Practical Backpacking Rage...

[blackbird04217]

I'm not one to rage much, but after stumbling across this site and listening to the podcasts I figured wow, this has some great information. Then I found they have a forum setup! Awesome. Oh, I can't read all the posts because I'm not a member? No problem, I'll register, it seems the information will be relevant to my interests.

***. Seriously, I have never come across a more challenging and closed registration process in my life on the internets, and I have a fairly good life there.

Name; can't contain numbers. Yet my internet handle does.
Password; well all sites have silly expectations that adding capitols, symbols and numbers help- it actually doesn't but I won't count this against them.
Spammer Detection; Okay, the captcha is normal these days, and the second question was genius - though hard to figure out what it was asking, at first I thought "above" referred to the captcha, but that wasn't 7 letters.
E-mail from ISP; What the hell. Seriously? I don't even know if I have this, and if I do - I have certainly never used it. And this was what really got me to the end of my chain. I am currently not registered there, and not even sure if I feel I want to anymore, even with the ability to "change my email after".

Heh, done ranting.

Has anyone used this forum and is it a decent place for new info, new hikes and adventuring?

[burger]

PB is run like a military state. Backpackinglight.com has similar (and better!) content and doesn't require you a letter of recommendation from your third grade teacher to join.

[Mags]

E-mail from ISP; What the hell. Seriously? I don't even know if I have this, and if I do - I have certainly never used it. And this was what really got me to the end of my chain. I am currently not registered there, and not even sure if I feel I want to anymore, even with the ability to "change my email after".
?

Of all the requirements, I thought this one was the most stupid. Most people use a GMail, Yahoo or similar e-mail address for their non-business use. An ISP address is Qwest, Comcast etc. But, not many people use their Internet Service Provider address. I sure don't! I've had the same Yahoo address for close to 15 yrs, I'm not about to use use the ISP address that may change next week....

And I am sure as heck not going to use my work e-mail address so I can read about packs. :)

PBL wants to eliminate spammers by eliminating web-based e-mail address. They are also eliminating most potential users! ;)

[Blissful]

If this is the one I once tried to log into, forget it. It was crazy.

[skinewmexico]

It's just silly. I had to sign in with a company account, and then when that account died, they refused to take the Hotmail account I've had for 15 years. Due to the pain in the ass that it is to sign in, postings don't change much, or often. Not much traffic. Even the Backpacker forum is better, and it's lame. BPL is the hot ticket, as mentioned previously.

[Spokes]

...... with a registration process like that you gotta wonder just how much practical backpacking advice you'll get huh?

[leaftye]

Yeah, ISP email means I won't become a member even if I can. I've done it before and lost accounts when I switched ISP's. In the past ten years I've switched ISP's around 7 times, but I've kept the same Hotmail/Yahoo accounts the entire time and intend on sticking with it.