Vaya con Dios Amigos

[Stephen]

One, remember that it's still summer in the northern hemisphere. Two, Johnny's username no longer exists so he probably isn't getting any of this. Three, given all this, if useful forum interaction is to persist, I am reminded of @fisheater saying, when lots of bickering was occurring, albeit paraphrasing, that people need to self-moderate. As others have pointed out, an ignore function exists, but one can also simply choose to not respond to shit that one finds useless or antagonostic or trolling or whatnot. Not ideal, but maybe signal-noise ratio corrects itself once skiing is back in our routine activities.

Good points.

My last post was along the lines of:
- There is someone (site admin) still in charge of the levers;
- Johnny and the site admin may be the same person, with two different log on accounts;
- Johnny’s account is no longer active;
- Other accounts have been deactivated (and the user told he “needs to take stock of his life;”

All of which has left me wondering what the heck is going on…

Because of the way things have been going, it seems like too many people are just plain pulling back from participation.
I value this space and most of the folks who hang out here, and would be disappointed if this is how things turn out.
(And I’m not swayed by any argument that anything needed to be purged.)

[martin2007]

Hello everyone,
I sense that the site is on the verge of imploding. If that is indeed the case, and I'm saddened by that, I'd like to say thank you to those who have been friendly and welcoming over the years. I joined here in 2016, a year or two after I'd begun realizing a long-held, but vague, dream to ski telemark. I went down a rabbit-hole that quickly began defining how I spent my winter months. Most of my skiing has been done solo. This site was always a good resource for ideas about what Telemark and backcountry XCD could offer, and it was, overall, a friendly place. In spite of my being pretty much the only tele-skier on the mountain most days, it was good for me to know that others__the folks here on Telemark Talk__ were similarly fascinated by, and motivated to participate in, a sport that wasn't__and isn't__thriving at the resorts and in the backcountry.

Unfortunately, the tone of discourse on this site has become toxic. It doesn't feel like a welcoming place to explore or test out ideas or look for help. There are some talented people here. Some are energetic and impressive in their knowledge and in their writing and research skills. Certainly there are those with lots of skiing experience. Unfortunately, much of the discourse now reeks of one-upmanship, wounded ego, posturing, politicking, mansplaining, and burning impatience with the status quo. The clubbiness of yesteryear (which for some probably wasn't without its annoyances) has been replaced by open hostility. Yikes! Clear signs that it's probably a good time to move on.

Back to my reason for speaking, though. I've learned elsewhere that "Forums" are often fragile platforms in that they can be there one day and then gone the next. Like so much of what is wonderful in life. So, as a pre-emptive adieu: a sincere thank you to those who have shared their passion for the sport on this site, and especially to those who have been respectful and generous towards their fellow free-heelers.

[Musk Ox]

Back to my reason for speaking, though. I've learned elsewhere that "Forums" are often fragile platforms in that they can be there one day and then gone the next. Like so much of what is wonderful in life. So, as a pre-emptive adieu: a sincere thank you to those who have shared their passion for the sport on this site, and especially to those who have been respectful and generous towards their fellow free-heelers.

So this was literally the only place left on the internet in the early 2020s where people with radically different politics, personalities, and basic agreement on what the very subject of the forum even WAS were capable of civil and friendly discussion (albeit with a little bit of self-policing).

Largely because there was a consensus that going WHEEEEE on free heels was intrinsically fun.

Civility is a fragile ecosystem. But the moderation here is incompetent and totally fucking incomprehensible (invisible for years and then suddenly all-guns-blazing to defend what appears to be some random... anus).

[capt_planit]

When even the skiing ox can't be funny you know it is bad. Forum--Il est mort.

[Musk Ox]

When even the skiing ox can't be funny you know it is bad. Forum--Il est mort.

Come winter, I'm sure it'll be fine. Everyone just needs to be a bit more judicious with their ignore buttons and taking the bait.

[phoenix]

It's still really only a person or two responsible for (deliberately) harshing the collective mellow of the many. All is not yet lost, but it has been misplaced. I'll miss it if it's gone. There's still BC Talk, though it's much less xcd oriented. Interestingly, the same troubled individual who's derailing things here has spread to that site also; same name, same MO of long winded dissertations with no actual kiing content. He hasn't unleashed the snarling dog attitude yet there (much) though; curious to see how it plays out there. I don't think it'll fly.

[Stephen]

It's still really only a person or two responsible for (deliberately) harshing the collective mellow of the many. All is not yet lost, but it has been misplaced. I'll miss it if it's gone. There's still BC Talk, though it's much less xcd oriented. Interestingly, the same troubled individual who's derailing things here has spread to that site also; same name, same MO of long winded dissertations with no actual skiing content. He hasn't unleashed the snarling dog attitude yet there (much) though; curious to see how it plays out there. I don't think it'll fly.

It isn't flying.
https://www.backcountrytalk.com/forum/b ... 3-divisive
I have the sense that THE ONE knows he will be crushed over there if he tries to pull what he has done here.
Different personalities over there -- I suspect more Alpha, based on general level of accomplishment (no disrespect to any of us here!).
Also, I think the disposition of the site moderator over there is more opaque, which might make one more cautious about stepping out of line.
Just my spin on things -- it's an hour until the next episode of As The World Turns, so have a bit of time to give to this...

[mongol8]

I think Manney is great. Just sayin.

[Lhartley]

I think Manney is great. Just sayin.

Seconded. The folks constantly offended by him seem overly sensitive and protective of a "community" that requires participants to survive. Just ignore what you don't like, that's how the internet works. The plot on this page really resembles Lord of the Flies

[JohnSKepler]

Seconded. The folks constantly offended by him seem overly sensitive and protective of a "community" that requires participants to survive. Just ignore what you don't like, that's how the internet works. The plot on this page really resembles Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies is interesting because it is an allegory of life. While we tend to focus on the antagonists in LOTF the book would be meaningless without the protagonists. And most people here are protagonists and, dare I say, very patient. Even so, in the end, Jack gets saved along with everyone else and, we hope, goes on to learn from his mistakes and become a better person. But, if we're honest, we all also hope he gets hit by a bus on his first day of freedom.

Admittedly, I can be a bit of an arse at times, especially when people start throwing around information that is in my wheelhouse and not in theirs. My wheelhouse is small but it is my damn wheelhouse! But even when I do come across as a dick when I'm right, especially when I'm right, and this goes for most of us, we also know when to stop and just let things go. There's a time to shut up and melt to the back of the room for a bit, usually, especially when you're right. (I've not been at the back of the room, I've been off motorcycling.)

There was one contributor though for which I don't think any of this holds true and, indeed, he'd double down about things he clearly knew nothing about or just make it up as he went along. He did NOT know when to let things go. The "ignore" feature worked really well and, for me at least, this contributor ceased to be a problem. To be fair, there are probably people who have me on "ignore" and I can't say I blame them, though in most cases with most people, if we sat down and had a beer face-to-face we'd get along just fine and would, like grown-ups, steer clear of topics on religion, politics, and women. And global warming - wait, that's politics, right? Or left?

For anyone I've offended or annoyed, I do apologize. As the youngest of three boys in a family where we pretty much raised ourselves, I had to learn to protect my wheelhouse or I wouldn't have one. And when it comes right down to it, the most important thing here is when the new Voile Transit binding is coming out. I'm on the email list but where do we preorder? And I can make no sense of the sizing chart! And I never did see that Alpina Explore 80 ski last year and all I can find now are demos. WTF? But they are working on some new boots that look...