View Full Version : Can't access practicalbackpacking
Hi. This is my first post here, but I've been a lurker for several years, and I'm hoping someone can help answer my question. I recently went to go to practicalbackpacking.com, but I keep getting a 403 error. Is the site down or closed, or have I been blocked? (mods please move this thread if this is the wrong section)
Farr Away
05-23-2008, 16:29
I just brought it up fine. I don't remember what a 403 error indicates. Try again?
When I read up on what a 403 error meant, it (wikipedia) said that it generally meant that there was either a problem with the site, or that you had been blocked. Does anyone have the e-mail address for practical backpacking(I thought reality ran it, i may be wrong though) because I would like to find out what I had done. I know they run a tight ship over there, but I had never even posted, I just joined so that I could read entire posts.
Alligator
05-23-2008, 16:38
If I am thinking of the correct site, there were some issues connecting there from here. Go to a different website, clear your cookies, then try to go to PB.
PBF has not been down this afternoon. When you registered did you use a "free" email address? If so, it won't let you register with it and may now be blocking you because of the previously dropped cookie.
I believe I did register with a free email address. So is there any (reasonable:-?) way to be able to access the site now or is the situation hopeless without a new ip address? I've already erased all the cookies from my computer like alligator suggested and also tried accessing the site from a proxy.
Alligator
05-23-2008, 17:23
If the problem is your IP address you might try unplugging your modem if your address is fixed. Just a thought. You might have to go through the registration hoops again.
Just stick around here:sun.
if you just 'lurk' there too, they'll dump you for not posting... that might be the problem.
CBSSTony
05-24-2008, 08:48
I tried that site too and there was no problem getting to the site it just seemed a little too restrictive.
I tried that site too and there was no problem getting to the site it just seemed a little too restrictive.
nice understatement
IMO that site is run by a forking control freak
<shrug> his loss, I'll never go to that site no matter how "good" the content is just because the site is managed by such an arsehole
Ok, thanks for the help. Sounds like I won't be able to access that site anytime soon.
atraildreamer
05-28-2008, 12:23
nice understatement
IMO that site is run by a forking control freak
<shrug> his loss, I'll never go to that site no matter how "good" the content is just because the site is managed by such an arsehole
Bernie (Reality) does a nice job...no need to badmouth him.
Toothless
05-28-2008, 12:31
http://www.practicalbackpacking.com/ works good for me
Bernie (Reality) does a nice job...no need to badmouth him.
Wingfoot did a nice job too... ;)
Frolicking Dinosaurs
05-28-2008, 13:38
PBP is certainly a different sort of site. Personally, I haven't found it very helpful. To me it looks more like a site trying to generate cash for the owner from sales of advertising and promotional materials than a truly unbiased resource for backpacking information.
Bernie (Reality) does a nice job...no need to badmouth him. I've talked to several people who have met the owner. The consensus is that he has a huge ego and very serious control issues. Those were among the kinder things said about Bernie Wilt.
Many things happened when I was active at that site that went far beyond simply keeping the site free from non-hiking related material. People had hiking-related posts deleted simply because of who they were (ATTroll among others) and because they embedded links to things likes pics of homemade gear elsewhere. Bernie made threats of legal action toward several people including me for openly saying the site has serious problems after he showed his true colors. You might want to read this old thread (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=14363) from back when all that was going on.
Sorry, ATrailDreamer, I can't agree Bernie does a nice job and there is no need to badmouth him. He has earned his reputation in the hiking community and now he is having to live with it.
Dirtygaiters
05-29-2008, 02:57
Feel lucky that you can't access PBF. Although, there is some good info there - mostly the stuff I posted (here's my own ego shining through, haha, though it's really bitterness and I'm mostly kidding of course), and which I wish I could delete just to spite Reality. Fact of the matter is, Reality is a little touched in the head. Every moderation feature that comes with the forum software, he uses. He manages the forum to be like a backpacking resource, like a strict library and will close topics when he decides they have been fully discussed, but his problem is that he forgets that forums are nothing without the people that post in them. Without an atmosphere conducive to human chatter, all you have is this jerk librarian with a book of rules nobody bothers to read, but which he will cite and harp on at every opportunity. Posting on PBF, if you play by the rules, is like being a trained barking dog. Bark on command, now shut up on command. It's possible to ignore the constant moderation and pretend like it's just a slightly less unruly whiteblaze, but dang, it gets old quick. Not only that, but, as you found, with your 403 error, Reality has a pretty vigorous and highly exclusionary screening process. For one, he randomly blocks some IP addresses, which is why you got a 403 error. For two, well you can just read some of the other threads about this forum.
josiblue
05-29-2008, 04:32
i tried to check it out just out of curiosity, but apparently it is not registering new hikers at this time.... what a shame
~josi
atraildreamer
05-29-2008, 10:59
Reality is a little touched in the head.
All backpackers (especially in the view of non-backpackers!:confused:) are a "little touched in the head" :eek: ...it helps!!! :D
Tipi Walter
05-29-2008, 11:46
I've made a few posts to PracticalBP and if 6 months goes by and I get deleted, so what? In my search for backpacking forums I stumbled on PBP as Whiteblaze is often too AT oriented and attracts a specialized type of backpacker, one who carries little weight and resupplies too often. For the ultralighter, the AT is a perfect trail with numerous road crossings and town visits, but for the other wilderness/expedition type backpackers there are websites out there other than Whiteblaze. Ergo, Practicalbackpacking.
Don't get me wrong, I love WB and post here frequently, and have met some fine people on this site, but it's good to get away from the AT focus once in a while and find forums devoted wholly to backpacking first and long trails second.
Dirtygaiters
05-29-2008, 19:16
All backpackers (especially in the view of non-backpackers!:confused:) are a "little touched in the head" :eek: ...it helps!!! :D
True enough. I meant from the point of view of backpackers. Perhaps not from the point of view of, say, a librarian, though.
Appalachian Tater
05-30-2008, 00:13
http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/
A helpful site in situations like this.
knarfster
05-19-2010, 13:25
Bernie (Reality) does a nice job...no need to badmouth him.
Yeah there is, he's an idiot. Not all "yahoo" accounts are free moron (to owner of PB). Some of us pay good money for an account since we don't have a personal ISP.
Feral Bill
05-19-2010, 15:10
Yeah there is, he's an idiot. Not all "yahoo" accounts are free moron (to owner of PB). Some of us pay good money for an account since we don't have a personal ISP.
And you're abusing someone on a two year old thread why?
Alligator
05-19-2010, 15:12
And you're abusing someone on a two year old thread why?Probably wanted to make a good impression on his first post.
Anyway, the link seems to be working and this thread is old.
Was gonna say you don't have to go there..but, well it is a 2 yr old thread.
:)
Now about those specialized backpackers who only backpack in he SOutheast Appalachians... :D