I miss the old BLP.com

[Craig Lefevre]

I use to get excited to open my BPL newsletter e-mail and reading articles like;
– Thermoregulation by Ryan Jordan.
– Back Country Water Quality: Ron Silflow & RJ.
-A BPL guide to sustained, cold rain by Alan Dixon.
-SuperUltraLight: Breaking the Five-Pound Barrier by Ryan Jordan.
– Tarps vrs Tents by Carol Crooker.
-Bivy Sack Technologies, Products & Application (2006)by Ryan Jordan.
– Camparative Fuel efficiency & carry weight for 6 stoves by Will Rietveld.
– The Poncho Tarp; Techniques & gear systems Ryan J & Alan Dixon.
– Drying Characteristics;Down vrs Synthetic by Don Wilson.
– Comfort & moisture transport; Wool vrs Synthetic by Don Wilson, Alan Dixon, Will Rietveld.
-Unconventional Sleep systems by Ryan Jordan
– Drying characteristics of lightweight hiking shoes by CArol Crooker
– Condensation in single walled shelters by Will Rietveld.

Using this list, I think you get the idea. I love this stuff. I fell in love with BPL.com because these articles fueled my passion for hiking. I've been waiting for new articles like this for some time now. I'm getting disappointed everytime I open my BPL newsletter e-mail. It appears BPL is taking a different direction. Has anyone else notice this? Am I the only one hungry for articles like this?

Craig Lefevre,
Morgantown WV

[Chris Chastain]

I'm with you, brother.

[Ken Thompson]

It seems all the old articles were a hit. Now too many misses lately. But Dr. J says things are soon to change. We will see.

[Pedro Arvy]

Yeah, it seems like there's a new direction to soft and fuzzy articles with littl useful information. I wonder if this was based on the reader survey?

[Michael Martin]

Hi Craig (and everyone else who replied)

Yes! Your list above highlights some of BPL's best over the past few years. Most of the classic articles you mentioned are "technique" or "technology" articles (which are some of my favorites as well).

As "Techniques" editor, I wanted to point out some recent articles in my section that are in a similar spirit to those on your list:

Trekking Techniques for Early-Season Conditions by Andrew Skurka

Reducing Winter Pack Weight: Wood Fire Cooking in the Snow
by Kevin Sawchuk

Backcountry Cookfires: Overview and Techniques for Cooking Over an Open Flame by Bill Stadwiser

Take the Load Off: Using Pulks to Travel Over Snow by Ed Bouffard

Whether these will emerge as classics like the articles you mentioned remains to be seen. But, I wanted to assure you (and the rest of our technically oriented readers) that BPL will continue to publish quality technical articles. It's worth mentioning, though, that many of our readers equally enjoy our non-technical trip reports, commentary, etc.

Our challenge is to offer quality content on both technical and non-technical subjects. Not every article will appeal to every reader….But, we're trying! :)

Cheers,

Mike

[Brian Barnes]

Nicely stated Mike! I think it's easy to loose perspective and only concern oneself with what one is interested in… Its a tough job to make everyone happy all the time.

[Nia Schmald]

Those articles are the reason I subscrib to BPL as well. They became the definitive texts because they took on a broadly applicable subject, described the various alternatives, and then tested to identify their relative strengths and weaknesses. I loved all the effort put in to the wool vs. synthetic argument to determine that there is very little if any difference. That's science at its best: when facts are used to determine merit, rather than folklore, that so much of the internet relies on.

I would add last years series on winter footwear and the stove carbon monoxide study to this category. So that's 2 in a year. Compared to the rate of previous years this was a bit slow, but it took 4 years to accumulate the articles above so it's not far off the mark.

A thought the wood fire articles were on this level. As Mike said, time and user testing will determine the accuracy of the information. I liked the early season trekking article too, but thought it more of a style that suggests a few tips and tricks rather than thoroughly examines many different possibilities. Not that a few tips and tricks aren't helpful.

Where I think BPL has struggled interestingly enough is on the gear side. There have been numerous gear reviews, probably more than ever so volume is not a problem. But each time it is a single piece in isolation. This tells us if something is a complete dud, but the unique thing that BPL did was to do thorough bake offs off all products in a category. These are now several years out of date.

I would like to see BPL adopt the Consumer Reports model of product review were an article is a living document with new products being incorporated and compared to the existing products in the category. This is not easy to do as it requires a repeatable testing methodology. But if it was easy anyone could do it.

To me it's only interesting to highlight a product in isolation if it breaks the established rules of the category.

As for the trip reports and other that I and others have complained about and as Mike correctly points out have gotten numerous positive responses from other members: I often read trail journals and blogs to learn about beautiful places, see some pretty pictures, and hopefully get a taste of the joy of being in the wilderness. BTW if you haven't checked out Chris Townsend's blog, I recommend it. He takes some nice pictures. So I don't mind this stuff showing up on BPL even if there are plenty of other places to find the same thing. I just hope that that is in addition to and not replacing the kind of work that Craig sited above which I have found no where except on BPL.

Man that was a long rant. Sorry for that. I really need to get off my soap box and go hiking.

p.s. did any one actually read this far? You might need to go hiking too. :)

[Ryan Jordan]

"Me too." :)

You will note that (a) I've reassumed my role as BPL's Editor-in-Chief, effective March 1, and the amount of technical and intensive gear reviews will both increase; and (b) Chris Townsend has been brought on as our Senior Gear Editor for the purpose of dedicating somebody full time to the development of comprehensive gear treatises; and (c) Mike Martin as our Senior Techniques editor is VERY keen on developing this section; and (d) Roger Caffin as our Senior Technology Editor has a rather ambitious calendar of fundamental technology articles in the works on everything from fabrics to shelter design to water treatment technologies.

Having said that, I have a few short term teasers for you on the technical gear side: two comprehensive reviews about both the SPOT Messenger and the Garmin Colorado 400t, headed up by Alan Dixon in both cases. These will be goodies that will be ready to publish in a few weeks. I have not scheduled them yet, but I'm expecting them to hit the website in late May and/or early June.

Ryan

[Ken Thompson]

That's what is great about BPL. The powers that be do listen! Thanks Dr. Jordan for the update!

[Richard Scruggs]

Dr. J — Happy to hear of your plans to resume "dancing" with what what has brought BPL its success. An injection of more "backpacking light" into BPL — pure genius!!

And adding Chris Townsend to the staff is a great move in the right direction. His books are an excellent resource that I often turn to for ideas. And he sure has a talent for clear, interesting narrative, as in his account of winter trekking into Yellowstone. Articles like that serve to inform and stimulate others who might be looking to expand their experience.

Yellowstone is hardly a stranger on the block, but other writings in BPL by its staff and membership have helped me learn of several other locations to add to my "to do" list for future outings — locations previously unfamiliar, or even unknown, to me.

Many thanks.

JRS

[Ken Thompson]

Hmm.

I was poking around and came across this. Funny it sounds so recent.

[Richard Scruggs]

“The past isn’t dead.  It isn’t even past.” – William Faulkner, from Requiem for a Nun (1951)

[Bruce Tolley]

Yes indeed. It is deja vu all over again. The last state of the market report was August 2013  “Tenkara for Backpackers: State of the Market Report – Part 2 AUG 20, 2013 BY CHRIS STEWART”

[Nick Gatel]

Yes indeed. It is deja vu all over again. The last state of the market report was August 2013

Maybe there isn’t anything new in the market worth writing about? Didn’t Ryan Jordan bemoan the Stagnation of the Cottage Industry in 2011?

I have been doing this walking thing for a long time and little has truly changed. There are new “cottage” companies every decade I have hiked in. Most eventually go “mainstream” with heavier gear and more features, get bought out by a larger fish, go broke, just disappear, and a few remain over the long haul.

Other than new materials (think titanium or Cuben fiber) little has changed design-wise; the one exception is UL backpackers have several iterations of single function gear items in their closet. In the 70’s and 80’s I used frameless packs, tarps, pyramid shelter, poncho/tarps, canister stove, alcohol stove, solid fuel stove, down sleeping bag, down jacket, fleece clothing, a single hiking staff as a shelter pole, WPB garments (Gore-Tex), wind shirt and pants, lightweight shorts, wool socks, wool shirts, wool trousers, wool base layers, synthetic base layers, 3 layer clothing system, bandannas, tennis and running shoes, compact camera (Kodak Instamatic), base plate compass, thin aluminum stakes, etc.

In 1955 Grandma Gatewood hiked the AT with less and lighter gear than most of today’s UL thru hikers on the AT.

The old BPL is still here: it’s the forums with good dialogue such as a couple recent threads on the theory and real world use of clothing in prolonged cold and rainy weather. It’s trip reports to places like the Brooks Range or canyons of the Southwest. It’s discussions about how to maximize limited free time for backpacking. It’s sharing success stories or supporting others who face difficulties.

 

[BlackHatGuy]

“The old BPL is still here: it’s the forums with good dialogue such as a couple recent threads on the theory and real world use of clothing in prolonged cold and rainy weather. It’s trip reports to places like the Brooks Range or canyons of the Southwest. It’s discussions about how to maximize limited free time for backpacking. It’s sharing success stories or supporting others who face difficulties.”

+1

[Kevin Babione]

These “revived” old threads often make me smile.  I don’t usually pay any attention to the dates of the posts since I’m looking at “Recent Posts” I figure all the posts must be recent.  I didn’t question Dr. J when he said that he’s “re-assumed the role of editor-in-chief effective March 1” – it just seemed to be so natural.  Hard to believe it was 8 years ago!!!

The other thing about these old threads is that I’ll often see an old Bob Gross posting and I am briefly hopeful that he’s back…And then I see the date.  Sigh.

[Ken Thompson]

I do think that moving Gear Swap off the main page again will encourage more discussion here. Threads just get buried too fast now. The lack of new posts since last visit as a choice hurts too.

Sure the old BPL is still here. Finding it is not always easy.

June 11th will mark the anniversary of –B.G.– getting kicked off for being mad about post deletion for voicing criticism. Had BPL hired a badly needed editor earlier he would still be here, being Bob.

I hope for the best, still.

[Bruce Tolley]

To the question, “Maybe there isn’t anything new in the market worth writing about [since 2008]?

I can think of a number of things I would love BPL to write about that are new since April 23, 2008 when this thread started and many of these trends/products/technologies are changing each year: UV water treatment, hollow fiber filtration, filtration combined with other technologies: ionization, chemical (Roger Caffin did one excellent review), Handheld dedicated GPS, GPS and other apps on smart phones, USB powered devices for backpacking, solar power products to recharge those USB devices, batteries for those longish hikes, DWR down (is it worth the $, will it last as long as naked down?), new synthetic fibers for bags and quilts, etc. etc.

I think most of us came to BPL for the edited content in the beginning and were willing to pay for it, and some of us are still paying. When the edited content and articles got to be few and far between with the notable exception of the sustained contributions of Roger Caffin, I would guess that many of us found that the forum was an excellent source available for information about gear, for sharing ideas about trips and DIY projects, asking questions, etc, etc. Although with the new web site, is is REALLY hard to find the interesting threads amid all the WTB and FS threads.

 

 

[Simon Kenton]

As I read this, I wonder how the lack of new BPL content affects the cottage industry. It isn’t hard for me to imagine a cycle here.

Take Luke’s Ultralight or Borah Gear. Here are cottage manufacturers committed to providing lightweight gear, but since BPL doesn’t do SOTM reports covering cottage manufacturers, the reader base has little-to-no idea of their offerings.

An active BPL could review some of this gear and it would probably boost sales for them, allowing them to bring new products to the market.

 

The cottage stagnation and BPL stagnation could be codependent on each other.

[Nick Gatel]

Bruce said,

I can think of a number of things I would love BPL to write about that are new since April 23, 2008 when this thread started and many of these trends/products/technologies are changing each year: UV water treatment, hollow fiber filtration, filtration combined with other technologies: ionization, chemical (Roger Caffin did one excellent review), Handheld dedicated GPS, GPS and other apps on smart phones, USB powered devices for backpacking, solar power products to recharge those USB devices, batteries for those longish hikes, DWR down (is it worth the $, will it last as long as naked down?), new synthetic fibers for bags and quilts, etc. etc.

I like BPL, which is why I participate. Those things Bruce (I am not being critical) would like to see are also items other people probably would like to see too; all-in-all they are all just a twist on things that already exist or gadgets that might be nice to have; none of them will make my trips any safer, keep me warmer, or make my trips more fun — and there are probably folks who agree with me — and just as many who disagree. But this isn’t the point.

There is considerable quality content already here on BPL, of course finding it can be a challenge. Much of the best content was published by 2008, and since then a lot of what we see are just variations on a theme. Not to say none of it is pertinent, it is. However, this is not the content that is going to keep BPL afloat. It costs a lot of money to run this site and the world has changed a lot since 2002 or even 2008. Eight years ago, BPL was just about the “only game in town” when it came to lightweight backpacking. Now there are hundreds of quality blogs and ample social media that have become competition for BPL. Which brings up Paul M’s comment:

As I read this, I wonder how the lack of new BPL content affects the cottage industry. It isn’t hard for me to imagine a cycle here.

Take Luke’s Ultralight or Borah Gear. Here are cottage manufacturers committed to providing lightweight gear, but since BPL doesn’t do SOTM reports covering cottage manufacturers, the reader base has little-to-no idea of their offerings.

An active BPL could review some of this gear and it would probably boost sales for them, allowing them to bring new products to the market.

The cottage stagnation and BPL stagnation could be codependent on each other.

This was true in 2002 when a lot of the well known cottage companies like GG, MLD, SMD, Tarptent, and others were just starting, and a few years later with companies such as ULA, zPacks, and Trail Designs entering the marketplace. BPL probably had a large influence for these companies back then. But the UL market has matured. I have a feeling that if Phil Werner, John Abela, Andrew Skurka, Dave Chenault, Chris Townsend, or even Backpacker Magazine or Outdoor Gear Lab, and a host of others write a great review or article on their websites they might drive more traffic today than BPL once did. I’m not promoting any of these folks and I don’t know if they have any impact, but it is plausible. From what I have read a single Facebook or Twitter post can generate tens of thousands of views in just a few days: that’s some powerful stuff.

Point being, BPL needs to differentiate itself from the competition. What was once the best on the Web is no longer viable for sustaining it’s business model.

And who is going to write the content? BPL doesn’t pay authors for articles. Yes, it might be a good vehicle for an aspiring author, but it’s a lot of work. No one minds if someone slaps together a blog post with grammar or spelling errors, but when people are paying to read content then the stakes go up — a lot. For example, I can throw something together quickly on my blog and get thousands of page views and I don’t care much about typos and such. When I was working and was paid to write technical articles, I would spend hours and hours making sure it was right before I submitted the first draft; it’s a different world.

Another thing… I often see Roger asking people to submit an article and he volunteers to do the editing. If someone wants to become a writer, here’s your chance.

Here are a few things BPL could do to make the site better.

• Catalogue all the articles and maybe some of the better threads into categories and create an index page. Maybe UL 101, how to navigate with a compass, winter footwear systems, stoves, pack rafting, etc. Make the gems easy to find. It would save Anna (Link) a lot of time :-)
• Finish articles that never published the promised sequels (holding my breath).
• More stuff like the tent stake holding power article. There have been a lot of threads about what size guy line works best with a LineLoc 3 — might be an idea for an article. Perhaps there could be a “sticky” thread for requests and members or BPL editors could create something; often the most difficult thing about writing is coming up with the idea or subject. There could be gear give aways for anything published by a member, and the gear could be donated by companies — its free advertising.
• Start contests for article submissions on specific subjects (not gear reviews; I especially like trip reports) and work out deals with gear manufacturers to donate gear as payment. 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place.
• Whatever happened to the photo contests? It is probably a lot of work to do the judging, perhaps a group of volunteers could be assembled.
• Every year many people do thru hikes and blog almost daily. Why not link or publish one hiker’s trip on each of the major trails?
• Anyone have any other ideas?

Like I said earlier, I like BPL. My world won’t change much if BPL fails. I have no interest in writing articles for BPL, not that I have anything valuable to write anyway. The sad thing is members are asking for stuff, a lot of us are brainstorming as in this thread, and Jordan has seemingly disappeared. Things are backwards. I’m sure Ryan is busy, but  people are paying to be members here, so it is time to start running this site like a business and make the customers happy. Business 101.

[Billy Ray]

Just bring Bob Gross back…  that’ll give ’em plenty to write about :)

billy

[Nick Gatel]

Yeah, I really miss Bob. Hope he is still honoring our big horn sheep territory division line treaty.

 

[Scott Nelson]

There was a similar discussion at the end of February.  Back then we were told it was a technical IT problem and the articles would resume soon.  I really appreciate the great job that BPL has done over the years.  It created this niche.  The opportunity is being created for someone else to fill the needs of readers who have been coming here.  I really hope I’m wrong and that BPL rallies.

[Ken Thompson]

Well to be fair articles have been posted since February and Ryan was upfront on saying that they would be occasional and no longer weekly.

[Ken Thompson]

“BPL doesn’t pay authors for articles.”  Wrong Nick

Read this

#7 on the right sidebar says “AUTHOR is paid upon article publication.”

“Maybe UL 101” It’s on the home page

[Author]

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