Bad Language - Not Good (Saturday AM, 7/9/2005)
Lately, the moderators have encountered an uncharacteristic amount of inappropriate language being posted in these forums (a.k.a., foul, unacceptable language as prohibited by our forum policy).
On the one hand, foul language tends to offend folks who have taken the time to cultivate a healthy vocabulary and on the other hand, the editing of foul language burns community resources. Editing-out foul language from posted messages takes the time of our volunteer moderators and it burns computer resources as our "bad words list" get longer. Each posted message has to go through a filter of this increasingly lengthy list of "bad words" that some of you have been using and in some cases inventing.
To reiterate our forum policy, foul language is not allowed, in any way shape or form. The fact that some folks are sneaky to display their dysfunctional vocabulary by using such partially camouflaged words as "sh!t" or "fukin" indicates that they know the word is inappropriate and are knowingly attempting to circumvent our forum policy. This is an insult to all of us.
Over the years, as much as possible, we have gone out of our way, to make this a place that is peaceful, enjoyable and friendly and that attempts to accommodate all personality types. So we are sensitive to the fact that some folks really do have dysfunctional vocabularies and cursing is an integral part of their communication attempts. We certainly empathize with you, but for the overall health of this community, we cannot accommodate your vocabulary and encourage you to seek help to broaden your understanding of the English language such that you will be able to communicate in a more coherent and pleasant way.
All the moderators thank you all for reconsidering our forum policy on inappropriate language. Thank you.
Charles (aka packlite (admin))
Remodeling (Saturday/Sunday AM, 7/2-3/2005)
Overhauling the entire website and associates. As part of this renovation, the forums (colors, sizing, etc.) are getting tweaked. You may notice, you may not. I tweaked the colors a bit to better match the new homepage, for example.
FORUMS Moved to NEW DataBase Server (Saturday AM, 7/2/2005)
Finally got around to moving us to a new and much faster server. Hopefully, this will eliminate those dreadful hangups. If not, we'll try another server til we get it right.
COTTAGE-GEAR TALK Forum Moved to LITE GEAR TALK Forum (Tuesday, 4/19/2005)
Due to multiple requests over the past year, our experiment with "Cottage Gear" has ended. We are combining all gear-talk threads together in the "Lite Gear Talk" forum.
There have been a number of instances of confusion over which forum was the correct one to post in. We find Cottage Gear threads posted in Lite Gear Talk and vice versa. Also, at least some of the gear makers, themselves, would like to be known as regular ole gear makers. Thus, we have combined all into one forum -- less confusion, easier to manage.
All threads have now been moved to the Lite Gear Talk forum. If you are looking for something specifc, that was previously in the Cottage Gear Talk forum, just use the TLB Forum's search page to search for it in the Lite Gear Talk forum - it's in there!!
PayPal Donation Button Deleted (Wednesday, 4/13/2005)
Since we don't want to give the appearance that we are begging for support and especially since no one has actually sent a donation in over a year's time, we've deleted the PayPal Donation button from our website.
Please SUPPORT the TLB Forums (Monday, 2/14/2005)
Thank you to those of you who shop at TLB Sponsor websites while using the links provided here on the TLB Forum's Sponsor's PORTAL as your entry point. Also, a reminder that on the "Support TLB" page, there is a "PayPal Donation" button.
ASK the GEAR MAKERS Forum (Thursday, 4/8/4)
The "Ask the Gear Makers" set of forums has been superseded (replaced) by the Cottage-Gear Talk forum. We (gear makers and I) felt that the single forum format, open to everyone would serve all of us in a better way. You can read the rules of engagement in the forum but basically, anyone can initiate or participate in a discussion thread. Anyone can ask a question or respond to a question, whether or not a gear maker.
Forums' Policy Updated (Sat, 2/7/4)
The forums' policy statement was updated to include specific sections for the "General Discussion" and "Buy & Sell Gear Here" forums, to include our eBay policy.
Introducing a NEW MODERATOR (Fri, 2/6/4)
I apologize for not doing this earlier but we've been real busy. Things are getting back to normal, thankfully. Anyway, please welcome Dave Downs (DownsD) as our newest forums moderator. During the upgrade the forums were really hopping in just about every facet of activity and Dave agreed to jump in and help us keep everything running smoothly. Thanks Dave we appreciate the help, big time. So, anyway, if you were wondering why Dave's name is green, now you know.
LOGIN PROBLEMS
Recently, a couple of folks have experienced trouble logging in and once logged-in, difficulties in staying logged-in. The reason is that they were using an erroneous web address (URL) to access the forums.
The correct forums address: https://www.backpacking.net/bbs.html .
Any other address either will not work or will cause you (and me) headaches!
Examples of erroneous urls:
- https://www.backpacking.net/forums/
MOVED TO NEW SERVER (Sun 2/1)
We moved to a new server early this morning. So far, it seems to be pretty stable with acceptable performance.
SOFTWARE UPGRADE RESULTS
Upgrade appears to be a success. Still working little issues as they emerge.
Several new stylesheets were created - the "TLB CLASSIC" stylesheet closely approximates the look and feel of the old forums. You can select the stylesheet of your choice in your personal profile. Several "bugs" have been reported with this software and will be fixed in the next release this spring.
One of the bugs, unless I can fix it, will continue to bug you who are using the FLAT/EXPANDED post list setting. If you click on a post within a thread, instead of going to that post within the flat list thread you will land on the first post in that thread and have to scroll down to find the post that you actually clicked on. If you see strange software issues, go ahead and report in the Support Forum and we'll check it out.
Thanks, and let's keep building a warehouse of "lightweight knowledge".
