First and foremost, thank you to all of those who keep this site up and running. I applaud your effort and all that you do for the hiking community.
For me, WB is a respite. It allows me to think and “be in the woods” when I am not able. I came to the site to learn insight and gain information. Now that is complete and I come back for the entertainment and conversations. Often I will be at my desk at work sinking into the chair when the thought strikes me to come look at WB and it is refreshing. I am moved hundreds of miles to my beloved trail and I never leave my desk.
As it has already been mentioned, YouTube, Facebook and Trail Journals all are resources available to novice hikers. There is a lot of information there. YouTube also allows us to “see” the trial. When I look at a thread, I try to look at the OPs thread count. If it is low, I try to extend more grace and patience. If it is high, then I am looking for sage advice or I expect it to be an interesting question trying to gain insight. If I get a response which may be “cranky” is usually come from a more seasoned respondent. I take that into account as well. Maybe there just isn’t any joy in the site for them anymore.
I think it is important we try our very best to accommodating to all types of questions and posts.
I did find myself going back to thread #22031 and start reading forward. It is fun and can be very interesting.
And just for the record, I think in 20 thousand plus posts, most topics have been well covered!