Stickey Wanted:

[Eric Blumensaadt]

MODERATORS> Could we have a "stickey" post at the top of this forum which lists the best sources for powdered, dehydrated/freeze dried, etc. food for backpacking? PLEASE?

Please put their websites in "clickable links" so we can easily add them to our FAVORITES list.

[Ben F]

Is the forum software here sophisticated enough for a stickey?

[SPAM]

I would like to know some good brands also. The best tasting brands would come in handy also.

[Mary D]

There's a good list of sources on Sarah's website.

[drowning in spam]

This forum can give you pot stickers, BPL stickers, and even stinky hikers, but no sticky threads.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

At BPL many are PAYING mdmbers. Given that we need:

1. STICKEYS on each forum

2. CHOICE OF FONTS (i.e. bold, Italic, underlined, etc.) Then we would not have to resort to the "shouting" of capitalization to emphasise a point. No?

3. SMILEY FACES C'mon, lighten up. These may save unnecessary arguing and diffuse hostility.

So get these going and, if need be, get a new webmaster!

Eric, A paying member

[Steofan M]

I'm sure that they will put Maia on this right away, but remember that:
1) Labs have really short attention spans,
2) She has paws, difficult to type with,
3) Stickeys may not be supported by the site package.

Have a great weekend!

[Cayenne Redmonk]

You don't *have* to shout.

There are subtle ways to provide clues to the reader, and emphasis can be increased if needed.

The techniques needed to do such things haven't changed in almost 20 years. The 3 minutes it takes to learn the basic HTML tags is time well spent.

People here REALLY LIKE CAPITAL LETTERS.

Stickies are a painful way to preserve and present information. Nobody enjoys reading a 30 page thread. A web page, wiki, or google doc would be a better use of effort in most cases.

[Kattt]

I don't like them as they clutter the forum. Before you know it you'll have to scroll pages to get to anything that isn't a stickey.
I also do not want colors or different fonts or smileys. I really don't. I like the simplicity here. No need to make it all look like a poster.

I don't think one should speak for everyone else here.

From a paying member.

[John Donewar]

+1 for what Cameron said.

"The techniques needed to do such things haven't changed in almost 20 years. The 3 minutes it takes to learn the basic HTML tags is time well spent".

Party On,

Newton

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Being semi-literate in computers I have no clue about these tags – BUT why not just put the font change tags ON EACH FORUM???

Really, is that too much to ask of a website that charges for membership? Really??

[Kattt]

"Being semi-literate in computers I have no clue about these tags – BUT why not just put the font change tags ON EACH FORUM???

Really, is that too much to ask of a website that charges for membership? Really??"

Eric, you are not factoring in that there are members who do not want this. I am not just neutral about it.
Not that my wishes will ultimately matter, but I ask management to please NOT make those changes.
As a paying member.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

I find it odd that BPL is one of the few forums where one must know HTML tags to even post anything above simple typing. The majority of forums have it all built in…….

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Right Sarah, TRAILSPACE has a font toolbar built in as do several others, particularly in Europe. Why not on BPL? It's a matter of convienance and a service we should expect.

STICKEYS> OK, if a majority doesn't want them fine. Just a suggestion. They work well onm other types of forums and could do so here, at least on some forums.

[Justin Baker]

Most likely BPL is using a preset forum format and it would be difficult to modify it around. I would really prefer the regular forum format that 90% of sites use, but it is what it is. I don't know if you could even transfer all of the forums, threads, posts, and users directly onto another format.

[Mary D]

IMHO the best reason for not having a sticky post (aside from the whole concept not being functional here) is that such information requires constant maintenance. I've never seen this maintenance happen on any forum, with the result that such info inevitably is woefully out of date with a lot of links that won't work.

Since there are private websites that do have food supplier info and keep it up-to-date (such as Sarah's trailcooking.com site), I see no reason for having one here that will be useless six months after it is posted.

BTW, I tried the html tags for links when I first joined this site, and they wouldn't work for me. By now I've forgotten them and the notes have long since gone to recycling. It takes less time to copy/paste!

[Ken Thompson]

A huge plus one for both Kat and Cameron's comments. I hate those freaking smileys. No quotes or signatures either thank you. I use a watch this thread feature instead of stickeys, What is important to one is not important to everyone else Eric.

And why are you posting this in this forum? Barely food related.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Why so negative??

[Kattt]

Sarah, it's odd to have someone make a request/demand as if all of us here want it. Some of us really don't. Colors, smilies, stickies and a variety of fonts would detract from my experience at BPL. Eric goes on as if we all want and demand that. We don't and we are letting it be known.

[Ken Thompson]

Negative? A difference in opinions.

And we have gone down this road plenty during the decade plus of this site.

[Cayenne Redmonk]

BPL could make it a little easier for people to add links.

I would think turning plaintext URLs into clickable links should be fairly easy.

Maybe add a step to the process that detects banned words to detect plaintext urls and replaces them with links.

Or it could probably be done on the client side with some javascript without much effort.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Well IMO change isn't a bad thing right out of the gate. Change can be good. The forum software is odd here. While I don't care overall about stickies if done right they can work and are quite helpful to readers who are new to a forum or to an interest.

More so…not everyone is HTML savvy (and honestly need not be). This software exposes quite the divide.

[Kattt]

"Well IMO change isn't a bad thing right out of the gate. Change can be good"

; ) ; ) How revolutionary ; ) ; ) not.

[David Lutz]

What's a "Stickey"?

[Ben F]

Wait, people are seriously arguing that they don't want a modern forum? I would kill for the ability to do incredibly basic things like true linear quoting. Forums have changed for a reason, almost all of them for the better. There's something cute about still being in 1997, but vBulletin is excellent.

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