What's New in Alaska & Canada

Regional discussion and conditions reports for Canada and Alaska. Please post partners requests and trip plans in the Canada and Alaska Climbing Partners forum.
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Scott
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What's New in Alaska & Canada

by Scott » Sat Feb 25, 2012 4:37 pm

Please post new pages of AK/Can on this thread.
Last edited by Scott on Tue Feb 28, 2012 4:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: New Pages-Alaska & Canada

by Scott » Sat Feb 25, 2012 4:51 pm


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Dow Williams

 
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Re: New Pages-Alaska & Canada

by Dow Williams » Sat Feb 25, 2012 9:24 pm

why?

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Scott
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Re: New Pages-Alaska & Canada

by Scott » Tue Feb 28, 2012 4:27 am

why?


The other regional boards have similar (perpertual) threads. Most SP folk visit some regional boards over another, so they are a good idea to share with friends.

Certainly the fine Canadian folk are friendly enough to share their pages on a thread, no? There are certainly enough spectacular mountains in Canada/Alaska to share many new pages on this (or another) thread. :wink:

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Marmaduke

 
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Re: New Pages-Alaska & Canada

by Marmaduke » Tue Feb 28, 2012 8:03 am

Scott wrote:
why?


The other regional boards have similar (perpertual) threads. Most SP folk visit some regional boards over another, so they are a good idea to share with friends.

Certainly the fine Canadian folk are friendly enough to share their pages on a thread, no? There are certainly enough spectacular mountains in Canada/Alaska to share many new pages on this (or another) thread. :wink:


This was working for the California Thread but I would suggest a minor change in the title of the thread to "What's New in Alaska & Canada". So the thread would not only refer to new pages but in general all new beta for the area. Also could be used for suggestions and general comments. Along with "What's New" forum, this just gives additional exposure to pages/beta on the area.

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Dow Williams

 
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Re: New Pages-Alaska & Canada

by Dow Williams » Tue Feb 28, 2012 3:18 pm

That is what SP's Whats New page is for....we are not so overwhelmed with contributions throughout a week that we need more ways to search it out....anything else appears just a beg for attention, hits, votes whatever....I notice certain folks start such threads....and usually such threads are just about certain folks...I guess if a member started such a thread and took the effort to maintain same by adding all members new contributions for the specific thread he/she started, I would see it as a more sincere move....otherwise, it just comes across shallow to me to even start such a thread really. I have seen the photogs do such things, surprised to see it clutter up in the Canada/Alaska forum.

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Re: New Pages-Alaska & Canada

by mrchad9 » Tue Feb 28, 2012 3:54 pm

Meow!

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Re: What's New in Alaska & Canada

by Marmaduke » Tue Feb 28, 2012 5:23 pm

This SPer has put up some very nice pages in the Waterton Lakes NP in Canada. Here's vanman798 most recent 3 pages but he has 6 more as well. Looks like a really great area.
http://www.summitpost.org/mount-glendowan/777775
http://www.summitpost.org/kishinena-peak/777641
http://www.summitpost.org/mount-alderson/774289

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Scott
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Re: What's New in Alaska & Canada

by Scott » Tue Feb 28, 2012 7:35 pm

I notice certain folks start such threads....and usually such threads are just about certain folks


Dow, please take a look at the What’s New Colorado thread:

what-s-new-in-colorado-t17514.html

6 years and 573 post by all kinds of different members (and unfortunately the thread is getting less active as time passes).

Most other regional boards have similar threads:

what-s-new-az-nm-nv-ut-tx-t17593.html

what-s-new-in-california-t56070.html

Originally, this was actually supposed to be a sticky function for all the regional boards for SPv2 (see introduction in the What’s New SW link above). For some reason the intended sticky function that was supposed to be implemented didn’t get off the ground before the creators more or less disappeared (thus when the CO and SW ones were started in 2006).

I guess if a member started such a thread and took the effort to maintain same by adding all members new contributions for the specific thread he/she started, I would see it as a more sincere move....


This would actually be quite possible to maintain for one person for Canada/Alaska. Colorado, maybe not. The new pages do show up in a link on the original post (which works fine for CO, perhaps even this one, but not so much for multiple states/county boards), but (since the sticky doesn’t work) the only way to keep it up front would be if various people bump up the thread by adding a reply to a post.

If the sticky function ever is implemented, the thread would always be right up top and no one would have to respond since the links would always be there. 100% participation would be automatic.

As of right now, it only takes a few seconds to post your link in the thread, so it hardly seems a burden.

I have seen the photogs do such things, surprised to see it clutter up in the Canada/Alaska forum.


It would be disappointing if the Canada/Alaska folks didn’t want to take a few seconds to post their links in this thread. Such threads are supposed to be for all members, not just a select few and only take a few seconds to do.

If the thread really does end up being only about certain folks as you claim, it would unfortunately (at least in my eyes) die a quick death. As for me, I have no other pages contribute to the What’s New Canada/Alaska thread because the above are the only mountains I’ve climbed in those areas (summer time off is hard to get for me) that don’t already have SP pages, so I have nothing to bump it up with in the future. The only way it’s going to work is that if others add their pages, otherwise the thread will get buried.

Also, unfortunate (in my eyes) is that there are already relatively few pages in Alaska and Canada (both of which have some of the most spectacular mountains in the world). Alaska only has 63 mountain pages. The entire country of Canada has less than ½ the pages of Colorado. The boards aren’t too active either.

It is true that there is a general what’s new on SP, but having them on the regional boards is much better IMHO. A logical guess (and an obvious one) would be that the majority of the people visiting the What’s New Page could in reality care less about most of the mountains posted there, nor do they likely know much about most of them. On the other hand, it seems logical that someone frequenting the Canada/Alaska board (for example) probably has a real interest in discussing/sharing Canadian and Alaskan mountains and there is a good chance that they are familiar with them as well (thus it makes more sense to view them in the region board). I'd be interested to hear what the other Canadian/Alaska folks think as well.

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Re: What's New in Alaska & Canada

by Dow Williams » Tue Feb 28, 2012 8:42 pm

All these kind of threads, to me, are clearly...."look what I added...please give it attention"... To me this kind of behavior takes away from the class of the site....MP members don't participate in this practice....and I don't like it....if you have good beta...beta folks actually need and use...it will be found via Google and float to the top....the system works perfectly in that regard as far as I am concerned.....

My problem with these kind of threads is the more humble or less in need of attention members are not going to contribute to a thread like this...neither are new or infrequent members for the most part....it is not part of the system of adding a page...whereas "what is new" is....it takes enough time for the real climber types to actually add a page on SP, way more than MP or RP for example....so what you end up with on a thread like this are an exclusive set of folks wanting to toot their own horn....a wasted thread that might lead someone viewing the site for the first time to consider it somehow representative of the sum of the activity for Canada and Alaska....

"whats new" on SP is easy to find..and clearly defined...a new route, mountain or crag will last at least a week on the list before falling off. I believe these kind of threads to misrepresent the site. It is hard enough to get climbers to contribute actual climbing stuff to SP because of the perception is is a personal scrap book deal. This kind of behavior just adds to that perception in my opinion. Mock up the CO forum however you would like. I for one am hoping to keep one I contribute a lot to (Canada and Alaska) a bit more professional from a beta point of view.

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Re: What's New in Alaska & Canada

by mrchad9 » Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:04 pm

Dow, your approach to this certainly has changed since you posted in this thread two months ago:

new-peak-page-in-banff-ptarmigan-peak-t60768.html

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Re: What's New in Alaska & Canada

by Dow Williams » Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:37 pm

no it hasn't...not one bit..that member was out to do the same exact thing...tons of "look at me" threads...unnecessary...

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Re: What's New in Alaska & Canada

by mrchad9 » Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:55 pm

I guess I didn't read your post carefully enough. At a glace it seemed to be more congratulating him on visiting the area, but I suppose there was a comment in there about not starting threads for new pages.

On one level I agree with you, I despise people whoring for votes in the forums by posting photos and articles of what they have recently done. There has been a lot of that lately, and anyone experienced enough to have written an article ought to know by know that if it is worth a hill of beans it will end up on the front page. This is partly why whenever I post a photo in a thread I do NOT post a link to it, so as to not appear unseemly.

But when it is contained to a single 'What's New in..." thread in a region, I don't see the harm, which is why I started the CA version of this. It keeps it contained, and an objective is to encourage other members to solicit as well (although my effort largely failed in that respect). If you don't like it, just don't open the one thread.

Unfortunately not many people have used the CA one, a few have though. I've lately used it to highlight significantly revamped pages, which some folks might want to see but otherwise wouldn't know about. I can confirm it doesn't get you much in the way of votes or anything like that, but I've continued to do it at times, so 'look at me' definitely is not the reason for its existence. If it was well utilized I'd like it from the standpoint of not missing CA pages while away on vacation or trips, unfortunately other's use it infrequently enough that it cannot be depended on for that.

So really... I agree with you on not starting a thread to highlight a new page or article, but to have a single regional thread here dedicated for this purpose seems ok to me.

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Re: What's New in Alaska & Canada

by chugach mtn boy » Wed Feb 29, 2012 5:25 am

Some of us are slow on the uptake. I first joined SP due to interest in the Yellowstone area (SP was useless for my home area), and for a couple of years I followed new peaks by watching for Saint Grizzly's routine "What's New in Montana" postings. I didn't notice the "What's New" page in the site and never went there. Call me dumb, but I'm probably not the only moron out there.

I don't think Saint Grizzly posted on a forum thread because he was a vote whore. He was just keeping interested people informed in a way that would be easy to spot. It was simple and it worked.

BTW, when you see a listing on the "What's New" page for "Pinnacle Peak" or "Pleasant Mountain," you don't know if it's in your area of interest or not. You have to click through a bunch of listings to see where they are. A forum listing is actually a more efficient way to let people follow along with a particular geographic area with minimum effort.

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Re: What's New in Alaska & Canada

by Steve Gruhn » Wed Feb 29, 2012 5:22 pm

I agree with chugach mtn boy. In particular, the naming of peaks could be a bit more explicit when there is a vast geographic area and a peak with a generic name. It might even make sense to split up Alaska and Canada into two separate forums. Their combined geographic area is about double that of the Lower 48. So, someone interested in climbs in Labrador is forced to sift through a lot of information about climbs and routes that aren't within 4000 miles of his area of interest.

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