View Full Version : AMC's Mountains & Molehills Message Board
Peter Mossberg
11-01-2004, 10:24
Any other refugee's from the recently closed AMC Mountains and Message board?
It used to be a great message board where hikers could discuss hiking related issues like Backcountry Camping Practices; like the upside and downside of dogs on trails, snowmobiles, cell phones, hunting, skiiing on hiking trails, peakbagging, LNT practices, and about any hiking-related topic you wanted to argue about.
I learned a lot on this message board, and in spite of occasional personal attacks, the board was a great educational resource.
The AMC (in their infinite wisdom) closed down the entire message board, essentially because one poster (Fsolution i.e. Final Solution) began posting racist comments and other posters attacked these posts. Kinda like throwing the baby out with the bath water, if you ask me.
Apparently the AMC was more concerned about the attacks on Fsolution, than Fsolution's actual posts. They wanted all of the other posters to "not respond" and let the AMC moderators deal with the issues.
Of course, it was very difficult for some of us to ignore these posts such as "your parents deserved to die in the concentration camps" etc.
Anyway, I hope I put this post in the right catigory, and I apologize if this topic is off-limits on whiteblaze.com
Blue Jay
11-01-2004, 10:32
Any other refugee's from the recently closed AMC Mountains and Message board?
I apologize if this topic is off-limits on whiteblaze.com
Most of us are refugee's from other places. No need to apologize the AMC is a huge topic here, certainly not off limits.
Lone Wolf
11-01-2004, 11:06
Poor moderation on that site plus it's way too PC. Fsolution wasn't the only bad guy. That justhikn guy likes to run his pie hole but he kisses the moderators ass so he stays. It was shut down after the subject of "indian summer" was brought up then all the rich whities said "indian" was racist. It went down hill from there.
The demise of the AMC's MM is a matter of poor moderation period. There will always be trolls, rude behavior etc. It seems that boards with active moderators will not tolerate this type of behavior and it doesn't exist for long.
I understand the need for the AMC to keep up a certain apperance and having people going on and on about genocides will not foster a family friendly feeling for an organization.
I agree with the above statment that there were many posts and threads that were very educational. they mirrored the content of thier magazine. Many people were brought to the AMC because of MM. Yet they let a few bad threads reign the day. I think that the AMC cut down the entire orchard because they failed to prune a few trees.
I was wondering what the last straw was. I saw the post about how someone was brought to tears. I hadn't been frequenting the board recently due to the lack of any new good heated debates.
Jack Tarlin
11-01-2004, 18:27
Peter--
Regardless of what at happened at the AMC site, we're happy to have you here. Tho we have our squabbles and disagreements here (hopefully fewer of them after tomorrow!), I still think this is an excellent site, and a great resource for folks interested in the A.T. In any case, welcome to Whiteblaze, we're happy to have you!
Percival
11-01-2004, 18:40
I left the AMC forums after a few months because of the constant censorship there. The moderator "Rose" would delete posts and threads with no rhyme or reason, other than she didn't agree with what was said or it was the wrong time of the month for her.
Toolshed
11-02-2004, 17:00
Poor moderation on that site plus it's way too PC. Fsolution wasn't the only bad guy. That justhikn guy likes to run his pie hole but he kisses the moderators ass so he stays. It was shut down after the subject of "indian summer" was brought up then all the rich whities said "indian" was racist. It went down hill from there.
Well Said L Wolf!!!!
I absolutely agree on the piehole comment, I also don't really care what his nationality or his girlfriend's was. Anybody that hurls insults (among other things he mocked me on my trail name about "playing with my T**l in my shed") and then claims to be left in tears by the board is a little too far on the edge. I've been on VFTT since '96 and here for about a year or so and I never saw the types of caustic remarks as I did on M&M. I don't even know what the whole final issue was, but I do know that if you are going to participate and be obnoxious, you shouldn't go crying to the moderators if someone treats you likewise.
M&M had it's good and it's bad. I'm not too torn up over it's demise. Most boards are self moderating. When someone steps across a line the members will usually spank them enough to either shame them into shutting up or toning down. Rose came down on people sporadically at best and not always IMO, righteously. There were/are a lot of folks on the AMC board that are there just to stir the pot. M&M was often a dumping ground for people to rant idiotically about whatever.
I may still post in Hiker Journal. There are a lot of folks that frequent that board with a collective knowledge of the Whites that is a resource I, for one, appreciate greatly. I'm finding that a large number of those same people belong to Alpine Zone and the previously mentioned VFTT.
mediclimber339
11-04-2004, 20:33
Yep, I'm an AMC Refugee too. I normaly cruse and lurk but open up when I see a reason. Sorry about M&M I got a kick out of most of the PC crap. I am half indian and have no problem with Indian Summers, Gheez some people need to get a grip on this PC crap. If I ever offend, sorry but it is just one poor simple mans opinion.
Peter Mossberg
11-04-2004, 21:11
As Fox said, the hiker journal is (was) a great wealth of info. It really ticked me off when the AMC deleted 3 years worth of threads without telling anyone. (I think it was about 1-1/2 years ago when they did this)
Posters spent alot of time and energy posting valuable information about lost trails, bushwhacks, history, etc. and it's all gone.
You would have thought the AMC could have at least announced it ahead of time, so someone could have saved the info at a hiking website some where.
Most of us are refugee's from other places. No need to apologize the AMC is a huge topic here, certainly not off limits.
I can't comment because I never participated. But I'm not surprised that M&M was killed, being smart was never an AMC strong suit.
Weary
minnesotasmith
11-05-2004, 11:51
There is a really good website that monthly takes a snapshot of the Internet. You can often go find great sites that are no longer active on the WWW that way. Their URL is www.archive.org (http://www.archive.org). You just go to their site, put in the URL you want, and then pick a particular month from the choices that come up. There's no charge, no spyware, etc. I don't go a week without using that site. It doesn't always work on message boards, but it'd be worth a try IMO. Hope that helps.