Matt drops "the webmaster", Hello Elise

“After 11 years, several forum wars and the creation of a fuego universe, it is finally time. From this point forward, I will be dropping “the webmaster” from my name and become a regular citizen of thebackpacker.com. My new name will be just “matt”. About a month ago, ownership of thebackpacker.com was moved from myself to Hill Climb Media, a Seattle based company. This was not a quick or easy decision, but it is the best decision for both my family and for thebackpacker.com website. Hill Climb Media is a company focused on outdoor websites and they run sites such as Trails.com.

This decision does not mean that I will be leaving thebackpacker.com, it just means that I will not be calling the shots anymore. I will still be around Trail Talk and go on trips with people from the website. Hill Climb Media found the community aspect of thebackpacker.com to be very appealing. For that, I must thank all of you. I may have created the platform for all of you to gather, but it is your posts and trips that have made this community a success. The people I have met in “real life” because of thebackpacker.com have always been nice and fun to be around. And hopefully I will get to meet even more people in the future.

Since I am stepping down, all those “Hey Matt” threads will slowly fade and will be replaced by “Hey Elise”. Elise will be the person to contact with any questions or problems with the site. So give her a polite welcome. She is not a troll, I can verify that. She has already posted a picture of herself so that should ease her through the initiation process. Over the next few weeks, the site will be moved to Hill Climb Media severs. So be patient. Website moves always have hiccups.

Again, I want to thank all of you who have participated on thebackpacker.com and made it a great community for backpackers. This is not the end for me on the internet, I still have plenty of other sites to keep me busy. And if anyone misses getting fuego slapped, you can always reach me at my new email address, matt@lattaoutdoors.com.

Matt, the webmaster, has left the building.”

“is anybody else worried?”

“Clearly, this is one of those TT hoaxes.

How long 'till he fesses up?”

“

I'm pinching your head, I'm pinching your head!”

“thrilling they run trails.com..that place sucks”

“we're doomed”

“its matt just trolling you guys. I be he even logs on as this elsie person even. Don't fall for it!!”

“I for one welcome our new head pinching overlords.”

“This was not a quick or easy decision, but it is the best decision for both my family and for thebackpacker.com website.

Translation: Matt made a #&%!$load of moolah and needs to take us all out!!!!

Are we gonna lose the babe thread? I bet it's gonna be like Big Broth.....er......Sister in here. #&%!$, Matt. Always thinking of your family and not our comfort...”

“Translation: Matt made a #&%!$load of moolah and needs to take us all out!!!!



Yeah!! Next round on Matt!!


Heck, the round after that on Elsie!!


Sorry, "Elise." Clearly, "Matt" is a lot easier to spel.
last edited: 6/20/07 10:24:57 PM”

“matt also knows all our secrets....”

“please don't turn this place into backpacker.com”

“please don't turn this place into backpacker.com”
bearmagnet
10:44:04 PM
6/20/07


already is”

“
So long, Sucka! (and thanks for all the fish)

It is.... The End Of An Era.  How the Hell Matt put up with this for as long as he did is an amazement.  Such masochism, nearly a decade worth(?), must be rewarded somehow, in some fashion (not by US, necessarily, be hey!).

How long has Elise been lurking? [gulp]    Does she know what she's getting into?  When can we start asking for all those goodies on the suggestion threads?


I am getting a creepy feeling, though.... like my eyeballs have been auctioned off, [VBG].  I don't want be an organ donor yet ----

”

“Damn. Well, good for you Matt. Thanks for creating this community where I've met tons of great people. Hopefully the change of ownership won't screw that up and we'll continue to have backpacking adventures for years to come. I've often wondered what the fate of this website would be...and I agree, please don't change it or make it like those yuppies over at backpacker.com”

“I have a bad feeling that the site is headed downhill...”

“oh crap!”

“wasn't Hill climb media bought by Demand Media (LA, Cali) whose CEO was once "chairman" of myspace?

cough, cough.
last edited: 6/20/07 11:22:37 PM”

“hm.”

“Matt, I hope you got full value for a quality product sold. I always appreciated the professional way you ran this site compared to the competition. Good luck on this transition in your life.”

“Don't change for you, and don't change a thing for me......”

“oh my...”

“

Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO
Richard Rosenblatt”

“Well, that about does it for me. This place was stinking to high heaven for a while now; guess it's best just to shoot the place and put it out of its misery.

Trail Talk was a cool place. I met some pretty cool people because of it, and had some great hiking experiences, too. My only regret is that I didn't come by the place sooner, when some of the real good and classic posters were around -- that was some real good stuff.

Whelp, don't spend all that cash in one place, Matt. Hope it was worth it.”

“Is he a member of the Trilateral Commission?

Was Spirit right all along?  Should we be stocking up on marshmallows and hershey bars in case of armageddon?”

“I like the posters now better than the early ones. Our votes cancel. next voters please step up.

BTW, that elise is kinda cute, which of us is gonna get her into our tent first?”

“As long as the trips page still works...”

“Yeah --- somebody needs to warn her about Hyway and the rest of us old pervs, LOL”

“Sorry folks there's nothing to see here...move along....”

“Does this mean we'll get some really cool tatally invasive pop-up ads now?”

“SWEET! Free trails.com subscriptions for everyone!! Good move for you Matt and welcome Elise.

I am concerned about one thing though...



I never trust anyone who wears a monocle.”

“Maybe this will finally turn into a decent site.
last edited: 6/21/07 4:58:10 AM”

“First order of business...ban Violin.”

“Oh #&%!$!

Those nasty pictures of matt with farm animals won't keep me safe anymore.”

“no worries, v. im already working on elise with some midgets”

“I'll admit I'm a little bummed about this, but totally understand. There comes a time for everyone to move on. Also, you took the risk to create the board and should reap the reward on it's sale. To folks that don't like that, it's business.

I'm sure they're will be changes, there always are in a transition, just don't ruin the spirit of the place and most of us will hang around.”

“At last we will have a real Net Nanny!!”

“good god, there's a lot of selfish rude people on here..."poor me, what's gonna happen to MY site"..."matt's a sell out"

i for one thank you matt...this is a great site and like someone before said i wish i would have found it earlier...you've done a great job with it and i think it's had a good balance of "free speech" and civility...the lay out and design is great as well...love the trips page, maybe i haven't looked hard enough but i haven't seen one on another site that was as good

thanks for everything”

“UM is it time to mention that there are only 5 of us on the site but we all have like 200 trolls? (LOL)

Well we will see. Hopefully the new regieme will see that despite our disagreements this is a very instructive site.

Heck I remember Violin and Marko telling me about smearing Grilled Salmon on me in Alaska to keep the grizzlies away...

(As a sidebar the scars are healing nicely )(LOL)>

Elise...we welcome you, let me be the first to say, Get the number to the suicide hotline...keep it in the cell phone (LOL).”

“Well Matt sorry to see you step down, but I understand and am glad you plan to stick around. Thank you for all the time and effort you've put into this place, it didn't go unnoticed.”

“I thought I told you to smear yourself with goat doodoo in Georgia to pick up Georgia chicks.

Maybe it was someone else.............”

“I thought I felt a schism in the universe.

So I guess this means that Elise will be driving the short yellow bus from now on. Matt, you did tell her about that, didn't you?

Thanks for the memories Matt. Hope to see you on a trip some time.”

“Matt -- if you happen to see this, you are an awesome guy, and glad that I was able to hang out with you a few times.

We will do our best to not to treat Elise badly (mOooHaAaaa).”

““I thought I told you to smear yourself with goat doodoo in Georgia to pick up Georgia chicks.

Maybe it was someone else.............”
mARKo

UM it was me...I did what you said and got



Um..it took a whole can of Bear Repellent to get rid of her...oh I told her I was YOU.”

“Thanks for everything, Matt. Good job in all the work here and congrats on making it pay off. That's cool.

As far as the new folks, I, too, would fear subscriptions... perhaps adding this nice little board as a trails.com feature”

“Holy beep! Just when I thought there wasn't enough excitement and drama around here...”

“Thank you Matt.

Hello Elise.”

“I have a theory: "Elise" is "Sarge."”

“I do too! "Bowlderman" is a "dork."
:-D”