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  1. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by Maineiac64 View Post
    Youtube seems to be excellent resource in an entertaining format for beginners to find gear recommendations...
    Entertaining, perhaps, but damn near everyone posting on YT is doing so in hopes of either money or fame (or both), and I actively avoid that like the plague. Call me old fashioned, but I still find that forums like WB, with actual people who are posting just to be decent people, to be the best place for reading about someone else's experience with gear.

  2. #22

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    Quote Originally Posted by Maineiac64 View Post
    Youtube seems to be excellent resource in an entertaining format for beginners to find gear recommendations, and others to learn about hikes, techniques, etc. I spend a larger proportion of time there than than here now. Facebook is a wasteland of crap content and worthless discussions.
    Youtube only works if you're willing to sit around and watch backpacking videos. I need TEXT and alot of it so I can print it and take it out with me to read in my tent (and then burn).

    One excellent forum is BackpackingLight.com. BPL.com. They 90% stick to pure backpacking subjects (unlike Backpacker's Basecamp from Backpacker Magazine)---and even tho with my heavy pack weights I still post alot of stuff even tho I get alot of Fat Shaming there.

  3. #23
    ME => GA 19AT3 rickb's Avatar
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    If you met someone on the trail who wanted to learn about thru hiking, would you refer them to Whiteblaze, or one of Dixie’s videos on YouTube?

    Might be the answer.

  4. #24
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    I enjoy a few YouTube hikers -- but the emphasis here is on "few", because sitting and watching videos takes valuable time out of the day. I watch YouTube hikers that show me parts of the trail I want to see, or who are able to convey a sense of what a given part of the trail looks or feels like at a given part of the year. Some are more informative than others, a rare few might be engaging and entertaining AND informative, but I can't say that I would look to anyone on YouTube for answers to any of my questions about gear, technique, advice, etc. Sure, sometimes someone might drop a nugget worth taking note, but if I'm ever asked by anyone "YouTube or Whiteblaze?", it will be Whiteblaze every time. For me, YouTube is entertainment, Whiteblaze is information.

    That being said, I've often seen new people come here with their questions only to be told (often but not always with some rather biting snark) that their questions are essentially old & boring, and that they should just use the Search function. Small wonder they might turn somewhere else.
    fortis fortuna adjuvat

  5. #25
    Registered User Crossup's Avatar
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    I would imagine a lot of people are like me, fascinated by your trips but dont feel like there is much I can say that is germane. You are literally at another level both in terms of trip length and skills/knowledge compared to most (or at least a lot) of the people here. Beyond that, you are just hardcore and there is no substitute for that...its not something one can ask questions about or learn by talking about it...that is learned by trying and doing.
    All I can say is it will be a sad day when you dont post, WB wont be the same without Tipi so please dont take a lack of comments to be more than slack jawed amazement and enjoyment of your exploits.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tipi Walter View Post
    If I post a trip report on my FB page it'll be buried in a few days if I put up several other posts. But like with Whiteblaze, my trip reports on FB get very few comments. WB and FB share this in common.

  6. #26
    Registered User hobbs's Avatar
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    Iam not going to lie to you FB syphoned off most of your hikers..The former thru hikers are on there and section hikers. I havent been on whiteblaze in 4 years. I came back to see what was happening to it..The other reason is over moderated..less moderation on the FB pages that are class pages. The main AT page is the moderater way or no way. 10 k was posting weekly when I fist joined to include Sgt Rock and Blistful I can name old whiteblaze hikers that are on FB that post there. But this is a great resource for any hiker on the AT.
    My love for life is quit simple .i get uo in the moring and then i go to bed at night. What I do inbween is to occupy my time. Cary Grant

  7. #27
    Registered User hobbs's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tipi Walter View Post
    Youtube only works if you're willing to sit around and watch backpacking videos. I need TEXT and alot of it so I can print it and take it out with me to read in my tent (and then burn).

    One excellent forum is BackpackingLight.com. BPL.com. They 90% stick to pure backpacking subjects (unlike Backpacker's Basecamp from Backpacker Magazine)---and even tho with my heavy pack weights I still post alot of stuff even tho I get alot of Fat Shaming there but I've never been kicked off unlike the Ultralight Forum here on WB.
    I watch youtube for how their handling the trail and weather..Today I watched a vlogger complain because there was no zipline in the section they were hiking I told them next time your near a ttrail club look at their age or ask them what the average age of members are. I wanted to shut them up and tall them to just hike. But yes here and BL are good for returning TO A Subject line and topic research.
    My love for life is quit simple .i get uo in the moring and then i go to bed at night. What I do inbween is to occupy my time. Cary Grant

  8. #28

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    An issue which just occurred to me is that this format is more suited to desktop PC's then it is for phones and a lot of people now use a phone exclusively. Trailjournals was a real pain to use with a phone until they updated the format a couple years ago. Try opening WB on a phone's browser. Kind of hard to do anything since the page is shrunk so small.
    Follow slogoen on Instagram.

  9. #29

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    Quote Originally Posted by hobbs View Post
    Today I watched a vlogger...
    Not to go on a rant, because I certainly don't wantto go on a rant, but what is with the narcissism of the current generation of kids? "Look at me!" "Watch the documentary of me starring me!" "I am doing something!". I mean it's one thing to take pictures of (or write works to describe) your trip, but the constant presence and immediacy of networked cell phones coupled with the proliferation of self-focused media seems to me to just cheapen the experience.

    Maybe I'm just showing my age (or maybe it's just me being an antisocial luddite who doesn't read other people's trip reports), but whatever happened to just enjoying the hike for the purpose of the hike without turning it into nothing more than content for a show you are producing? Do people actually do things for themselves anymore, or is everything just a constant search for public recognition?

    I would imagine their parents are happy that they are documenting their every footfall and "OMG look a frog" moment so they can be assured their loved ones are safe, but I think they are missing something that is unique to the trail experience (the sense of discovery) that you really can't get anywhere else, and those things should just stay on the trail for the next person to discover on their own. Maybe this is the 15 minutes of fame that Andy Warhol warned us about, I dunno.

    Yes, I know that someone is going to say that I should just HMOH and let them HTOH, but when the journey is treated as nothing more than public content, it loses a lot of the essence of what has traditionally made it a unique experience, and what many of us perceive as an inner calling that pushes us "out there" with a voice that we cannot resist.

    I'd better stop now before I end up going on a rant.

  10. #30
    Registered User Maineiac64's Avatar
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    Here are some interesting stats:
    - whiteblaze members 76,000
    - fb north georgia hiking group, 92,000
    - darwin YouTube subscribers, 300k
    - dixie YouTube subscribers, 360k

    I do agree that this page is not optimized for phones, I have to switch to desktop mide on my phone to use it, this cuts down my activity and im sure others.

  11. #31
    Registered User hobbs's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jonnycat View Post
    Not to go on a rant, because I certainly don't wantto go on a rant, but what is with the narcissism of the current generation of kids? "Look at me!" "Watch the documentary of me starring me!" "I am doing something!". I mean it's one thing to take pictures of (or write works to describe) your trip, but the constant presence and immediacy of networked cell phones coupled with the proliferation of self-focused media seems to me to just cheapen the experience.

    Maybe I'm just showing my age (or maybe it's just me being an antisocial luddite who doesn't read other people's trip reports), but whatever happened to just enjoying the hike for the purpose of the hike without turning it into nothing more than content for a show you are producing? Do people actually do things for themselves anymore, or is everything just a constant search for public recognition?

    I would imagine their parents are happy that they are documenting their every footfall and "OMG look a frog" moment so they can be assured their loved ones are safe, but I think they are missing something that is unique to the trail experience (the sense of discovery) that you really can't get anywhere else, and those things should just stay on the trail for the next person to discover on their own. Maybe this is the 15 minutes of fame that Andy Warhol warned us about, I dunno.

    Yes, I know that someone is going to say that I should just HMOH and let them HTOH, but when the journey is treated as nothing more than public content, it loses a lot of the essence of what has traditionally made it a unique experience, and what many of us perceive as an inner calling that pushes us "out there" with a voice that we cannot resist.

    I'd better stop now before I end up going on a rant.
    its interesting because a former thru Hiker asked how many hikers will turn off their devices. When I was doing my lash I took picture for the first 3 days and put them on instagram. Then I stopped all together.It was my hike and for me not the public. So I can identify with what your saying.
    My love for life is quit simple .i get uo in the moring and then i go to bed at night. What I do inbween is to occupy my time. Cary Grant

  12. #32
    Registered User hobbs's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Maineiac64 View Post
    Here are some interesting stats:
    - whiteblaze members 76,000
    - fb north georgia hiking group, 92,000
    - darwin YouTube subscribers, 300k
    - dixie YouTube subscribers, 360k

    I do agree that this page is not optimized for phones, I have to switch to desktop mide on my phone to use it, this cuts down my activity and im sure others.
    Agree I use my computer for this page...I was omn Fb with phone found out the people from dutchgear were on the trail hiking then before heading home they did Trail magic for hikers in Virginia...Wouldnt have heard about it that day had it not been for my phone and FB.
    My love for life is quit simple .i get uo in the moring and then i go to bed at night. What I do inbween is to occupy my time. Cary Grant

  13. #33

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    Quote Originally Posted by hobbs View Post
    its interesting because a former thru Hiker asked how many hikers will turn off their devices. When I was doing my lash I took picture for the first 3 days and put them on instagram. Then I stopped all together.It was my hike and for me not the public. So I can identify with what your saying.
    Double ditto. And perhaps that’s why I don’t get much out of even the useful you tubers, there is still so much self referential bs. Here, despite some limitations it is mostly about the subject matter. Maybe I’m a Luddite too.

  14. #34

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    Forums in general are "down" in activity. Social media.....

    There are some numbers being thrown around in this thread that I take with the "Grain of salt".
    Currently (Memorial day 2021, evening, 9:45 PM CST) there are something like 20 "users" on. But the total count is over 500. So 480 "Bots" and "Google Spyders" and spammers launching attacks.
    There was a note of the all time high. Also, not an actual number. Probably after a major recovery of the forum after some trauma or a major update when the install/update program slammed in all the users all at once.
    Also, this is like many forums. IMHO, the Admin should be running a quarterly "trim" function. Any "user" that has zero posts and has not been logged on in 366 days, gets removed (NOTE, the ZERO posts). I used to run such trims on some non-hiking forums I was a Mod/Admin at. Many competing forums won't run them and yet would sit there bragging about "We got MORE users". Occasionally I'd get sick of it and add back in 100,000 users and rub their nose in it.
    So to me, CONTENT over quantity.
    And yes things like FB and Twitter, are zero help to me on doing a search to find something from two months back when I KNOW someone much smarter had a great idea/solution.

    These are all just my personal observations of not only this, but many other forums.
    For a couple of bucks, get a weird haircut and waste your life away Bryan Adams....
    Hammock hangs are where you go into the woods to meet men you've only known on the internet so you can sit around a campfire to swap sewing tips and recipes. - sargevining on HF

  15. #35
    Registered User Tuxhiker's Avatar
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    I haven't posted in a while because I can't get out and, therefore, feel I don't have much to contribute at the present time. I am recovering from heart bypass surgery and probably won't be getting out again till fall. Yes, I'm one of the aging whiteblazers. Maybe you'll hear from me again in a few months. Meanwhile, I check in every day to read the new posts. Hope others keep them coming!

  16. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by rickb View Post
    Seams real.

    YouTube, Facebook, Reddit, Instagram and all the rest, have siphoned off much of the energy of sites like these.

    TLDR is real for stuff that matters, and even more so for hiking stuff.
    what's "TLDR"?

  17. #37

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    Just a reminder. Whiteblaze still has a user agreement which has pretty much stayed the same for about 13 years now, perhaps longer even. Bringing up previous moderation generally breaks
    3. Topics that have been closed, deleted, or moved by an Administrator or Moderator have been done for a reason. Users will not open new threads on the same subject or continue to make posts about subjects that have had these actions taken. Failing to comply with this policy can result in being placed into moderated status.
    Yes we do enforce the user agreement, the same as we have done for the past 13 years. Doesn't matter who you are, whether we like you or don't. If you break the rules, you are subject to being moderated. Absolutely nothing new in that.

    We don't have social media influencers.
    We don't have followers.
    We only ask for 10 characters but you can also write quite extensively if you choose, I'm sure you can find some obvious candidates who do.
    We have a pretty extensive hierarchy to the forums for categorization of hiking topics. Now if everyone would stop dropping everything into AT General...
    We don't have a 100,000 members or a million followers. But we are closing in on 2,000,000 posts. They certainly aren't all chit-chat.
    People's attention is so divided among so many competing "notifications" and the one that pings the loudest at them is social media. People are constantly texting, they can't even punctuate, let alone construct a paragraph. They want everything right now. Wait a day to get an answer to a question and they get the jitters.
    I think perhaps a like button could potentially smooth and encourage some topics. It's also a slippery slope.
    "Sleepy alligator in the noonday sun
    Sleepin by the river just like he usually done
    Call for his whisky
    He can call for his tea
    Call all he wanta but he can't call me..."
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    Whiteblaze.net User Agreement.

  18. #38
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    TLDR = "Too Long, didn't read"

    A symbol of the culture of Facebook, Youtube, and other toxic social media that encourages surface level superficial thinking, groupthink, etc.

  19. #39

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    Quote Originally Posted by Crossup View Post
    I would imagine a lot of people are like me, fascinated by your trips but dont feel like there is much I can say that is germane. You are literally at another level both in terms of trip length and skills/knowledge compared to most (or at least a lot) of the people here. Beyond that, you are just hardcore and there is no substitute for that...its not something one can ask questions about or learn by talking about it...that is learned by trying and doing.
    All I can say is it will be a sad day when you dont post, WB wont be the same without Tipi so please dont take a lack of comments to be more than slack jawed amazement and enjoyment of your exploits.
    I feel the same, not much I can add to those. But very much appreciate your voice in the wilderness, in more ways than one.

  20. #40
    Registered User Maineiac64's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tipi Walter View Post
    The problem with FB is, once again, deep scrolling with no "forum subject" as mentioned. If someone posts a FB trip report on Cohutta wilderness and I'm not online for two weeks---when I get back it'll be buried deep on the "timeline" or whatever it's called and I'll miss
    If I post a trip report on my FB page it'll be buried in a few days if I put up several other posts. But like with Whiteblaze, my trip reports on FB get very few comments. WB and FB share this in common.
    If you did a video trip report on YouTube you would get thousands of views and hundreds of comments.

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