Donating Members - Come join in so we have more input in the other forums.

[TrailSlug]

I love this area and it's fun talking gear. I sort of ran out of steam on the main forum area...only so many ways to talk tarps and UQs. The horse has been beaten to infinity.

Amen brother! It new users used the search functionality it would be a ghost town.

[kitsapcowboy]

So many old timers seem to miss the point that one of HFs primary goals is to get new hammock hangers off to a great start, by suggesting the correct vendor or DIY and hopefully we will save them some money by not buying all the crap stuff out there.

With respect and in fairness, speaking as a relatively new convert to hammock camping and someone who has only been an HF member for 13 months, that point -- which you feel is an important one, understandably -- is not always abundantly clear to new members looking to get a great start, and there is probably very little that moderators can do to affect that perception. Instead, preservation and promotion of that helpful, welcoming ethos really must arise as part of a normative community standard set forth and held by active and long-time senior members. The desired effect you cite can come about if -- and only if -- they choose to facilitate an environment here on HF that fosters it.

[TrailSlug]

With respect and in fairness, speaking as a relatively new convert to hammock camping and someone who has only been an HF member for 13 months, that point -- which you feel is an important one, understandably -- is not always abundantly clear to new members looking to get a great start, and there is probably very little that moderators can do to affect that perception. Instead, preservation and promotion of that helpful, welcoming ethos really must arise as part of a normative community standard set forth and held by active and long-time senior members. The desired effect you cite can come about if -- and only if -- they choose to facilitate an environment here on HF that fosters it.

What are you saying here Kitsapcowboy? Do you think this community isn't friendly to newbies?

[WV]

I liked the Off-topic Forum a lot when I subscribed to it, but eventually I didn't want to wade through a lot of posts that didn't directly pertain to hammocks, so I let it drop. As a service provided for a fee it's a great bargain; I wish it wasn't called "donating", though. There's no philanthropy involved. I don't "donate" my money to Microsoft, Amazon, or the IRS.

[esmith]

Ok, I am a new member, Just in my first week here. I just completed my donation and I think it was very important. Let me tell you why.

I would like to point out that we are free to discuss, good or bad, the various manufacturers and vendors we use.

If the site was funded by donations from manufacturers and vendors, then there would be pressure by these paying clients (advertisers) to portray them in a good light and to remove negative posts regardless of accuracy or truth.

This happens on other sites identical to this but for other hobbies. It is a mainstay in any magazine you purchase for any subject. Seriously, open any magazine, look at the front of back covers to see who bought the space and then find a single bad word or criticism of them anywhere in the publication.... Never going to find it but what you might find is the on any given month, the largest advertiser that month happens to be the one they are doing a positive feature article on.

We are being led as consumers to whoever pays the most for us on almost every site we visit.

This site runs a better model. They recognize the value of free and open discussion and do not allow a single vendor to monopolise and backdoor the competition through exclusive advertising deals. The site owners, I promise you, are not making a living from this site, I am guessing but I think you will find a fellow hobbyist is behind all of this.

That said. I will continue to be a donating member as long as this is the style in which they run the site.

I think it is important for all of you to as well. Forget the extra "Private" Forums, forget free stickers. The real value here is in open, honest discussion.

Thank you for having me.

[kitsapcowboy]

What are you saying here Kitsapcowboy? Do you think this community isn't friendly to newbies?

What I am saying, 'Slug, is that while there as a great many active and/or long-time HF members who are kind, welcoming, helpful, supportive, and patient with questions -- a group within which I would definitely include you yourself based on your contributions -- I do not believe that the emphasis O&B cited on being welcoming to new members is necessarily held by all. I feel there is an often-vocal minority of mostly old guard members who lament about the growth of Hammock Forums and the quality of its recent membership, who can be brusque at times toward the uninitiated rather than civil, who are sufficiently set in their ways that they choose to squelch new ideas or alternative perspectives on hiking and hammock camping out of hand rather than debate issues considerately, who are frequently self-agrandizing rather than inclusive, and who generally seem to hold as top priorities things other than making new members -- especially inexperienced ones -- feel welcome. In short, I don't feel like they really embrace "Hang Your Own Hang" at all. And that's fine; this is the Internet, not kindergarten. Personally, I feel blessed that in the year I've been a member of HF I've encountered significantly more members from the former group than the latter, but I don't choose to overlook that the latter group exists and can exert a significant counter-effect. That said, if there are those of us who want to maintain and promote a more positive and welcoming environment for all members and their contributions here on Hammock Forums, it is up to us to understand and accept that moving HF in such a direction will be the result of community resolve toward that end as opposed to any administrative policy or action. As Gandhi said, we have to be the change we wish to see in the world. This is just my opinion, but that is what my opinion is.

[Slack Packhiker]

Trail Slug, good on you for this thread.

Newcomers may be so preoccupied with gathering info that the finer question of whether to donate won't be considered initially.

The site couid be cleaned up a bit. Describing one's self as a smug prick (while bible thumbing no less), merits a delete. Same for another guy's recent post with his sprained pelvis humbrag.

Overall the site is family friendly as advertised, and that's appreciated.

[OneClick]

Other than a few heated instances, I really don't recall any rude/mean/inappropriate threads. Maybe I'm just callus from other forums, some of which can make the thickest-skinned hard person cry. Some just downright brutal to the point of being funny as long as you're not the target.

[dkurfiss]

Trail Slug, good on you for this thread.

Newcomers may be so preoccupied with gathering info that the finer question of whether to donate won't be considered initially.

The site couid be cleaned up a bit. Describing one's self as a smug prick (while bible thumbing no less), merits a delete. Same for another guy's recent post with his sprained pelvis humbrag.

Overall the site is family friendly as advertised, and that's appreciated.

When you see threads that are offensive please hit the report button. We mods try to get to every thread but it's almost impossible with as many as we get in a day.

[Firesong]

Let's not forget that it enlarges your message folder for in messages and sent ones. That's a big bonus too if your selling or buying, have questions on someone's posts (pm) and such.