The "G-spot" forum seems to receive a lot of threads that really belong in other forums. Perhaps this is because people read "G-spot" more, or perhaps it's because most any activity that might be discussed involves some use of a physical object? However, for the reader who, for example, is currently more interested in, say, "Philosophy and Technique," burying a thread like the one about water purification procedure in "G-spot" is likely to get it lost in the crowd.

This is because there are TOO MANY forums, with a number of them receiving few posts. So folks tend to post everything in G-Spot (a pretty risque name for a forum that won't allow any profanity and is based on Boy Scout/religious ideals, but I digress!). Lots of people actually preface their post with "I know this doesn't belong in G-Spot, but I figure people will actually see it here..."

I wrote a post a while back about a reasonable way I thought they could be collapsed. A number of people chimed in, mostly agreeing. As was expected, there was no response of any kind from moderators, etc. I'm not saying mine was a perfect solution, but there are very obvious ways to collapse the number of forums, which would lead to BETTER use of them.

As it stands, you have to scroll down 6 or so pages to see all them (part of that is a font/whitespace/layout issue). Many of the forum sections overlap; ones like "Packrafting" have 6 threads in 6 months (or so), and should be collapsed back into the Water section.

I'd be happy to redo my suggestions and post them here, if the moderators are interested in reviewing this possibility. I think it's in keeping with revisions to menu system, the wiki approach, etc.

It's not that your suggestions aren't heard. I assure you at least one of the BPL team members sees just about every post that gets made on the forums.

We are in the process of major overhauls of the back end of the Web site at this time and will continue to be over the course of 2009. We have chosen to overhaul various sections of the site before others and the forums are not top priority for us.

Although the forums are a core aspect of our user group and provide for an excellent means of information exchange they do not directly generate revenue. Those involved with the development of backpackinglight.com are very, very talented and have a truly cutting-edge view of what a Web site can be. Cost constraints of development unfortunately slows things down.

* hint hint, buy a membership to help us out! ; )

Edited by sharalds on 01/28/2009 12:54:47 MST.

i had one and let it lapse, like some other folks. it was a bit of a protest vote, due to having some heavy-handing editing of posts occurring in one thread (i.e. posts disappearing with no discussion). i'll probably sign back up at some point - until then i'll try to be a helpful member of the forums (e.g. my above post about trying to help). thanks sam - you're always on point about this stuff.

Edited by DaveT on 01/28/2009 13:13:28 MST.

Hark! Is that the sound of an approaching increase in the price of subscription fees?

If so, how about considering a graduated fee schedule that charges extra to members who want extra services that cost more to develop/maintain, while those who prefer to "fly coach" pay only for that service and not having to pay for flash and dazzle they find to be of little if any benefit?

"No pain, no gain" doesn't rule out gain without pain, as in the fact that BPL offers fine resources without having to inflict the pain of increased fees on happy subscribers to pay for additional expensive services they may not want.

JRS

Sam, Dave brings up a good point... Just the other night my wife and older kids were harassing me for being on an adult site- they said the I was on a site discussing the "G-Spot". Of course they knew it was on BPL but they still rubbed it in and it made for a little conversation dance step at the dinner table with the younger one present.
I am a Scoutmaster also and would like to direct the boys to this site to learn more about how to lighten up, but I know that their parents might be offended by the mere name of this forum. Our chartering organization is a church with a strong faith/value system.
Maybe think of a better more benign name?

I'm not sure how you handle this sort of stuff past a certain point.

Ah ... there are limits, and I think this one went a bit too far. Fair go guys!

Cheers
Roger Caffin
Online Community Monitor

My apologies. I thought the anecdote made a reasonable point. I didn't mean to be inappropriate.

RG

Edited by rgless on 01/29/2009 23:42:24 MST.

I have created a new thread about Reorganizing The Forums:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=18330

Please comment on structure of the forums there (but please try to keep the comments focused). Thanks!

Edited by ryan on 01/28/2009 15:48:52 MST.

Richard, perhaps we'll drop the price of subscriptions instead of raising them? What would you think about that?

And Dave, I'll take a look at your re-organization suggestions. I agree something needs to be done but I'm not making any promises to anyone at this time. If I do then I end up getting held to them and I don't desire that at this time.

Edited by sharalds on 01/28/2009 15:57:17 MST.

I'm really happy for this thread!

I'm thrilled the Dave started off a new thread on forum restructuring, and would encourage us all to head on over there and start hammering a solid structure out:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=18330

So let's go ahead and hammer something out, and we'll git'er done for ya.

Ryan

Edited by ryan on 01/28/2009 15:50:46 MST.

Dropping subscription prices? In this day and age? There must be a BPL application pending for some TARP money, or maybe BPL's computer is taking a cut in pay. Whatever the reason, a reduction in subscription prices sounds great.

BPL keeps getting better and better! Perhaps there's even reason to hope for a return to BPL's "good old days" of free shipping for all orders. Or maybe a "postage credit" could be awarded for each day of good behavior in forums!

JRS