Is this forum dying?

Re: “There was a time not so long ago when a post asking material recommendations for any piece of gear would have been immediately be answered with a swarm of opinions. Now, nothing but silence.”

This is the MYOG forum; that is, Make Your Own Gear.
Naturally, you won’t get opinions on purchased gear – that is for the GEAR forum.
Materials, yes – And I never cease to find excellent recommendations for materials on MYOG, in addition to designs and construction techniques.
Also, have had no problems using Mozilla Firefox as a browser (lots of problems with IE).
And I’ve gotten better help with problems since the new site was started. Very pleasant people to deal with.

So not sure what you are getting at here. PM replies don’t work for me, so I ask folks to provide an email address if they PM me. A number of people have had this problem, even Richard Nisley posted about it. Not a deal breaker for me – don’t mind sticking an email address on an original post if there is not better option. If that is abused, well, spamming and blocking filters have progressed greatly.

Have posted a number of DIY gear items over the years, and greatly appreciate those who do likewise. That is of course the essence of this forum. Right now, Trekking season has begun, so there may be less posts because more folks are out there. And for those of us who aren’t, there is a reluctance to post big projects when less people will see them. Several have commented that my posts were missed in the trekking season. So I’ll post some mod projects for now, and leave the big projects, like a pack and a tent, for the late fall and winter and more readers. That way, the gear will also get better tested before posting.

As for the post about MYOGers not being as concerned about weight – I’ve always had lighter MYOG gear than commercially made. But big start-from-scratch gear projects usually take a lot of time, and it is nice to also have a life. So what this forum needs is for more folks to build and post. It does seem like there was more of this a number of years ago. But this is the only site I’ve been able to find where one can post a long article on a gear project, complete with photos. I’m not discouraged about the forum, and bet we will see more very innovative projects come to life here.

And for those who just want to chat, don’t mind it a bit. Happy Trails!

FWIW, I find BPL generally less interesting than a 2-3 years ago, and don’t check it more than a couple of times per month anymore. Sad.

That being said, I’m now working on a Dyneema fabric (nee cuben) version of the Black Diamond FirstLight “2 man,” 2-pole, 4 season tent I bought earlier this year. By my calculations, it should end up weighing 1.5 – 2 lbs., which includes 4 mini groundhog stakes. I haven’t posted anything about it because I think there may be a patentable design innovation that will allow it to have superior, protected ventilation and be useable even during rains in the PNW. I am documenting the build process with many photographs and notes. Once I get it finished and tested, and if it works as well as I hope, I will file a provisional patent application and share it with everyone.

Edit: It is my intention to give a free license to anyone who wants to make their own tent.