@ rOg w – I agree with some of what you said in your comment, but I wanted to just comment on this… your first paragraph, where you say:
"Eight plus years ago there seemed to be a lot more members/posters out doing more and posting trip reports. Those seem to be rare now. BPL for the past couple years has become pretty stagnant. There are the members who have been around since BPL's inception and are here to socialize and on the other end are the new members, just starting out. What has disappeared, much like the American economy is the middle class, those members who are doing trips regularly and posting about them."
I'd like to break this down and talk about the "why."
I was not a member here 8 years ago, but I've been a member for quite a few now, maybe 5-ish years? I also remember seeing more trip reports. They have become a little more rare. I also agree that the middle class in the US is disappearing.
However, I'd argue this has nothing to do with BPL and backpacking. I'd like to offer a few other reasons that are much more likely for the changes than the impending death of the middle class:
1) Blogs. 8 years ago, BPL was one of only a couple of sources of information for UL backpacking and gear. These days, while it may still be "king," there are many more relevant blogs and websites than I ever knew about back then.
2) Showing off isn't new anymore. 8 years ago it was much more of a novelty to be able to show off your trips with beautiful photos and have something "unique" on the internet. There is plenty of opportunity to share… many people are using facebook or their own blogs, and may not be as motivated to come to BPL to post a trip report, if they've already done so somewhere else. I write trip reports for my blog, for BPL, for tenkara-fisher.com, and have posted on the tenkarabum blog too. That's a lot of writing and trip reporting, and therefore, a LOT of trips are needed. More than an average working individual has time for maybe.
3) Videos – lots of videos on youtube and vimeo. They speak for themselves and are their own trip reports.
4) People. Many of the trip reports and write ups are from the same group of individuals. Maybe those people have had enough of writing about their reports and don't need to share them. Maybe negative comments turned them off. Maybe they didn't get paid enough to write, or maybe it just got boring to them. But whatever the reason, its up to you and me and the rest of the BPL community to support and inspire these reports, make us want to write them!
I'm sure there's more, but it seems that you also answered your own question/statement later on, when you say "…what has changed is fewer people have the need to talk about [gear] online. Because I wear a Patagonia Ultralight Down Jacket or use a Western Mountaineering sleeping bag means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of life."
Exactly. And so that is what happening on BPL. I still see a vibrant community of people helping each other out and sharing information. I could do without the ads (so I use an ad blocker) but otherwise I'm just happy the site is still here.
I would challenge you to submit some trip reports and articles and put your money where your mouth is for the rest of us to enjoy :)
