Question for the Masses

“MATT, THE WEBMASTER OF PUPPETS!”

“I'm all about another icon..but look at the political threads...they all should be under chatter...but the lazy asses leave it for general....I am thinking that the bottom of the page is a good idea.

what do I care...I only post like once every 2 weeeks now”

“Heck, get rid of them all togheter, so I can concentrate my addictions on women, wine and backpacking where they should be!

Seeing a post by Raddy followed by an Ice Tea post, almost brought a tear to my eye.”

“BB, you should have given matt the business like you did bp2go.”

“We get enough daily doses of divisive politics from the newspaper and tv. For those of us who have participated frequently in such banter (myself included), we could each step in and argue the others point, we are so predictable and we all know who believes what and no minds will be changed. It's fun now and then, but the daily non-stop political stuff sure changes the course of the forum. As you suggested, putting all political threads at the bottom where the catfish and carp dwell and leave the backpacking related stuff up where the golden trout rise to the surface would be a healthy step for this backpacking environment. At least I think so. I'm sure I'll nibble on some old anchovy bait on the bottom now and then. But at least I'll hafta purposely dive down to get it. Thanks, Matt!”

“Ewker's right. Some threads are gone. WTF?? And not necessarly political either. Didn't I see a post by that dear little Gizmo (god bless his heart, he CAN POST!!! who knew?!??!) about "jojo's bifday," I think it said?

I wanted to post on that. Where did it go??”

“I saw that one... look towards the bottom.

is it true that matt's been changing backpacking related "chatter" to general? because then this system would work great”

“lizs and Ewker - they are now at the bottom with all the 'chatter' threads.”

“Yes Matt. Thats a good idea, get the political stuff into its own section.”

“Second...no wait...third...no wait...make that 57th that motion. I may be fairly new, but the political crap was already driving me nuts.”

“The liberals put matt up to this. They were so getting their @sses kicked.”

“Matt,

I have almost completely enjoyed having the option to uncheck the "chatter" box. However, there are often some non-political, non-controversial threads in that category that are actually fun to read and participate in. Also, the "general" category is defined as "general backpacking" in the legend, but sometimes gets some of the political and/or controversial threads going there. Here's my suggestion, which is similar to a few other suggestions posted above:

1. Change the "chatter" icon definition to be "non-political / non-controversial chatter."
2. Emphasize that the "general" icon is for "general backpacking" discussions.
3. Add an icon to cover the political/controversial stuff. This could cover political, religious stuff, as well as personal complaints, like "Why doesn't So-and-So stop posting all that useless crap" or whatever.

In addition to reserving the right to change a thread's designation, allow the thread's creator to do so. Or maybe that's not such a good idea. I dunno - you decide!”

“tekntrek - have you hiked the North Fork Trail in WVA?”

“cool.

he could have told us he IMPLEMENTED the proposed changes...”

“"This statement has something wrong with it. I mean what constitutes a "good person" any newbie that comes to this board can be just as good or better than any other "good" person we had before..."


I didn’t mean to make it sound like there aren’t ANY good folks here Simmer. It’s just takes too much time to find the posts by the people I like. As with any group the majority of the types of people in that group will attract the same type of people and repel those who are not like minded. Sadly, the majority are not my cup of tea.”

“Buddha Bear, see new thread...”

“check your cellphone”

“you could also make 2 seperate forums... A backpacking related forum and an off topic forum....Then give a (few) trusted regular(s) admin powers to be able to move threads back and forth.”

“Must you suppress me
Matt the Uber-Oppressor?
Bring back the Haiku!”

“Sure enough. Just when I was being a good republican and pulling myself up by my bootstraps, Violin lobbies for my banning. See, he's a commie who doesn't have to add anything of worth to our society while I, on the other hand, work for a living and can't defend myself on this site.
Time to resurrect the Ban Violin!!! thread.”

“Now we're talkin'. That's the best idea yet! It allows for some of the regular folks who want to discuss politics, pennies & bacon rings to shield people who come here to discuss backpacking from nonsense.


BTW - how's school going?”

“Great idea Matt!”

“Matt, get rid of the political, religious, bacon ring, I'm feeling this way or that, leaving TT, etc... threads.
100% gear threads from now on!”

“This new idea sucks. I posted to a political thread and then could not find it. It was stuck between a bunch of other threads.”

“Whaaa? This is a BACKPACKING forum???
Golly-gee whiz, I almost forgot!

DOWN (literally) with all political threads!!!”

“As someone once said, "TT is like sitting around the campfire. You talk about all kinds of things, not just which pack is best."
I like the political threads, sometimes I even post to them.
I hardly ever go to THAT other site because all they ever talk about is backpacking.
If a new icon will help, OK. But can't you tell by the subject line?




BTW, Matt, thanks for a great site.”

“Yeah, it's tough to find the thread again. I was looking all over for something and it just wasn't there. I guess I just gotta slow down and look closer. How about a red icon for them?”

“I was wondering why "WMD" did not go to the top after I posted to it.

Sounds good, keep the b-packing threads on top....and the rest in the bottom.”

“agreed”

“Aahhh? You mean this is a back packing board? I thought it was a joint venture between Rush and Dr. Laura.

It's your board Matt, have at it.”

“It's not the total answer. Threads degenerate, as we all know.

Maybe put a chat room somewhere? See if people might be inclined to duke it out live there. Then again, they seem to like the long-winded political rhetoric of writing a post out.”

“I think it's a good idea Matt. I also find it ridiculous that some people think political threads are stupid while threads about bodily functions or losing weight or dating or whatever are somehow alright. So I vote for moving politics to the bottom.”

“Good thing.”

“Matt's idea smacks of how Bush deals with people. If you agree with Bush, you get front row access. If you disagree, you get to voice your opinion on the other side of town where it can't be heard. Many here enjoy the political football from the obvious popularity. Go ahead and bury the political threads, and bury your website in the preocess. If we wanted a good clean backpacking website, there are plenty of those on the net.”

“Hmmm. While all these opinions are being addressed, violin is quietly stuffing the ballot box.
--------------------------------
My threads used to gravitate to the bottom fast enough. Now they'll go there directly by express.”

“meow”

“I thought you preferred to bark.”

“Awww... I'll have to go find a beer, sex and politcal forum somewhere and talk about backpacking now.”

“I've been experimenting with this and I think WD's 'Ignore this Thread' option along with giving political threads their own category would give everyone the ability to customize TrailTalk as they see fit. Those who are averse to political threads can make them all disappear... then make them reappear if their mood changes.

Apparently, many of the 'General' threads are actually off-topic 'chatter', and the like, due to some confusion over the terminology. Applying the 'ignore' functionality to specific threads would obviate the need to police the threads for correct category assignment.

Troll threads could be nixed no matter the category. I don't think the trolls are too conscientious about the categories they choose anyway.”

“Sounds good to me. Only question I have is what if we want to "rally the troops" when politicians want to allow development in a prime backpacking area? All the rabble-rousers around here would be a great asset to a good cause.”

“man, this has been a long time coming. before you all burn me at the stake for my recent obnoxious behavior, let me say a couple things. my goodest friend, garfum turned me onto this site. when i first started coming here it was for hiking info. that's what the site is for, to me. i was so excited to learn more about hiking from hikers, instead of from books. the first time i saw a political thread i ignored it....and the next 15 or 20. finally, after reading all these lopsided viewpoints, i snapped and jumped into one. obviously my opinion is in the minority here and that's ok, i just wanted to give a different perspective to things. they leaned one direction so often that it appeared to be the only view to consider. i was often put aback by the treatment i sometimes recieved for my differing views, often saddened that people took things so personal...because many, many times i would get hammered unfairly by someone i truely liked. but i could not let this keep me from speaking my mind, since the other side had no problem doing so. i can take the heat, so i got over it...shrugged it off and plowed ahead.

well, as you all know, the drumbeat of this certain end of the political spectrum has increased in the volume of threads and their verocity as time has gone on...again the vast majority leaning one way. recently i completely flipped out and went on my own little crusade to even the score. and i must say that my intent was to drive them into the ground once and for all.....because i never ever felt that they belonged here. i can see discussing some politics relating to environmental issues, which would effect backpackers.....like cutting trees in a national forest , for example. but it was way out of control with the constant shrillness of this certain un-named "side".

i would actually be totally in favor of banning them all together. i don't like talking politics on the trail, or round the campfire, or at work, or on the golf corse....it's not relaxing to argue. and to me, ......even though hiking is sometimes very strenuous, being outdoors, enjoying nature, i find it relaxing...it recharges my betteries...decompresses me from my tiring, hectic life, lets me enjoy my boys and wife and friends....after a good hike, i feel refreshed somehow. i got enough stress, i don't go out there for more.

so if you won't ban them, make a seperate page for them...& if not that, move them to the bottom.

i apologize for annoying you all. i was trying to make a point, and from reading this thread i can see that i wasn't alone in my thinking that trailtalk should concentrate on hiking related issues. my intent in "going nuclear" was to demonstrate that anyone can overwhelm the site with this crap, even one man against many... and that this isn't the place for that. this result pleases me beyond my most optimistc expectations. i never felt it was appropriate at all, not one bit. i have thought many times to myself(what other way to think is there?) that politics don't belong here. there are plenty of political sites out there...and i won't be going to them. believe it or not, it's not my bag..... i come in here to have fun, to ralax, to learn, to share, to laugh, to cry......but not to argue....


thanks matt
you are a great and worthy webmaster... and i mean that sincerely;
best reguards,
stratdewd@aol.com










BTW guys....you know what this means.....



















........I WIN! AHHHHHAHHAHAHA!”

“oh yeah, i forgot something...i fear that some will still try to sneak their agendas into other threads and slip past matt's net. that's why i like the idea of having a completely seperate page.

but hey, this will be much better than before. i won't have to see all that stuff anymore and ya'll won't have to listen to my blither blather anymore.....


now we talk about important stuff....like dead squrrells and canned beef....”

“I agree with BowlderMan - come up with some way to fine tune the chatter icon so people can tune out the chatter they don't want to wade through. I know - you can usually figure out from the title if you are interested but sometimes it requires hipboots. I don't like the chatter all at the bottom because I like to keep up with some of the chatter threads and they are harder to find now.

On another note - I think it is a little funny that people seem to think that this board is so heavily populated with left-wing wack-os. I find plenty of postings by the other side to keep things pretty balanced.”

“pepper, my point is that the VAST majority of the threads in question are started by the left. it cannot be denied...”

“Should be a simple solution. Just ask that the political stuff cease and desist.

I am one of those who has been up to my neck in the political threads and this is the first time I have heard any complaints.

I figured since it was in a general category and since people have choices as to what they read that it would bot bother anyone not interested in it.

There really hasn't been a lot of backpacking talk right now. I fidured that was because of the time of year.

I for one will desist from any more political posting if it upsets a bunch of people.”

“I think the title of this thread has a definite left leaning sound to it. "....The Masses."”

“OMG! Matt's a liberal!?:?!??!



















[THUD]”

“wait a minute! shouldn't this thread be under the "chatter" catagory?”

“I'm game!



Let's Hike!”

“heck yes laq!


you hike on the left side of the trail and i on the right side of the trail....deal?”