I miss the old BPL…

 Ryan said:  “I’ve had some questions answered, but it hasn’t been the most welcoming online community – reception on threads has been lukewarm, a good number of brief, sarcastic comments that are pointless, a good number of personal attacks.”

In my opinion, this is the biggest problem with BPL forums.  I would guess this has just as much to do with lack of forum participation as any of the other issues mentioned.  An online forum is what it is and should not be taken too seriously but, to me, an online “community” should be a place where people of common interests can come, with an open mind and respectfully interact with one another and have a positive experience.

the article about the MSR stove by the way, not wanting to offend the author, was a great article. I just don’t often use stoves that heavy and so it wasn’t interesting to me for that reason. It was good to see some new content, though, and I imagine some BPLers really enjoyed it.

There are a ton of new technical things to be done – I’d LOVE to see a real-world comparison of water resistant down to non-treated down in, say, a humid environment over prolonged periods of time (rather than dunking clumps of down into a cup of water and shaking it about).

what about a new SOTM on windshells and WPB??

I’d like to know more about fabrics – what little I do know I’ve scraped together from the MYOG stuff as I’ve tried to learn how to make my own stuff.  What the heck is Momentum?  Nobul?  Silnylon 1.1 vs Silpoly and why do I care?  why aren’t more packs made out of xpac???  David Chenault used to do a lot of great pieces on this stuff and I love Richard’s HH testing stuff!

Cuben has been out a nice long time now – I personally had some issues with it over the long haul…am I really the only one?

I know personally I really need to write some biomechanical/injury/injury prevention/etc type articles – Roger has asked me to and I’m frankly just a bit lazy and haven’t gotten around to it.  But my guess is those would be relatively popular….

Anyway….as others have said, the forums are what we make of them, in spite of the software.  But I do miss those totally-geeked-out articles of yore…….

Conundrum: many people don’t want pay a subscription and many people object to the ads. We have many threads on how to block the ads. How is BPL going to pay the bills and pay people to do long-term testing on products to write the articles?

i think some folks reminisce about the “good ole BPL” forums

i agree that the technical articles are at a much slower rate these days ….

but the old forums had such gems as “REI IS THE DEVIL”, “only down is acceptable, synth is too heavy and fleece is stupid”, “RAH RAH RAH just buy a GG pack (or MLD, or SMD), everything else is useless”, or the best one of all the “condiments stealing” thread ….

to be blunt, for some folks it probably started going downhill once skurka put up his “stupid light” blog post … from then on UL as some folks imagined it to be was dead

as for forums …. ever go on the OGL one? … the supertopo forums … BPL  is quite mild in comparison

;)

I would love to know how many subscribers there are.

Since SOTM reports are sorely missed (myself included) would it be beneficial to have community SOTM threads? Something along the lines of: SOTM User Report: Windshirts 5/2016, where forum users could add and make edits to a list of current/newer models and report their experiences? It probably wouldn’t be as empirical as BPL write-ups but at least it would engage the community and provide new info in a central location. Especially since the gear reviews forum is currently defunct.

There was mention a while back about a newer, better reader review section

I used to be passionate about BPL.

I used to post constructive criticism and suggestions for a better layout of the home page that might increase return visitors and to increase the sale of memberships by focusing attention to traditional backpackers who were looking into exploring UL/Lightweight backpacking….a targeted demographic and prime opportunity for new memberships.

I saw similar suggestions from others who just wanted to give back and to help contribute to BPL’s success.

There was only silence in return.

Unfortunately, simply having expertise in a particular subject matter does not translate into having savvy business skills to create and grow a successful/profitable business.

So I come back to the Forums to try to keep up with the State of the Market and to occasionally answer questions that I feel that I can offer useful insight or helpful knowledge.

I am grateful for what I have learned from BPL and from the graciousness of those on the forum to help me on my journey to enjoying backpacking with a lighter load and for the friends that I have made at the GGGs.

However, I am no longer passionate about BPL.

It is just another website….poorly presented and poorly organized that sadly has missed the mark to leverage the vast library of wisdom and knowledge accumulated to spread the knowledge of lightweight backpacking. More importantly, it has failed to use that wealth of information to generate more income for its owners through increased paid membership.

Tony

Nice post, Tony.

To empower a people invest and start a bread store to fund jobs and feed the village.  BPL needs to invest in longterm goals and become the middle man for the ever evolving market and crowd of recreational outdoor gear, hitting that trifecta of advertisement, retail, and community drivin innovation.

It would be great to hear what BPL founders think of the comments on the thread and plans going forward.

I’ve spent a lot of time on this forum in the past 10 years.  Lots of lurking and learning.  And even more buying and selling. Haha.  It’s really the only reason I come back here.  Well maybe to eventually go backpacking with Stephen and the other Michigan backpackers.

I only wish the best for it and hope there is a future.

“It would be great to hear what BPL founders think of the comments on the thread and plans going forward.”

From what Ive seen in the last 6 months, or more I doubt he cares.

Im just hoping a new forum becomes available. AlpineScience springs to mind, but he’s off on the PCT right now living the dream.

Based on a gmail group I participate in here in CO, there’s a pent up demand from backpackers for a good source of knowledge and the ability to discuss what-ifs. They’re asking for a discussion forum to be set up. My reaction is, don’t reinvent the wheel. Sadly, I cannot recommend BPL at the moment. The lack of care and nurturing before the website migration was obvious for several years. I’ve spent my career managing IT change, and this has been a clusterflop. But you gets what you pays for. Unlike google etc, BPL can’t really monetize the posts we write over countless hours on this site.

I used to be a very frequent poster on BPL but this is only my second post in a long time. Why? Like many long distance hikers I locked into my gear and couldn’t care less about losing another gram. And BPL is very gear centric vs. hiking centric. I have enjoyed over the years hear about some of the light and fast trips that some have taken. I really enjoyed going to the GGG events but especially meeting some fantastic folks at the Bob Marshall Open, GC R2R2R or trans Zion. But it seems that the Bob Marshall Open is one of the few trips that gather much excitement. So bottom line, there is only so much discussion about the best UL gizmo that one needs.

We used to ask questions like, ‘how far do you think you could go with no resupply, and where is so remote that you would be inspired to try it ?’

now we ask people to provide a statement on sponsorship or purchase details for reviews.

thats it …

asking sponsored athletes if they paid for their own gear they review is the end of the BPL world !!!

or perhaps those complaining about folks asking a simple question thats normally disclosed anyways are the problem …

who is the guy that went all “black ops” and wrecked the BPL edit feature in a huff over a simple question …

hmmmmm

;)

The users of this site, although quite Utah-centric, focuses on trip reports, instead of gear. Many of the outings are too basic for me, but the well written, exciting ones keep me coming back.

backcountrypost.com

“The users of this site, although quite Utah-centric, focuses on trip reports, instead of gear. Many of the outings are too basic for me, but the well written, exciting ones keep me coming back.

backcountrypost.com”

Joined … Thank you.

Nice looking site.

thats it …

asking sponsored athletes if they paid for their own gear they review is the end of the BPL world !!!

Kapow!  (Marmot screams)

damn BPL … getting overun by marmots …

good thing they taste guuuud

didnt we have a big multipager on “flambeed marmots” on the old “good” BPL years ago …

with this thread well bring back all of that good old snarkyness

;)

“I locked into my gear and couldn’t care less about losing another gram. And BPL is very gear centric vs. hiking centric.”

+1

For any fans of HBO’s Silicon Valley, perhaps the conjoined triangles of success is a model that should be looked into

In my view, there are two primary reasons to invest time on BPL.

1. To improve your knowledge on gear and techniques.
2. To interact with the community.

If you’re here for number one, you’ll follow a predictable path and BPL’s useful shelf life is pretty short.  Girl/boy meets BPL.  Girl/boy falls in love with BPL.  Girl/boy achieves a self determined acceptable level backpacking enjoyment and no longer needs BPL.  BPL gets cast aside like yesterday’s newspaper.

If you’re here for number two, you’ll follow a different predictable path.  Boy/girl meets BPL.  Boy/girl falls in love with BPL.  Boy/girl reaches out to other members, meets up for hikes, attends a GGG, and makes what will become lifelong friends.  Boy starts a couple flame wars.  Boy gets numerous emails scolding his behavior.  Boy fortunately has enough endearing qualities that he isn’t served divorce papers and relationship continues to transition through healthy and unhealthy cycles and is borderline codependent requiring therapy and the occasional intervention.

I may be projecting here.

I fall under category two.  I certainly don’t know everything (and sometimes I wonder if I know anything) but I know more than enough to enjoy extended backpacking trips with a sub 20lb total weight pack/8lb base weight, and survive mixed weather down to below freezing.  I can lose a few ounces off of my pack here and there but I’m officially at a point of diminishing returns and unless I’m replacing something I’ve either broken or worn out, any purchases at this point are mostly frivolous.

I may have eventually gotten my pack down to below 30 total lbs but I very much have BPL to thank for getting my kit as light as it is.

So for me personally, if BPL ceased to exist tomorrow, I wouldn’t miss the circus but I’d really miss the clowns, including the shirtless ones in tights.