Tom D
So Tom, some of us are writing articles that should some how be made easily available to newbies, such as Balzacoms excellent article above. How can that be done? Others are preparing informative articles and my fear is that they will become lost and not used as a resource for people seeking easily absorbed information. Should the information parts be cut from threads and posted to the FAQ section? OM mentioned stickies...?
Jim

Jim, There are articles posted within the site, not on the forums, but I also think a lot of people just read the forums instead of starting at the home page, so they might miss them. One solution would be to have a separate forum just for the articles, but not sure how well that would work relative to the rest of the site.

On Trailspace, there is a separate articles link, but it is organized much differently than this site.

Tom D
How about a forum of "collected experience" posts for beginners and have it be read only with no follow up posts (or only selected secondary posts which are highly relevant) and the moderators decide which posts to move there? The whole forum might have less than 30 threads, making it compact and not requiring a search to find information? This might be so valuable as to increase traffic to the site.
Jim

Tom, for starters, I suggest you folks restore the "sticky" posts that used to refer everyone to the articles on the home page. They disappeared when you shifted to the new software a year ago. If there are other articles around that I've never found, we need links to those in "sticky posts," too.

And I like Jim's idea, too!

There does need to be some kind of system for updating, though!

I like this idea too. It would be a great resource for beginners and one that each of the forums could contribute to. And, as OM pointed out, it can evolve with the communities knowledge.

You could even title it something like:

Beginners Start HERE: The way they do with all instructions now...knowing that we are not going to read them all!

Part of the problem is that the forums are just a small part of the site and at least in my case, I've read most of the rest of the site and focus on the forums because that is what interests me.

What I don't know is whether or not new members start at the Home Page and find the forums, or find the forums directly through a Google or Yahoo search, missing the rest of the site entirely.

This site is very complex compared to others I belong to. Take a look at the Home Page and see what's there. A sticky links forum for articles might be the way to do it. Links could be added as they are written and posted.

It's up to Charles since it is his site, so I suggest PMing him with these suggestions as well. Not sure if he has time to read everything.

TomD

I stumbled directly on the forum while cruising the Internet and was pretty confused when posts constantly referred to reading the articles to the left. I thought I was on the Home page, it was only when someome posted to read the articles to the left on the home page "Backpacker.net" that I realized I've been off trail. There isn't a Home button in the upper left of the forum page to send you to Backpacker.net.

This a great site, thanks everyone for your informative input, only problem now is I'm getting behind on work due to a forum addiction.

Thanks, Burka! Unfortunately the "TLB Home" link is at the very bottom left of the forum page. I agree it would be better to have it more visible, maybe even at the top of the page. I'll put the URL link into my cut-and-paste answer for beginners!

As an aside, I will also try harder to read more carefully whether or not the questioner has already read the articles on the home page before posting my stock answer!

TomD, googling "backpacking" brings beginners to the home page. Googling "backpacking forums," though, brings them directly here. That's why we need a prominent link here on the forum page to those home page articles--both for beginners and those hoping to lighten their loads!

It might be worth seeing how many questions regularly asked on this forum can be answered by going to the articles. How many times, for instance, have we posted the recommendation that people buy their backpacks last, which is prominently stated in several of the articles? Not everyone will go there or read them, but a prominent notice directing them there will cut down on some of these elementary questions and half a dozen of us making essentially the same post ("buy your pack last").

Burka, I think it used to be more obvious in earlier versions of the software.The site is ad supported to keep it free, so the ads do add a bit of necessary clutter. No ads, no site.

I think on this site, the forums may have overtaken the rest of the site in terms of who uses it. Not sure how to figure that out. Maybe Charles has some tracking software that shows who visits what part of the site.

However, there are a lot of useful articles that are linked on the Home Page. Maybe the solution is to make the Home Page much more obvious for those who came in through the "back door" and never find the actual Home Page.

That's better than falling behind on the forums because you have a work addiction.