[pct-l] PCT Forums

[Tom Hudson]

Mike, I've been a member of the list for about 10 days, and I first felt the
same way you did.  I'd never participated in a listserve before, so it was a
little confusing.  ESPECIALLY since my iPhone would ping ever time a new
email came in.  I wanted to really devote the time and atttention the
"posts" deserved, but I didn't want dozens of unread emails tto sit in my
inbox.  BUT, since I'm using gmail, I found there was a very simple way to
organize it.

Create a rule that takes any email that has the words, list:"
pct-l.backcountry.net", and then have it bypass your inbox and move it to
the label, PCT.  Now, you have a bucket specifically for all your PCT mail,
and it's easy to tell what you have and haven't read. Best part about it is
that, unles someone changes the subject of a thread, each thread is packaged
neatly into a single conversation.

That being said, I think it's awfully generous of you to go to the trouble
to try to provide a better place for like-minded folks to hang out.  Having
categories for different discussion topics is always nice.  I typically
prefer forums, but so far, I've come quite used to interacting with the
list, now.

Thanks again, I'll have to check it out!

/Tom

On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 6:11 PM, John Abela <pacificcresttrail2011 at gmail.com
> wrote:

> Mike,
>
> As one of the originally developers of phpBB, and thus as somebody who has
> dealt with forums of mass proportion (million+ members), can I make a
> suggestion...
>
> Start small and add forums as you need them.
>
> Very few people are going to join a website that has 50+ forums with "0
> posts" listed in 99% of the forums.
>
> Start with 5 categories *max* and build up from there - over the course of
> a
> year or two.
>
> Substantial growth of forums comes with being able to pull in members who
> can focus on a very small hand full of topics very well.
>
> Most "forum people" are not going to bounce through 20+ different forum
> categories.
>
> Your goal has to be to bring people in from the likes of pct-l and even
> harder: whiteblaze and backpackinglight.
>
> Your ambitions might be good, but going on 11 years of working with some of
> the largest forums in the world have taught me a few lessons, and the
> biggest lesson I could teach is "stay narrowly focused" until you get your
> feet under you (ie: 5,000+ *active* members)
>
> Best of luck,
> John
>
>
> On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 8:34 PM, Alphabetsoup <alphabetsoupmmm at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > I'm relatively new to the hiking community. I will be embarking on my
> first
> > long
> > distance hike sometime around the KO, either a week before, or a week
> > after.
> >
> > Personally, I find this list to be a great resource. One of the things I
> > like best about it
> > is that it is more of an ongoing conversation, not just a list of random
> > posts. It does take
> > some getting used to but when your looking for something specific, its in
> > the archives,
> > easily found through a google search.
> >
> > There seem to be many many thousands of miles of PCT experience here.
> > thanks to all of you for your input, your stories, your suggestions and
> the
> > humorous posts
> > that bring on a smile!
> >
> > Without the thousands of e-mails I have read over the past few
> > months, I would not be ready to hike the PCT.
> >
> > Paul A ~ (one of 4 is it? )
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 6:50 PM, Mike <fox15rider at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Ok so I think this mailing list thing is very hard to follow. well its
> > not
> > > that its that hard its just a pain to follow a post and continue
> reading
> > > everyones respones. I have been researching hiking the PCT and have not
> > > found any good forums..   Well I took matters into my own hands and
> made
> > a
> > > Trail forum site.  Its www.trailforums.us   Yes I know there is
> already
> > > trailforums.com and other they just dont have things broken down into
> > > categories that well..  So I figured I would throw up a site for people
> > to
> > > use..  if you have suggestions let me know.  The site will always be
> > free!
> > >
> > > ~Thumper
> > > www.mspct.com
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > >
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> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > *Alphabetsoup*
> > *~Soon to be PCT Thru-Hiker April 2011~*
> > * www.postholer.com/alphabetsoup*
> > *
> > *
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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> >
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