The subject of hikers mis-behaving has been coming up here lately. Today, for example, there was a post about some hikers acting obnoxiously at a shelter in Virginia. A few days ago there was a thread about a hiker who repeatedly made obscene entries in Trail registers.
Here's my questions to Whiteblaze visitors:
*Do you approve of public discussion of this sort of thing?
*Is Whiteblaze a good place to discuss such things?
*Do you approve of people being publicly named/shamed?
*Or do you think that when this happens, we only get one version of
events and there's a possibility that folks might have their names and
reputations tarnished unfairly or even wrongly?
Personally, I think there's nothing remotely wrong about publicly naming these folks; I think it serves at least three good purposes:
*It might make folks straighten up a bit when they realize that lots of people
think they're acting like idiots.
*It might discourage other folks from acting similarly.
*It'll tell hikers, trail angels, hostel-keepers, motel owners, etc. about folks
they may well want nothing to do with.
Opinions, please. Oh, and if any moderators have thoughts/opinions on this, I think that would be interesting to read, too.