BPL is dying

[leaftye]

For years I've used Backpacking Light and this forum. BPL more for technical discussions, and this forum more for discussion long distance hiking techniques. Unfortunately spam at BPL has grown worse over the past year, and much more so in the past week. It looks like the owner and administration there is completely unwilling to take even the most basic, free and effective steps to save their forum.

I know quite a few people here participate there too, and I suspect more people will sign up here as the fallout at BPL continues. While the primary purpose of Whiteblaze is for the AT, I hope it can accommodate BPL refugees as well.

[Lone Wolf]

Trailplace is pretty dead too

[jakedatc]

Perhaps the Ultralight sub-forum here will see more traffic. it is sad how BPL has gone down the drain, it got me back into backpacking after a long hiatus. It was pretty evident last year when Ryan stopped posting all together, despite nasty criticism and complaints, that he was letting it burn to the ground.

[10-K]

They still sell subscriptions though... Been a member for years but for the articles, not the forum.

[WingedMonkey]

Maybe they ran out of Kool Aid.

[Tipi Walter]

Maybe they ran out of Kool Aid.

Touché . . . . . . . . .

[Wise Old Owl]

Sad to hear.

[Sailing_Faith]

I moderate / administer various other topic internet discussion forums. The spammers have gotten more and more savy. I am sure that there are many attempts to infiltrate here (many of them I have reported, and our team here has responded very quickly to!)

At the risk of over-dramatizing things, I know it is hard to watch a forum decline. You invest something of yourself in a 'place' when you choose to post.... and watching that go by the wayside is difficult.

I hope all the BPL refugees find their place here, and have a smooth transition.

Might I also suggest that a small contribution might be in order.... we all invest in a site when we post, but a small donation can go a long way in building / maintaining a resource we all use and enjoy.

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[QiWiz]

I really have liked BPL and have been distraught that they have not found a way to effectively address the spam problem, at least yet, for the forums. The articles are still good. If the WB UL forum here benefits, that will be OK with me, but would not like to see BPL go belly up.

[Toli]

They still sell subscriptions though... Been a member for years but for the articles, not the forum.

Me too... You are wise 10-K... I go there for the Technical info, here just for the jokes and snarky comments to new members asking questions... OH, and of course Hikerboys Cyber Cafe...

[Tipi Walter]

I moderate / administer various other topic internet discussion forums. The spammers have gotten more and more savy. I am sure that there are many attempts to infiltrate here (many of them I have reported, and our team here has responded very quickly to!)

At the risk of over-dramatizing things, I know it is hard to watch a forum decline. You invest something of yourself in a 'place' when you choose to post.... and watching that go by the wayside is difficult.

I hope all the BPL refugees find their place here, and have a smooth transition.

Might I also suggest that a small contribution might be in order.... we all invest in a site when we post, but a small donation can go a long way in building / maintaining a resource we all use and enjoy.

I made a donation to Whiteblaze several months ago and right afterwards my entire series of around 25 trip reports got deleted and lost forever in the bowels of interweb effluvia. In fact, the entire Thread category got deleted and "lost". So, adding cash money to a site is no guarantee that money will help to maintain a resource. Plus, Whiteblaze has gotten bogged down several times with ceaseless spammers too.

[Sailing_Faith]

Yes, no forum is immune to these guys... using the little "!" (in the triangle) at the bottom of the post to "report spam" makes life as a moderator much more easy.....

There are several spammers who have gotten so clever they actually quote snipets of a conversation from the thread in their posts.... hard to catch and tough to ban since they can look an awful lot alike a legitimate poster.

[10-K]

Just to be clear - I have been a member of BPL for years primarily for the articles.

I've also been a paying member of WB since 2007.

[10-K]

I was just over there. Seems ok as far as spam goes though there was a few.

But, to say it is dying is a bit extreme IMO.

[Country Roads]

I did not renew my subscription this year. There are other places to get the info I need

[Lyle]

I never joined BPL. They turned me off by requiring payment before you could read virtually anything. No way to judge if it was worthwhile or not. As others have said, plenty of other places to get the same information.

[bubonicplay]

The problem right now is thier software, its old, outdated. But the people there are great, and the information is the best.

[ocourse]

So what software are they using?

[bubonicplay]

Thier forum is outdated, its from like the prehistoric ages.

[leaftye]

But, to say it is dying is a bit extreme IMO.

Given that they having had any useful changes in response to the spam attacks, and that they rely on memberships to keep their business afloat, I don't think it's extreme, I think it's logical.

Spam attacks have been going on for the last year that I recall. It's become especially bad in the last couple weeks, and even more so in the last week.

The ONLY change is a script that deletes the posts of the spammer, but also makes the threads containing spam invisible. The change also seems to allow the spammer to continue spamming while banned.

Subscribers get 2 benefits of membership, primarily.

1. Access to articles.
2. Ability to start Gear Swap threads.

The second benefit goes away if the sale ad is spammed unless the subscriber is technically proficient and persistent enough to keep bringing their threads back.

All members, including guests, benefit from having online conversations. Unfortunately those are disappearing too. What's the point of having a lengthy online conversation when it can disappear once or twice a day?

There is no reason to believe these attacks are going to stop. I don't see why membership will continue when the spam is dominating the forum during and after the attacks. I also don't believe Ryan Jordan cares enough about BPL to operate it in the red if membership does indeed decline.