Buttermilk Falls in the Kittatinnies?" Is this part of the NY Forum?

"Who do I contact about becoming a member of the Northeast 115?"

"What is a good CG to stay at when I climb Mt. Tremblant?"

What about Connecticut & New Jersey? Does New Jersey & Pennsylvania become part of the back-country forum? NJ & PA are not New York and certainly not New England! But they are a part of the Northeast to my knowledge.

Think about these questions? My vote is keep the forums status quo. I think some areas will fall in limbo because they are placed in the wrong place.

This could be a moderator's headache. Borderline areas now will get less hits! That is not fair. I am surprised there is no attached poll to this thread, but then again the majority are Boston & north people, so I could see why Peakbagr left it out. But I am very concerned that the Taconics, Berkshires, CT, NJ, PA & PQ and general northeast questions could wind up in limbo. Maybe attach several polls one for New Englander's, one for New Yorker's and what about a third for members in limbo land?

My two cents.

 

[spider solo]

Seems to me this all came up a couple of years ago and a separate group splintered off and started their own NY forum....what became of it?
I think Darren encouraged it rather than tryiing to be all things to all people...if my memory servers me correctly...?

 

[Grumpy]

My position on this remains unchanged since the last time the issue came up. I like VFTT the way it is – with a real regional perspective -- and would not like to see a separate NY forum.

G.

 

[percious]

Seems to me this all came up a couple of years ago and a separate group splintered off and started their own NY forum....what became of it?
I think Darren encouraged it rather than tryiing to be all things to all people...if my memory servers me correctly...?

QFT.

adkforum has been successful for sometime now. I think if you are going to fragment VFTT then you have to do it fully. NY/VT/NH/ME/Everywhere else for consistency's sake.

I truly believe this forum is intended to be one big community, not just a place where you learn about your own particular interests. By segregating the information, you are segregating your viewers to their particular topics.

I think if people want NY info ONLY, then they would head over to adkforum.

My vote is against.

-percious

 

[Peakbagr]

By saying we'd divide up VFTT into a separate Forum for each of those states would be impractical for the moderators and our members. Good points about PA and NJ as they are not part of New England. A new section, if it were approved, should probably not say NY Q&A, but "Q&A - NON NE".

Here is the reality over the last couple of years as respects NY members and posts by them. Both the quality and number of posts from these VFTT-ers is down by a huge amount. I have dozens of friends and acquaintances who go to the ADK Forum and ADKHPs. They tell me they occasionally cruise in to VFTT or never post here any more. Almost all say that VFTT is irrelevant to them as non-New England stuff is buried here. Many of them are some of the most valuable and active VFTT folks who do the majority of their hiking in the ADKs or Catskills.
And many of them have pleaded (not too strong a word) to try and get a NY-specific section of the board.

For those of you who are worried about change, or want to stay comfortable the way things have always been, please let me point out something. The information about the Adirondacks or Catskills has rapidly degraded here in the last few years. To really know whats going on in NY, you need to go to one of the other boards. If we stick to the status quo, then eventually VFTT will become VFNE. As a moderator here, I do my job by crusing VFTT. To get information about NY's ADKs, Catskills or Taconics, I religiously read the other boards multiple times a day. As someone who is a loyal member of VFTT, that should tell you something.
For those of you where clicking an extra time is an inconvenience and want to keep the status quo - the very information on NY, when you want to see it, has been disappearing before your eyes. I'm asking for your support for the proposed experiment or you too will be searching other boards when you want to know about NY.

 

[Jay H]

My 2cents:

Right now, my posting strategy is to post on Mav's AHP.com forum since there lies the most dense community of NY hikers, but figure that most of the people over there are also over here, I will utilize the "general backcountry" for gear questions... figuring gear is for the most part, universal, unless I'm looking for something like the best crampons for say, the pemis vrs the catskills, etc. But for the most part, I see VfTT as a more general Northeast hiking forum and I can get my specific NY hiking needs in AHP.com It's been obvious (to me anyway) the new england base over here but I'm smart enough to figure out whether it's Whiteface in the ADKs or Whiteface in the Whites...

In my honest opinion.... it's too late. If you really want to salvage the NY hiking opinion, it should of been done long ago, perhaps before even adkforums or AHP exists. Those forums have already seen huge increases in membership and knowledgebase and I routinely post all my catskill questions over there.. I'll still sometimes post trip reports to non CAT100 peaks here but just looking at the views and replys, sometimes I feel it's not worth it. The friends that I know that are Catskills/NY hikers are all over on AHP and the views on VfTT show it.

I've known the New England bias on VfTT for a long time now and I go back on VfTT for awhile too, but I'm OK with that, cause right now it is beyond the point of no return, IMHO. It would feel like trying to patch up the Titanic when it was upside down and sinking...

Then there is that entire rep. points thing....

Jay