I had some catching up to do. I've tried to quickly go through the pages of comments, but one thing jumped out at me.

The original site (from what I think I know) was a "lower budget" but high quality site, maintained lovingly and personally by involved hikers. It wasn't fancy, but it didn't need to be. It had limitations, but appealed to us dirtbag outdoors people.

With a commercial site, there's opportunity to expand what a site can do. It comes with more advertising and promotional stuff. That's to be expected. You have to fund it somehow. But, we would also expect a slicker interface, and harnessing the power of web technology to really set it apart.

My favourite example is Walkhighlands. They've found a way to monetize through relevant businesses (accommodations, guiding, etc). It's useful, effective, and most of all, not intrusive.

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Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I also find your posts arrogant, self righteous and often just plain wrong. I know for a fact you have chased users out of CT with your style. You have nothing nice to say to anyone, ever -- no encouragements, thumbs up. Just criticism, sarcasm and "I am above all" attitude. It is quite sad, mod who should be ambassador of the forum and work to make users feel good and contribute.

I stand by what I said re simonc. It was meant as testimony to his outdoor knowledge, ability and willingness to share with community. Too bad you were not able to understand this

Dayle mentioned months ago that she communicated with management about having the login page encrypted for security; just like the Banks do. Are you considering that?

Seriously, Dru? This is an idiotic thing to say. Simon definitely could have monetized all of the detailed information he put up on CT by publishing a book as others have done. Matt Gunn is one such example (not that there's anything wrong with this, of course! I own a copy of Scrambles in SW BC). He may not have gotten rich, but rather than post it all for free on the internet, he could have at least received some financial reward for his efforts.

Once again you continue to demonstrate the arrogant and dismissive attitude that I've found very frustrating over the years. Communicate politely and effectively or shut up.

Redbeard, exactly. And matosan, to who we all owe for his fantastic work, didn't even have smartphone app option at that time

I think I mentioned this idea to Simon once and he was not closed to the idea. I don't know where he is now, but I hope he considers it

But it is hard to see this if you can't acknowledge anything you don't like. My hope is that VSAdmins will realize Dru is one of big problems of this site few of us are trying to save

Hey Kyle or Fergus or whoever is watching this thread,

I've attached a screenshot I took last night while viewing the forum on my phone. You can see one of the obtrusive ads that are super annoying because they move with the page as you scroll rather than being a fixed image (I have an ad blocker on my PC so I don't see them unless I'm on my phone). Also, the ad is in French (???) and emojis show as broken images. These are theoretically two easy things to fix (broken image links and ads in the wrong language) and one difficult thing to fix (the concept of intrusive ads for members).

Patrick

Attached Thumbnails

 

I was one of the initiators for the push towards having moderators on this site after it was sold. At the time there was a lot of negative stuff being posted that was non hiking related and there were a lot of personal attacks going on. It was driving good people away from the site. The site owners were not monitoring the site and there was a need for forum moderators. An open vote was held and the highest vote getter was Dru. You get what you voted for. Sometimes it's hard to fathom why so many people vote the way that they do, but they do.


Moderators are supposed to keep members on topic, keep people following the forum rules. Contribute in a positive fashion. That is not happening. If I had known that the forum moderator positions were going to be given out based on a popularity vote I never would have pushed for forum moderators. They should have been assigned by the site owners and carefully selected based on the sites policies and values.


Perhaps the "lifetime" forum banner should be rethought.

The ad is supposed to scroll at browser bottom. It serves based on your search history like an other google/adsense ad so it follows anything you look up. Though with Walmart specifically I've noticed that Walmart CA likes to default to French regardless. I'll send it to be checked. Regarding emojis, mobile is supposed to pull based on emoji's loaded on your phone so it sometimes conflicts with custom on site, though that doesn't appear to be the case here. I'll investigate.

Kyle

Hello,

we're in the process of having viglink removed. Please stay tuned for updates.

Lee

You are doing the right thing! We understand the business reality, but maybe we can think together of other, less obtrusive ways.

I invite the community (us, users) now to show appreciation of this good faith move and respond proportionally. Let's work together and try to restore CT to its old glory by being active, sharing and participating. No post is too small -- even 1 sentence update in Conditions thread i.e. "I did Grouse Grind this evening, 1:15 slushy snow on top" will be read and appreciated.

Fantastic news, and thanks you very much for listening!

I like this!

Thank-you for listening to the community!

Well shoot... I guess I need to stop procrastinating on my trip reports now.

Strange....I tried this and got my TR deleted and a nasty PM.

Apparently, it was read, but not appreciated.

I just joined the site as I really appreciate the info, but I don't post any of the info I gather.

I never got into forums, and never have found the format particularly aesthetic. I realize that's not a content issue, but it just doesn't appeal to me to spend to much time here. Instead I've posted my trips on places like the Outbound, and The Outdoor Project. The content is much less reliable, the focus is millennial vanity, but the sites just look nicer and more pleasant to navigate.