articles on ADKHighPeaks Forum

[dog]

I understand , people are mostly here and there , but maybe somebody is not , as I have been for long time .
So it's just to turn attention to a great info on http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/forums
in General Hiking Information - Navigation Article ( sticked ) . No comms .

And in ADK Mountain Hiking - Proper Trail Construction ( sticked ) .
A chunk of the trail from Upp. Wks to Ducks Hole is on my mind . Maybe this May .

Tnx for posting that , guys from ADKHighPeaks .

[Neil]

There is also an excellent article on hiking the Hundred Highest written by peak_bagr who has climbed over 500 named peaks in the ADK's.

More articles are in the works. If someone on the forum has experience/expertise that I think everyone can benefit from I hit on them with an idea and a request. The easy part is getting a yes from them because we pay a 10,000 cash stipend and they become famous. Then I prod them with reminders until they finally sit down and write the thing!

Nessmuk's navigation one is an absolute gem.

[Dick]

Nessmuk's navigation one is an absolute gem.

I agree. 'Awesome' is a word that is so overused as to become meaningless at times, but here it applies. The backcountry knowledge of Nessmuk and some of the others on that site is astounding.

Dog, your link to that site is not correct. The correct link is:

http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/forums

And to Tim and Neil, thanks for a well run site over there!

Dick

[Kevin]

Awesome is appropriate .

[Neil]

And to Tim and Neil, thanks for a well run site over there!

Actually I owe it all to the ADKForum. Here is where I learned what not do do.

Seriously, I'll let you in on a dirty little secret. I hardly do anything. I have maybe deleted one thread, edited 2 posts, asked one person to change their avatar. I get maybe 2 PM's a month from members asking me something very simple.

That's it.

[lumberzac]

Seriously, I'll let you in on a dirty little secret. I hardly do anything. I have maybe deleted one thread, edited 2 posts, asked one person to change their avatar. I get maybe 2 PM's a month from members asking me something very simple.

That's it.

Than you must be doing something right.

[Kevin]

Actually I owe it all to the ADKForum. Here is where I learned what not do do.

Glad we can fall on our face so others learn to watch where they're going .

Our main issue was having general discussion. Myself and some of the (then) staff were too stubborn to listen to those that warned us of the impending problems. Then it happened... not once, not twice, but three times we had serious fall outs over what is now, IMO, sillyness and posturing. Happily many left here to find other roosts (*wink wink*), and those who've stayed have slowly transformed this place into a more hospitable environment. Having no general discussion has clearly improved the atmosphere here. I also suspect having those who would never be happy with anything posted here posting elsewhere is helping a lot too.

While I would hope forum life could transcend petty personality conflicts, it doesn't. That's why there's so many of them (forums) - people find a place where they click.

And for the record, we have very few issues here on the forum. Spammers/trolls/advertisers are the main problem right now. We even lost a new member because they appeared to be a spammer when in fact they were not. It's not all cookies and cream, but when you reach a certain size and exposure it's inevitible.

[Mavs00]

There is also an excellent article on hiking the Hundred Highest written by peak_bagr who has climbed over 500 named peaks in the ADK's.

More articles are in the works. If someone on the forum has experience/expertise that I think everyone can benefit from I hit on them with an idea and a request. ............. Then I prod them with reminders until they finally sit down and write the thing!

Nessmuk's navigation one is an absolute gem.

There is another one that was just posted that I enjoyed: GPS Assisted Backcountry Travel. Good info, but the author is a real moron.

Seriously, I'll let you in on a dirty little secret. I hardly do anything.

Yea, that's about right.

[Neil]

K.
I was just kidding around. Didn't you know that I do that once in a while? I agree that you have successfully transformed the forum. For instance, that NPT sub-forum is very cool.
I thought RGC was a lot of fun except it sufferred on occasion from a lack of moderation.

Anyway, nice going.

[Kevin]

I was just kidding around. Didn't you know that I do that once in a while? I agree that you have successfully transformed the forum.

So was I... well, not exactly, but I am kidding about not kidding .

There are some subjects, with me, that are a little delicate and maybe too hot to handle. This forum's illustrious and bumpy history is one of them. When I announced last September things were going to change for the better I meant it. Part of the benefit of having other related forums such as viewsfromthetop and adkhighpeaks gives those who may not like the atmosphere at one forum other options. In secret (mostly, but I do post from time to time) I've been watching your forum grow and become an asset. You folks ARE doing good work offering the type of information and the high volume of interesting trip reports you do. In a recent private discussion with staff, concerning another matter, adkhighpeaks was brought up I joked that we (adkforum) are the "everyplace else adirondack forum" and you got the peakbagger crowd. Works fine for me, at least everyone knows what their niche is.

Sorry for the threadjack dog.

Cheers.

[Boreal Chickadee]

Nice reminder for those who don't get over to Tim's forum.
Those are high quality stickies! They've gone into my favs and copied into Word. Which has also led to the discovery of the option for print friendly documents. Very nice for putting into Word.

[Neil]

....I joked that we (adkforum) are the "everyplace else adirondack forum" and you got the peakbagger crowd. Works fine for me, at least everyone knows what their niche is.

You hit the nail on the head.
We took a hard look last fall at where ADKHP's was going and why and what needed to be done. We compared it to the other leading brands and what we liked and disliked about them and wondered how to fill a niche that would be fun for us at the same time. Tim made all the final decisions but I was always whispering in his ear so to speak (sounds a bit yucky, huh?). We consulted the core membership and got some great feedback. Things are moving along quietly but steadily in our little backwater. We are approaching our target number of members and when we get there we'll cull the people who joined but never posted (after sending them an e-mail) and let it fill up again. It's a lot of fun.

[Kevin]

We are approaching our target number of members and when we get there we'll cull the people who joined but never posted (after sending them an e-mail) and let it fill up again. It's a lot of fun.

While keeping membership down will defnitely head off some inevitible issues, I certainly won't be holding you to that number. There's definitiely more than 400 aspiring 46ers, NE 111 and 115ers, and ADK HH climbers out there. I would think they would all want to have the chance to ask questions.

Maybe it will work longer than I think, maybe you could purge the inactive members 20 times before only having 3 slots available. It's certainly not a new philosophy of forum management, one of the largest computing forums in the world intentionally shut down their registration for 2 years. They reached critical mass at around 50,000 members and couldn't afford more bandwidth. lol

[Mavs00]

Maybe it will work longer than I think, maybe you could purge the inactive members 20 times before only having 3 slots available. It's certainly not a new philosophy of forum management, one of the largest computing forums in the world intentionally shut down their registration for 2 years. They reached critical mass at around 50,000 members and couldn't afford more bandwidth. lol

Actually the main idea behind it is not so much limiting members. The size limit thing is really arbitrary, we set a number at 400, but who's to say thats what the final number will be. What I don't want is a board that goes beyond what I'm willing/able to devote to. As you know, running a BB is not always easy. I want to keep it manageable. What's manageable, I don't know, I'll tell you when we get there .

As for culling members, that simply an attempt by me to have an engaged community. As you know, when you join my forum, it opens up new areas that non-member do not have access to. Things like info on the HH, Slide climbing and b-whacking. Some may consider it snobbish (I don't) to hide those areasd behind the "membership wall" (after all anyone can join, and its free). I've just found that MANY very experienced people are willing to share what has taken decades to learn in the backcountry, they just are a little queasy doing it an open forum for just anyone who strolls in can read. That's just fact. It must feel more comfortable in a smaller known (sort of) community. As an aside, I'm astounded by some of the "hiking" knowledge of some members that post there.

On the other hand, I don't want people to just sign up, get that info and leave. A online community is only as good as it membership and the free flow of information on it. If there is only to be 400 members, I don't 100 of them to never post, or even visit again. So when we hit our ceiling, we notify them by email if they've not visited in 8 months and let them know "Come on back, look around at least, post something, whatever". If they still don't respond, then give up the spot, hopefully to someone that will engage the community.

As for the two boards. I think they coexist nicely. People come here for particular things and may never visit mine. That's cool. Some visit mine and never come here. That's cool too. Most peruse both and enjoy what each has to offer. Hell, I own and co-administrate adkhighpeaks and I'd admit, I still regularly visit here and post. Why, it offers things my board doesn't, (like conversations with flaming liberals ........ I'm kidding). There's also people here who's posts I quite enjoy, but don't visit my site..... People like Grey Ghost, "the Judge" and others.

I certainly think there is room for both boards and as a charter member here (I joined on day 1-2), I have to say, I very much like the recent tone and changes that have been made. I appreciate the efforts of the administrators here. I say that as a member of THIS community, not as a member of adkhighpeaks.

Sorry for the long drawn out post, just felt the need to clarify and put my 2 cents in.

[billandjudy]

We like all you guys