Trailplace.com

imported
#1

I came across this this morning. I don’t entirely agree with it (for I had lots of help from veteran hikers), but check this out.

http://www.trailplace.com/farewell.html

Ganj

1 Like
#2

Everyone’s fault, but his. The censorship & political views drove me away?

I like the ATC

#3

There are some great new sites popping up to fill the void. The true hiker community has rallied again.

~hamockhngr~

#4

and he was really just sick of policing the website. It had never developed into the forum that he had hoped for, and I have to say that he is right to some degree. Most hikers USE the info, then when they are done hiking, they don’t give back in the forum. I know that there are exceptions, but usually people just wouldn’t contribute after they returned from ME or GA. He will just have HIS info on there from now on. By the way, for those of us who have never met him, he was a really nice guy to talk with on the phone.

windex

#5

I can remember the site before it was taken down in the spring to make these “improvements”. The forum was a very active place for AT info and I believe it was THE place to go. I know I benefitted very much from the website before my hike as well as many others too. While his site was down people went to other resources and when trailplace opened back up the response was less than overwhelming. I don’t think he gave it much of a chance and shorted himself on sucess that would eventually come. He complained about veteran thruhikers not participating. I saw just about every question in the forum answered before shutting down for the summer. I don’t think participation was the real issue. I saw the new sight and wasn’t that impressed as it seems that the older site was more user friendly. Of course this wasn’t fully developed. Okay I am rambling…in all honesty though, he can shut it down for whatever reason he wants. This guy has pretty much made the trail his life’s work. Although I don’t agree with him alot, I can understand if he believes his efforts are better concentrated elsewhere.

Ganj

#6

I spoke with WingFoot a couple of times right after he started his new sites. It was in the Chat room. I have been using his earlier site since 1999. It was a big part of me planning for this 2002 Season.
I think that he waited way to long to get the sights up. and once they got up, splitting it up into I believe multiple sites was a mistake. Especially splitting up the section hikers from the thru-hikers seemed to me a pain to jump back and forth. Even so I think his sights would have taken off if he would have given them a couple more months.
The old one was down for so long and his post was that the sight would be up by July 4th, which it wasnt. He cant expect that everyone would instantly come flocking back after so many months of nothing.
He explained to me that his earlier site had somthing like 30,000,000 hits and that was the reason he split it up.
Sincerly, Cross

Cross

#7

I can say that I have been very patient with WF. I have tried to be one of those hikers who when he finished the trail donated his time to those following the class of '99. I enjoyed getting advice prior to my thru-hike at Trailplace and enjoyed keeping a journal there.

I can only say that it were simply me who is woefully disappointed in recent events, it would be o.k., but there are hikers who will speak of the legend now with bitterness, and that is sad. WF did an excellent job at Trailplace but the standards to which he aspired were really too perfect and in the end left him feeling he failed. I don’t believe he failed, except to believe he had succeeded in creating a class A site.

At the end, though he complained that there was not enough alumni envolvement, on the day he shut down, I counted more than a dozen thru-hikers who had been giving advice and sharing from their experience. Hardly the wasteland that he described in his farewell speech.

I had, for reasons of a recent marriage, taken a year off from putting in time on these boards. This last few weeks, I started up again and chose his site first to put in my two cents worth.

I thank God that Zip Drive and Lief are sticking it out. They too have built a class A site. I had visted this forum once before over a year ago before I got married and kept promising I would return. I am really glad I did.

Thanks Zip Drive and Lief. Well done!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone,

Mr. Boo
GA --> ME '99

Mr. Boo

#8

<< WF did an excellent job at Trailplace but the standards to which he aspired were really too perfect and in the end left him feeling he failed. I don’t believe he failed, except to believe he had succeeded in creating a class A site. >>

I agree. I followed a few journals on his old site and thought it was great the way it was done. I also like his data book and I intend to use it. I didn’t like the fact that I had to give name and address to register at his new site. But being a “I have to get it right” type person, I understand most of what he has done. But you have to let go. The AT is a living breathing thing. You can’t place standards on it. I do think that the one thing we all should agree on is the ehtics associated with the trail. The “Leave No Trace” practices and just taking care of it and the people that use it. Perfection is the culture of the trail, not what one person does for it.

But what Lief and ZipDrive have did here is a part of that culture and I thank them for it. It is a great site bevoted to what is really a small minority.

Dale

#9

Well put Mr. Boo,

And many, many thanks to Leif and Zip Drive for the work you put in to giving us a place to post our journals, pictures and thoughts.

B&B

Bramble

#10

I was a regular user and sometime contributor to Trailplace. Trailplace was a terrific vehicle for AT hikers to share information and I thank Wingfoot for what he has given me.

Whenever I visited one of the forums there was always lots of vigorous debate and valuable advice for those seeking it. I have been regularly checking for the new Trailplace websites and was wondering why the delay and admit to being dumbfounded when I read Wingfoot’s departure message.

Personally I feel Wingfoot’s expectations of former thru-hikers was unrealistic… people are what they are. I believe there were a lot of former hikers contributing to Trailplace but clearly not enough to meets Wingfoot’s expectations.

Downunda