How WhiteBlaze Handles Negativity

Thank you for sharing this with us. I have seen more than one poster driven off when they dared to question or offer an opposing viewpoint.

I know "Mama" taught us all better than this.

Its good to see that Whiteblaze is finally putting their foot down. The way many of the posters would derail a topic or bicker is one of the main reasons I decided to stop visiting WB and kind of turned me off from the AT as a whole. I sincerely hope we can avoid that kind of situation here.

Adam

Same here. In January I posted a thread at WB called something like "long rant". The point was to highlight how so many threads were hijacked by the usual suspects ( Q ; I am looking for a solo tent… A: you don't want a tent, get a hammock/ Q: what type of mat … A : why use a mat when you can use duff…) to the point where real information was hard to come by. My post was followed by several pages of replies most containing totally inane comments, one of the exceptions was ST Rock explaining that the gear/review/ultralite forums were essentially a free for all and only the straightforward one was restricted to the topic (!). I never bothered after that.
Franco

Adam said: kind of turned me off from the AT as a whole

I've experienced both WB and the AT. Don't be discouraged by anything on the web to get turned off from the AT. The AT has many great miles of hiking. Incredible variety. Tradition and history.

As for WB, think bobcats. They're fine when they're out in the wild, but crowd too many of them into a small web site and fur will fly. Herding bobcats doesn't work well.

For BPL, think of a pack of wolves. The alpha that keeps the pack stable is a common goal – seeking lighter-ness. We'll growl and show teeth, but usually not bite each other.