Let's discuss TT - Outage and Future Pla ns

“Hello Trail Talkers.

This is Ken from Demand Media. We had a recent outage on TT that youre most certainly all aware of by now. I want to apologize for that, I know you all depend on the site and this outage was no fun for any of you. I'm pleased to see everything is restored. Thanks to all of you that raised a flag in a positive way.

Many of you have also used this outage as opportunity to share your thoughts on the forum, the lack of moderation, and the need to restore the forums to be focused on backpacking.

And so, I'm looking for a list of users who are interested in volunteering to moderate the forums. More specifically, I'm looking for volunteers (and referrals from other members) who can help restore these forums to be backpacking focused. Granted, there are some areas where jokes and other exchanges can take place, but according to you all, the site has degraded to have very little outdoor content.

We want you to have your forums back. We want you to have a place to share your backpacking experiences.

So I'm looking for several good people who are interested in volunteering a few minutes or more of their time on a regular basis to ensure we keep threads respectful, on topic, and unoffensive. Think it over, and I'll be posting instructions for how to volunteer.

And feel free to post any feedback here, but please keep the posts unoffensive.”

“LOL, this should be good.”

“I agree there needs to be moderation but I caution against using current posters to do so. Too many have an axe to grind. Surely there is someone at Demand that can do it?”

“If there is not enough backpacking content, it is the fault of the regulars to this site. The forums are there, and no one is stopping anyone from posting. As a matter of fact, only two forums are not backpacking related.

In short, nothing needs to change.”

“Ken how come no email addy?”

“good catch DORK”

“reply”

“...oh, and what ever you do please ban mapleleaf and all her user names”

“work”

“for me”

“for over”

“10 char.”

“Please fix it so new people can join TT.”

“it may be contractions that do not work for me”

“hey, that is it. If I use a contraction then the post will not work.”

“Very cool.

I think one key element of TT is that it used to have a balance of discussion, gear, and trails. We all described it as a virtual campfire. Relationships were made on the chatter end and we all had great fun on trips. Please do not take it to all gear and trip logistics. That entity is called backpacker.com and it iss no fun. This place used to be fun because of the balance and the relationships.”

“ps, the hate mongering on fuego has reallly driven folks away. chatter = good, gloves off fuego = bad.”

“Sell the site back to Matt.”

“Ken if you are for real, then good. but as it has already been said, there is a lot of bad blood on this board.

I want to think this is real offer.
all joking aside, I was told I could have my user ID mapleleaf back. But it never happened.

so in a sign of good faith, may I PLEASE have just that user name back.

I would love to see the board go back about five years ago. it was more fun then.”

“what was the editors name?
Ken Donoven or something like that?
he is no longer with Demand right?
Ken may I please have your email addy, promise not to give it to anyone

nseptoff@aol.com”

“Give Mapes back her name, and me, for that matter.”

“First off . . . one known issue related to posting is that any posts that use apostrophes are not appearing. Avoid apostrophes to ensure your posts appear until we get this issue resolved.

Now onto the discussion around moderation . . . plain and simple, we have received many complaints about the lack of backpacking content being posted to TT. There are lots of sites out there for connecting with friends, or insulting rivals as this site seems to have more than its fair share of.

You all know the forums. You are all backpackers. If you want to see the forums restored to be outdoors focused rather than insult focused, you can help by keeping your posts on topic, and moderating if you can. This is your chance to influence the tone of the site.”

“thank you for your feed back Ken, but can you please address the issue of restoring my original login name.

this may not mean anything to you, but I earned that named on the trails and it means a lot to me.”

“huh. ahll be damn. we really cant post apostrophes”

“I do not think that trying to moderate this group of people would be any fun at all. Especially for someone who regularly posts here.”

“I am sure ens, violin, and tilt will volunteer to mod.
last edited: 11/11/09 2:29:12 PM”

“When this site was at its best, it was a social networking site centered around backpacking. It was a backpacking site, but it has social discussions, playful banter, and the like. I think at the core, that is what most folks would like to see in teh future. If it goes all backpacking all the time I suspect you will see your post count drop by 50% or more.

On to moderators, I think humanpackmule would be great. I am drawing a blank on others but I know there are some more.”

“crash i figured that out at noon time. now lets talk Backpacking!”

“i do not think the moderating will actually be that bad. Upfront tell folks what the new expectations are and then enforce those expectations. I am a mod on a football site and we put people in time out pretty quick and pretty regular. I think that site is much more tightly moderated than this one should be. A few people will get put to the side for a month or so, people will figure it out, and the site will truck along. No, this was not me applying for the job.”

“Refrigerator might make a good mod, if you get rid of his trolls.”

“then when the list of volunteers is available,
and mass vote should take place.



I would like to throw pedexing into the ring.

Ken may I have your email please.”

“chili would be good.

pedxing would be good.

I think people that would be fair, but also understand what this place is about is key. You do not think the social/relationshiop part is important? Ask ped how he feels about the people who came to his aid when he was in the hospital. That would not happen on a gear/trip only site.”

“Pedx would make a great mod, for Backpacker.com.”

“ss - you may disagree with his politics, but he has a reason behind everything he posts. He logically thinks everything through. I think hyway and noncon would be good for the same reasons.”

“I have lost my trolls.....DM tookem.
Now lets get down to business and talk backpacking.”

“Maybe”

“Who wants to go Backpacking?”

“I do”

“Please stick to the thread subject, frige. ;)”

“Ken, if you are real, please get rid of the shoesoo.com threads.”

“Second that!”

“silly bears”

“I am interested in assisting. I have sent you an e-mail from my work address, but here is my personal e-mail windigrrl(at)sbcglobal(dot)net”

“I dont understand the problem. Isnt that the reason they made the fuego catagory? You can set which catagories you want to look at so if fuego isnt your thang, dont look at it.

Now that i rethink this, I do recall some fights breaking out on threads that had nothing to do with the original topic of the thread...

I just dont want to see this site turn into some stuffy, boring, fuddy duddy site, thats all”

“the only person i trust is pedxing and he is too busy to moderate”

“windi how do you have his addy?
did I miss it posted somewhere?”

“dayhiker has lost his mind. ;)

I have no problem with TT moderated or not (depending on who the moderators are) as long teh ignore feature remains and it would be nice if it could be expanded to ignore the subject line with the body of the post. Also fix it so new members can join and post.”

“Apostrophes are from the devil.”