Forum guidelines clarification

[Kattt]

Have there been changes to posting guidelines?

There have been multiple threads and posts deleted without explanation.

 

 

 

[BlackHatGuy]

Ah, one of the things I like most about the outdoors, the sound of crickets…

[Clue M]

I can’t find threads that were popular earlier today.

Have we been hacked ?

[Kattt]

First several posts were deleted and after a few of us asked why, the entire thread got deleted. While some posts were confrontational ( because  of some members frustration) several posts were merely inquiring as to what happened.

If there have been changes to posting guidelines I hope we will be informed because this is getting confusing.

[Stuart .]

I know of one long-standing member whose account was locked recently a result of a difference of opinion with site ownership.

[Matthew / BPL]

I love this site and have learned so much from it. Recent events are very disappointing. I’m hopeful for the future but I’m afraid these events will continue to drive people away and there won’t be much of a community left. I think one of the main reasons many people are still here is the lack of an alternative.

[Philip Tschersich]

I’m not sure the guidelines would need any updating. They seem pretty all-encompassing: http://support.backpackinglight.com/article/48-are-forums-moderated-what-are-your-guidelines

[Kattt]

Given what was deleted today I imagine Dave T.’s account has been suspended as well. He voiced his disappointment with how the site is run.

 

[Monte Masterson]

I’m not surprised Dave T’s Kickstarter post got deleted. He basically called Ryan a con man and a thief. Dave called me a troll one time for posting a few lines I plagiarized from Mad Magazine.

I’m trying to look at things from Ryan’s perspective. Maybe he’s just struggling to stay afloat, and then he has to constantly hear longtime members go on and on about how things used to be back in the Golden Age of BPL. Well those days are gone and they ain’t coming back. This is the here and now. backpackinglight.com is a diminished but still relevant forum. If I was all so dissatisfied about the way the site has turned out, I’d just stay away instead of whining all the time. I can understand Lifetime members not being pleased, but as we all know there’s no guarantees in life.

BPL rode the wave of the UL revolution and now it’s somewhat played out. You can’t blame all of  BPL’s decline on management. Things evolve. Ultralight backpacking is 25 years old now and there’s not much groundbreaking and new to talk about. Or as Mad used to print on every front cover: “recycled garbage from past issues”.

 

[W I S N E R !]

Is it a surprise that a commercial site can only tolerate so much dissent, all of which is out in the open where the new potential member$ can see it?  All these old lifetime memberships aren’t paying the bills anymore…

RJ obviously has a vision for this place and if he wanted people’s opinions, they probably would’ve been asked.

[Kattt]

@Phillip yes, I went throgh them just a few minutes ago and pretty much anything goes. We had been told on the forum that there would be explanations for removed posts but that has not been happening.

 

[Kattt]

 

Did Dave T. or Ken  misrepresent what went down  ? If so, can we hear the other version of what happened?

I am asking because I really don’t know, but disappearing posts and locked accounts don’t  make the issues go away.

[Richard Scruggs]

Agree 100% with Monte’s assessment above.

As for constant attacks upon Ryan Jordan & BPL’s website, which is no doubt a PITA to maintain even without all the “helpful” harping, anyone who thinks they can build a better site is free to do so.

I much appreciate what Ryan has done in creating this website, a website that has taught me so much stuff over the past 10+ years, predating even the existence of its forums.

I also very much appreciate Ryan’s efforts to keep it going all this time.  Very best wishes to him and whomever works with him in those efforts.

Thanks, Ryan, and please don’t give it up!!!

But of course that’s all just the opinion of this long-time member who still visits to learn stuff.

Oh, and also to gripe once in awhile about “Gear Swap” diluting the rest of the “Recent Forum Threads” that contain a lot of that stuff I want to learn.  But Ryan is working on that problem. Thanks!!!

[Franco Darioli]

I’m with Monte too.

Mind you I have a strong dislike of nostalgia.

 

[William Chilton]

I agree with Franco; nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.*

 

*Old jokes revisited no. 94.

[William Chilton]

As to Ken T, according to a post in the now-disappeared thread, he was blocked due to something, I don’t know what, he wrote in Chaff.

[ben .]

since we pay a fee for this service, it’s reasonable to assume that it would function as well or better than a free version of the same.

maybe some long timers are nostalgic for a past era, but mostly they seem to want the website they pay for to work.

[JCH]

I think perhaps Monte and WISNER! may have hit the nail on the head!

I used to be a full member (never went the lifetime route), but made the decision to “downgrade” from an annual member to a forums member when the editorial content of the site didn’t make the investment work for me.  I think that’s fair…*I* decided that for *me* the value wasn’t there…it was my decision, on my terms and nobody need agree (or disagree).  Had I ponied up for the lifetime membership I might have different expectations.

Could the inability, or unwillingness, to modify expectations be at the root of the discontent?  I’m pretty sure that if I were a new member I’d be severely jazzed about all the information/expertise being made available as I tried to develop my skills.  As a guy whose been around BPL for ~10 years, I enjoy passing along what I have learned…just in case someone can use it.  I do NOT enjoy all the recent kvetching, but such is the interwebs I’m afraid.

And like Monte, if I’m dissatisfied I’ll just stay away. There is no sense in pooping in the punch bowl just cause I don’t like it.

[Nick Gatel]

The Marmmot Website thread on Chaff is now gone.

I am convinced the Russian government or maybe Bob Gross has hacked into BPL because the moderators and/or the owner wouldn’t be silently deleting posts or complete threads.

[BlackHatGuy]

Ah, ’tis a Shakespearean tragedy to be sure….

 

To BPL or not to BPL, that is the question:

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous lifetime members,

Or to take arms against a sea of troublemakers,

And by opposing ban them: to hike, to sleep

No more; and by a sleep, to say we end

The kvetching, and the thousand bitter recriminations

That the interwebs are heir to? ’Tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished. To hike, to sleep,

To sleep, perchance to dream, aye, there’s the rub.

For in that backcountry sleep, what dreams may come,

When we have shuffled off this cuben coil,

Must give us pause. There’s the respect

That makes calamity of so long a website’s life:

For who would bear the disappearing threads and posts,

The management’s wrong, the lifetime members’ contumely,

The pangs of despised BPL love, the page-loading delays,

The insolence of many involved, and the spurns

That patient merit of the unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a titanium bodkin?…

 

And with that, I bid you adieu.

[Lester Moore]

As a forum member for less than a year who transitioned from traditional backpacking just last summer, I have yet to find an online resource rivaling the breadth and depth of light weight backpacking information provided on this website. There is a lot of value here at BPL today.

As the owner of a small home based internet business, I know how challenging, time consuming and often frustrating it can be to work within the confines of the “black box” of WordPress, even with all of the platform’s benefits. Despite my wife’s and my best efforts, some important things just don’t get done (or they get done much later). I shudder when I imagine running a larger and more complex website such as BPL. If the BPL site loads in my browser and works somewhat normally, then I’m happy enough to keep using it and contributing to it, even with its quirks.

[W I S N E R !]

Don’t get me wrong; I think much of the criticism of BPL is completely warranted.  A lot of people feel, rightfully so, they a lot of promises were broken.

I’m just sort of surprised, from a business point of view, that the public dissent was tolerated for so long.

[Nick Gatel]

I’m just sort of surprised, from a business point of view, that the public dissent was tolerated for so long.

Real World Business 101 dictates that a business owner must address customer satisfaction issues and resolve them through a proactive and timely concern resolution process. A website, like this, makes it easy to identify customer concerns because the customers express their dissatisfaction on public forums, whereas a conventional service business must hire additional staff to contact customers.

It is much, much cheaper to retain existing customers than spend money to attract new customers. A robust concern resolution process that fixes problems quickly will retain customers and drive customer loyalty, which should be the goal of any business, especially businesses that provide a service.

This is what I did for a living for nearly 18 years — assist businesses (thousands of them) to improve customer satisfaction and improve profits at the same time. It really is a simple concept that has become a lost art.

A business cannot make all of its customers happy, but it cannot ignore a large segment of its customer base and survive over the long term. Since the customers here are paying members, the management must listen to them if they want to grow the business.

 

[Kattt]

I agree with Nick’s post above ( how long before it gets deleted…?)

Doug, you are a genius!

Most of the value I have gotten out of BPL has been the experience and advice from members that have backpacked for a long time and all over the place. I rarely read articles. I did not invest in the packrafting DVDs so I did not expect those nor do I expect better software etc. Since it is the knowledge and sharing of the members that have made BPL was it is to me, I would like to see the community respected enough to be given explanations when posts and threads are deleted and when members like Bob Gross and Ken ( Dave T.) disappear.  I think that is reasonable request.

[Kattt]

Also, since a previous post was deleted, I want to thank Roger for his dedication to this community. Roger, I hope you feel appreciated both by us members and by the owners. I would like to see you play a bigger role here on BPL because that would make BPL more valuable to me and I expect to others as well. No one has been perfect but you certainly have tried and given a lot to this forum. Thank you.

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