Introducing BackpackingLight.com Discussion Forums
We introduced a limited forum discussion interface in November 2003, for the sole purpose of offering readership the opportunity to provide useful commentary on issues and topics published in articles at BackpackingLight.com. We really enjoyed the reader feedback, were very pleased by your levels of insightfulness and personal resonsibility, and we’d like to move forward with more comprehensive discussion forum topics.
How the Forums Work
This forum interface is not a conventional “BBS” style discussion board. The interface is simple and based on a flat discussion architecture(replies appended to the ends of threads rather than nested).
To view a particular thread, you may access it via the index below. In addition, you will find some of the threads (especially those in the Editors’ Roundtable Forum) embedded at the end of articles related to the thread topic. For example, to enter the thread LED Lights, you may click on that thread from the ‘LED Lights’ topic in the Editors’ Roundtable Forum, or you may view the exact same thread at the end of each of the following articles: “The Weird Science of Night Vision”, “Buying an LED Torch”, and “LED Lighting Technology”.
Forum Policies
Policies for each forum may be slightly different. In general, our default forum policy requires login for posting, with all forums moderated by the BackpackingLight.com Editorial Staff.
Posts containing profanity, unsubstantiated claims that are perceived to be defamatory or slanderous, or off-topic posts will be deleted.
While you are welcome to debate and challenge manufacturer marketing claims here, discussion forums are not an environment for airing customer grievances about your gear arising from using your gear in situations clearly beyond what the manufacturer intended (e.g., this silnylon pack really sucks, it ripped to shreds when I slid down a talus slope). Further, flames and personal wars with other companies or persons will not be tolerated here.
NO COMMERCIAL POSTS IN THE FORUMS. Keep your signatures to a bare minimum. URLs posted in the forum should be useful and valuable to the readership in context with the post, not intended to provide trolls to drive traffic to your site.
Enjoy the forums, and feel free to provide us with any feedback.
Ryan Jordan
Publisher, Backpacking Light
