New State-Specific Forums

[Son of a Beach]

As you've probably noticed, the 'Australia' forum has been split into separate forums for each state. My geography of mainland Australia is not great, so if I've put any topics in the wrong forums, please go easy on me, and simply send me a private message letting me know.

This change has been planned for along time, but it has now been implemented somewhat earlier than expected by two factors: The fact that Tasmanians are now outnumbered on these forums, and the desires of many mainland bushwalkers who want forum equity with their Tasmanian bushwalking cousins.

The change is experimental. If the new forums are not well supported then some or all of them may eventually be merged again. So I encourage the non-Tasmanians to use the new forums, if you want them to be continued.

[Nuts]

I can understand the desire to grow the forum and accommodate everyone but unless there are more to move I suspect our northern cousins are by and large a fairly 'mute' bunch... Perhaps the bulk of them have paid a visit to gather info of interest or for an upcoming holiday. Seems to me that 'most' of the Active users are still locals. I do read through the interstate forums and am always interested in the Tassie walk descriptions but already finding the rest just a distraction...

More to the point, who are these mysterious pm'ers, I remember those type of kids at school... Again, even the shy dont need to show their face, i see no reason not to just come out with these things... I'm sure noone will think its just a whine (unless it just is)....

So is there a Bushwalk Australia forum? Is this now it?

[heplittledoggie]

Of course there's a bushwalk australia forum... all dressed up and ready to go!

[Son of a Beach]

In September 2007 the domain name "bushwalkaustralia.com" was created and the URL http://bushwalkaustralia.com/ was redirected to this site. About a year ago (as announced in a now defunct topic) further changes were made such that logging in via that alternative URL will still get you to this site but with the site name and logo of "Bushwalk Australia" instead of "Bushwalk Tasmania". This was done at the request of mainland members who posted in public discussion here wanting equity with the Tasmanian members. So yes, this has been Bushwalk Australia for some time already.

These new per-state forum changes were already in the plan in September 2007, awaiting the right time to move ahead. This stage has been sped up now partly in response to interstate walkers on the aus.bushwalking newsgroup saying that they want a site like this for other states or preferably for the whole country (that discussion was pointed out to me by a member from here). They have been discussing creating another nationwide forum for the purpose and citing this site as an example of what they'd like (well, some of them like it more than others, anyhow). Since I already had just such a plan in place for this site anyhow, I thought I'd go ahead and implement it now and see how it went. If they don't like it, they can still start another site and I'll aim to cooperate with them if they do. But if they do create another site, there is a risk of a lot of activity here moving off to another site, splitting the community in two. Clearly I have my own reasons for wanting to avoid this, but I also don't think it's in the best interests of the community to be split across too many boards. As I said, if they do create another such site, I will aim to work cooperatively with them and with any other useful resource for bushwalkers if it is in the best interests of the bushwalking community (eg, cross linking), and would expect them to do the same.

There is another upcoming change that will improve things here for non-Tasmanians that I'm hoping to put in place within a few weeks, but it is not certain that it will go ahead yet so I can't say anything further about it just yet.

I do have some concern about the possibility that the experience for the Tasmanians on this site could be degraded by being less Tasmania-focussed, but I'm hoping that won't actually be the case (I use this site myself, as a Tasmanian member, not just as an admin, so I definitely don't want it to be of less value to Tasmanians!). We can certainly benefit from the experience of a wider number of people, and I hope that the 'Tasmania' forum might be at worst a refuge for us Taswegians, and at best continue to be the most active and interesting forum on this entire site!

Of course, I hope that the experience for everybody will in fact be richer.

Am I suffering from delusions of grandeur? Maybe. It's a risk, but I hope that it will work out for the best for all of the bushwalking community.

[Nick S]

I think it makes good sense Nik.
Maybe now that the mainlanders are given their own forum area, they will post more readily and feel more a part of the forums.
Would a clickable map of aussie for all the states would make it less of a distraction.. prob not

[Robbo]

I would just like to add my thanks to you Nik for the work and time you put into this forum. I do have something of an IT/Web background and know the hours it takes to keep something like this to the level this forum is maintained. I mention BWT to whoever I meet in the the bush - and elsewhere given the opportunity. The most recent changes make it even more useful for those of us who live, 'elsewhere', but it is the Tassie stuff that is of most interest to me both personally and professionally, and BTW is an excellent resource.

Keep up the good work is all I can say...

TR

[kanangra]

I think it is a great innovation. Thanks for setting it up.

K.

[Kainas]

Nice setup. I appreciate the new layout.

[soulfree]

As a "northern cousin" I think it's a welcome idea. Though I'm a newbie on this forum I am a regular on ski.com.au forum (AndyR) and have been put onto this forum from a referral through that forum. After all we are all just bushwalkers. Not so sure why we should be seen as being mute though? Why does it make a difference where a a forum is based? I welcome any constructive forum for discussing bushwalking and backcountry happenings and welcome the opportunity to learn here and maybe contribute.

[tasadam]

Not so sure why we should be seen as being mute though?

You're not
That comment was (having just re-read it) from the suspicions of one member on this forum - one persons opinion, so please don't take it to heart. I suspect his meaning was that in the past, not many of our mainland members have been as active by comparison on the forum.
It seems so far the overwhelming opinion is that state-specific forums is a welcome move, and you are as welcome here as anyone.
Enjoy the forum, it's for bushwalkers (from anywhere) and always has been.
Plenty of great discussions here, a wealth of information and opinions, and anyone can feel free to add to any of them.

[soulfree]

Cheers Adam

Yes I am looking forward to this forum and didn't take the comment to heart tho thought I'd answer it

I've just posted an intro so you can learn a bit about me.

Cheers

AndyR (soulfree)

[johnw]

I do have some concern about the possibility that the experience for the Tasmanians on this site could be degraded by being less Tasmania-focussed, but I'm hoping that won't actually be the case (I use this site myself, as a Tasmanian member, not just as an admin, so I definitely don't want it to be of less value to Tasmanians!). We can certainly benefit from the experience of a wider number of people, and I hope that the 'Tasmania' forum might be at worst a refuge for us Taswegians, and at best continue to be the most active and interesting forum on this entire site!

Of course, I hope that the experience for everybody will in fact be richer.

I also welcome the changes. Thank you for doing this Nik, I believe that there is a need for it (I've been following the debate on aus.bushwalking as well). I don't think these changes will diminish the value for Tasmanians. In fact I would hope that the opposite would apply. Many of the topics discussed here already are of common interest to most bushwalkers, regardless of location. Particularly those relating to environmental concerns, gear, food/nutrition, navigation, safety, rescue, hygiene, first aid etc. Adding state specific information won't change that, but it may attract more members and enrich the discussion. And the choice of what to read or post (or not to) is up to each individual to decide.

...I also don't think it's in the best interests of the community to be split across too many boards...

Yes, I think it is a fair assumption that the "serious" bushwalking community is still (sadly) relatively small, even at a national level. It would be good to be seen as unified I think as, among other things, more pressure is likely to be placed on all of our remaining natural areas in years to come.

[Maelgwn]

Do you think we could get more 'regions' added (See sidebar), now that there are state specific forums. Dont need as many regions as their are for tasmania, but atleast one for each state would be good

[Son of a Beach]

Yes, this should definitely be done. Unfortunately, phpBB has some serious flaws in the way it handles custom profile fields, such that changing the options for an existing custom field can totally screw up values for existing members.

It will require some tedious fiddling with the database to do it properly. I'll look into it.

[Son of a Beach]

Do you think we could get more 'regions' added (See sidebar), now that there are state specific forums. Dont need as many regions as their are for tasmania, but atleast one for each state would be good

This has finally been done! I'll post an announcement topic shortly.