Basejumper.com - archive

Do you think that this forum would be a more effective medium for communication if it were split into two separate forums;

a) BASE Jumping chit-chat

Would include things like Jaap's shirt thread, or "I got my number" posts, or other incidentally BASE related things.

b) BASE Technical

Would include things having to do with the actual physical act of BASE jumping, like the Riser/Toggle Grip thread, or discussion of appropriate PC sizing, or similar topics.


Please vote in the poll based on that proposed format (either yes or no), but feel free to respond to this thread with additional ideas for potential subdivisions, reasons why you wouldn't like to see a subdivision, or whatever else pops into your mind on the topic.

Thanks!

I would not split the forum. A bit of both (tecnical and blabla) is good for the forum.

I voted no. I think the signal to noise reduction is low enough that people can do manual filtering.

Blinc took the route of having multiple forums, and it takes me too much clicking to read every post. The online base community simply isn't active enough to warrant more than one forum.

That said, feel free to hand out the occasional warning if things get too off-topic. I'm prime suspect number one, and I'd be more than happy to continue the occasional thread to the Bonfire.

Base is as much about the chit-chat as it is about the technical and legal issues. If I only cared about the latter, I'd volunteer to work for the USPA.

Leave it.

just don't be shy to slap people who get off-topic. When something technical is being discussed, it really sucks to have somebody break your concentration.

In short - make sure the threads don't deteriorate, perhaps split the threads, but let the forum be.

No, leave it the way it is . . .

There's liable to be a valuable nugget buried in the "chat" section that gets missed. Sometimes, even when not being serious someone hits upon it just right.

NickD
BASE 194

I also say, leave it like it is. A purely technical forum would get boring sometimes, just like a purely chit-chat forum would get vapid. I think there's a good balance of both here.

Michael

I would vote to keep the thread as it is.

I would like to see the number of "one-liner" replies come down a bit. I think if there's a lot of that in a thread, maybe it belongs in the bonfire.

I think the forum is pretty well balanced now.

Werd.
I vote to leave it alone. It keeps the atmosphere light which is nice. Makes it easier to ask a "stupid" question.
~J

Looks like I am in a minority then.



From my point of view, I think that the "chit chat" in here is excessive. It seems to be more an American forum (I know you will say its not just Americans here) and for me, I would prefer to read the technical posts and then browse the chit chat posts as and when I want to. I know people think that its easy to pull out the technical information here but for my own selfish point of view sometimes I just dont bother reading a post because I know it will be full of chit chat and private jokes or a certain crew but then there maybe something worthwhile in there that I miss.

But now I have wasted my time writing that, as it seems everyone is rather happy with the way it is.....

Rigging/Technical issues are an integral part of BASE and most current jumpers. I doubt it could be split cleanly.

we all know skydivers who don't follow rigging issues. they could be future BASE jumpers. separating the technical side would enable people to avoid it.

Talking about nonsense on the way to the exit point is an integral part of the jump... chit chat is an integral part of the BASE forums

No,

Do not split, it never works for the users. Maybe for the ones most in to it but for 90% of the users it is just a hassle.

Just look what happend to the base board (blinc) ... boards need to be super simple.

PerFlare

Leave it I say. Sangiro has a hard enough time policing us tools while you are sleeping. Due to the time offset that is.

leave it...
that said i also think you need room inhere for BASEjumpers to chat and have some fun..
Its our culture aslong its inspired from BASE i cant see a problem whith it..
Also i sometimes does the same as Mac,look for the tecnical,but as a person who has been alot online i also realice that many Q´s have been asked once before,splitting the chat away will take away some of the people who keeps answer theese Q´s ...

Just me.. but im usaly wrong

Hi Tom

There is a small problem in your vote.
Most of people who answer your question, like to chat so it's more convenient for them to have only one forum.
If you separate it, it will simply bring you (more) people (like me) who are not bother to go on because it's too much chat!
I didn't go on since 2 month by the way, just go on now to check something.
Take air
Christophe

How about when you click on the forum button, you get a screen with any 'sticky' or 'need-to-know' technical topics ?

Having said that, it is getting busy in here now, and some information is getting buried pretty quickly,
but the search is very effective, and so far I've had no real trouble looking up anything.

As someone on the fringes, I feel I can post here on 'technical' subjects without feeling too much out of my depth,
or getting fried for making a mistake or just being dumb from time to time.

I think this forum itself is a part of BASE history, and just like BLiNC's used to be in many respects.
You have a good combination of everything in its present state, so that's what gets my vote.

Lame idea.

I think it should be split. I would think it should be more structured as Forums:The Base Zone:Topic instead of being a related sport. It is a related sport but it would serve people better if they were able to choose the forum of their interested in the activity rather then have to read all the chit chat compiled into one.

Jason
jasond@backcountryparachutists.org

I thought it wasn't the best idea at first but now I think 2 forums would be good
I'm always thinking of questions and threads to start etc but then think "nah I won't as I don't want to start to many threads in such a small forum"

I want to take back my "no" vote.

I just read a thread--and had a discussion earlier today--that convinces me the chit-chat is overwhelming the technical discussion to the detriment of everyone--particularly the younger jumpers who are coming into the sport with too little skydiving experience and too little exposure to the old, ugly guys who are all scarred up because they learned the hard way.

Something is not being passed on, and it's a lot more than attitude.

I have never in my usenet/internet career made a technical post--in spite of the fact that some of the brighter bulbs in parachuting have expended inordinate quantities of time on my education--and I'm not about to start, but sometimes the stuff I see on these forums really wipes me out.

Back in '95, my ability with words led a whole bunch of young jumpers to write to me for advice. As if. So I would explain to them that I knew not of what they spake, and would then request their permission to forward their queries on to someone who had actual expertise in the area of what they wanted to know. I don't see a lot of that here. It's the blind leading the blind, and the guys who know what they're talking about get drowned out and even ridiculed for what they write. These are not people whose voices will cry out in the wilderness for long--most of them are more inclined to shrug and say, "Fuck 'em."

The arguments that go on here--all of them--parallel the history of skydiving so closely that I emailed the oldest skydiver I know a few weeks ago and said, "You gotta see this thread. You're not going to believe it."

</rant>

Okay, my point after all that is this: there needs to be a place where the technical questions can be asked and answered without being hijacked. I don't know the best way to do it, and my only real idea involves a lot more work for Tom, but this is ridiculous. And more than ridiculous, it's dangerous. And frankly, every time someone dies, a little bit of me dies too, so from a purely selfish perspective, this post is nothing more than self-preservation.

rl

P.S. to the smartest guy I know: this one's for you, darlin'.

A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it. - Oscar Wilde

Amen

It's really quite interesting you bring this up. I have also noticed an increase in the amount of hijacking and chit-chat and was just discussing this with Crwper and Base736 today.

Admittedly I'm guilty of it. It's mostly because I have now finally met some of the people on these boards in real life. After that, it becomes so easy to step in trying to be funny with some sort of snappy comment or remark.

Too often, it's only funny to the people that know the context. For the rest, it's just noise.

So I'd like to retract my no-vote as well, and give a dual board at least a chance. If we find it doesn't work out, or we don't like it, we can evaluate that after a couple of months and easily merge the two again.

I've found this to be true as well.

i found that BASE aint just dry teory all the time,i found that some of thouse funny remarks can drag the tekst more attention...
i found that if im reading a tread whith only dry facts then i usaly tend not to read it all(unless its really catching me).

Now all the above is way funny as if you step back and look at me just 1-2 years ago i were one of the persons asking to split Blinc up...

as of this point i think i might were wrong...

if you make it all sterile it aint as fun as it should be,after all we jump as we think its great fun doing so..

yeah we learn each day...

Don't split it, Tom.

The Kirk woman needs to get off the crack pipe.

Here are some reasons.

1) Not everyone comes here for advice.
2) Not everyone with experience comes here to share knowledge.
3) I don't want you to.
4) It'd be less fun.
5) Hijacking threads is awesome. If you're so boring that people go off topic in 5 sentences then you should quit posting.
6) I don't want you to.
7) If you need advice...get a mentor. Don't come here and ask a question without a sack of flesh to discuss the answer with.
8) I don't want to have to make fun of Felix in 2 places.
9) Please don't.
10) Rhonda Lea Kirk is just plain wrong.
11) You may get less traffic. That's a bad thing. Just ask Knut Mickson.
12) The forum is useless as anything other than entertainment anyway. BASE needs to be mentored not taught. You can't have a value system described sufficiently clearly here. For those whose values do not coincide with those of the community at large then they should not receive training or tuition. They should be ostracized and rightly so. Preserving our core values is the most important part of the mentoring process and this forum doesn't help that very much. At worst, it decays them somewhat. I'll forgive the forum that transgression since it's fun.
13) Cos I want it to stay like this.

Ok, pretty selfish...but I'm a BASE jumper...so fuck what everyone else thinks.

Ms Kirk...you need to find some smarter friends. You are, in essence, completely and utterly wrong.

And I'm right...so now we have that out of the way...how about sending me a nekkid pic of you?



[edited to change who's to whose on the advice of some busy-body in Florida WHOSE sole purpose in life appears to be making fun of a guy WHO'S too busy to write his posts twice.]

Totally and unequivocally agreed. But what should be is not what is, and in that regard, your position is correct but impractical.

Let me know when you've figured out how to herd cats. You can practice on Baby.


<visual of Skin-type tantrum> How's that hangover comin' along, dear?


I am completely and utterly wrong, and you are totally and absolutely right--you said so, so it must be true--but the next time I have to tell you can't talk about my friend that way, the only pipe I'll be crackin' is yours.

Edited to add: Also, you again forgot the . after Ms.

<can't believe you've conned me into hijacking my own post--again>


For the nth time, bring a camera.

rl

Edited to add:


What would you do without me?

...masturbate less often.

shouldnt that read MORE instead of less?

Time to revive this poll and thread?

Or is it just me getting old?

CJ=)

Funny thing is, where dedicated technical BASE forums have been created, no-one actually reads or seems to post in them...

I think this has been done to death - besides, the subject title usually says it all. You don't have to read everything posted!

thta does not sound like much fun to me Tom I mean this way we get educated and amuzed in the same place its like seaseme street learning made fun

yes...exatly...i totally agree !

many threads seem to start out as a decent technical or otherwise valid discussion, but degrades to one liners at some point or vice versa. How do you handle those?

Leave it as is.
pope

 I think the best solution is leaving the forum as it is,
and putting a link like "technical only" to the top of the page that goes to forums with technical informations.

People who like to read like this will continue to do what they like, and people who wanna read only technical information will also be able to do what they want.So everybody will be pleased:)

The moderator splits out the one liners and moves them. Then the moderator is subject to endless abuse for his nazi-like censorship.

Aren't you already accused of that???

My guess? They don't.
Handling those kind of situations would probably give the moderator 5 times more work for the same amount of money (read that as $0) and the benefits would not even be a 2 digit percentage of that effort. This is considering the fact that automating this kind of "forum intelligence" is not possible.

... unless Maggot can donate some of his ground crew midgets ... that, could probably work out as some form of automation.

I think it would be a good idea to split it. Some one stated in a more recent thread that there is some good information here, the problem is, I think, it is hard to find through all the general chit chat. The chit chat is good, but you only have to look at the death toll this year to realize that something needs to be done. If splitting this forum can help, why not. Maybe the few more experienced people who post on this forum, also stated is recent thread, as well as the the current moderator, could moderate the technical side to keep the information quality.

Peace

Jim