Originally Posted by
The Weasel
You want tips? Here they are. They are useless unless you have (a) a mind and (b) the willingness to use it. If you lack either, you shouldn't be in either this Forum or on the AT, so consider this good training:
1) No one here is your Mommy, even if your Mommy is here. No one is a tin dictator. You can say and do anything you want, within the limits of the rarely-implemented User Agreement, except for disagreeing with me. You don't want to do that, since if you do, you'll get about 400 wild rants posted by me about how you're the one that's wrong, but I can't delete your posts or throw you out. Only ATTroll, Dixicritter or Sgt. Rock can do that.
2) This is a bunch of friends and people who tolerate each other (which is not always the same thing). There are no self-appointed experts who you must genuflect before when they utter their opinion, even if they have been around as long as me. Ignore opinions you don't like, or, unless they are mine (see above) disagree all you want. You may have 13 minutes of experience in backpacking, and be correct, while someone who has thru hiked the AT multiple times (and, unlike some people on other sites who remind you about it every day or two) like Jack Tarlin may be wrong (actually, Jack is wrong about almost everything, since he mostly posts about politics, and he's a Republican, which is amazing since he's a pretty nice guy, too, but when he says something about the Trail, he's not blowing smoke. Usually, anyhow). So don't be deferential to anyone (other than me, see above).
3) There are very few obsessive-compulsive neat freaks involved in this site. Forums are created for no particular good reason other than Troll, Dixi, or Rock (who spent huge time running much of this place while trying to keep the peace in beautiful downtown Baghdad and other such pleasure spots) felt like it. Thread drift is rampant, and flame wars (often started by irresponsible dolts who disagreed with me, see above) run on for days, weeks, years (don't believe me? look at the dog threads). No one really minds.
4) If you want information, it is findable but you may need to look for it. "Search" has good advanced features, but best is to create a thread and ask for help. It's provided. People here may disagree with each other, but they also help each other. Consider it a preview for what you will see, or have seen (yeah, that's not a preview, go to hell) on the Trail. Not once will you be let down if you ask for help about a topic or anything else.
5) If you want to debate/discuss/read about things other than the trail, go to the "sensitive" and/or Non Trail forums. Things get very vicious there, depending on the topics. Don't waste your time if you don't care about such things and/or if you have a thin skin.
6) Use the "new posts" button to stay current, if you don't subscribe. It will show you what is topical. It is very Zen doing that. After a while, it's all you need. Zen, that is.
7) Enjoy the Trail, as well as WhiteBlaze. WhiteBlaze is for people who are individualistic, cooperative, have opinions, a lot of skills (trail and otherwise), and dreams and hopes and fears. It's a crappy place for people who need to be told how to think and how to act and how to behave and how kiss someone else's thruhiking heinie. Here, HYOH is what matters, and you don't have to HDBH. It's like being on the trail itself. As such, it is a real trail place.
Start walking.
The Weasel
Good luck.
Maybe you can make it to the east coast someday. In the meantime, it will be interesting to hear of ur hikes on the west coast.
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