Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 16, 2006 - 03:30pm PT
|
I like to share climbing trips I take and I like to read about trips other people take, but it is difficult to gauge just how interesting they are to the ST community. Sometimes I think I am being a bore, an attention whore, or just a spewmeister when something gets posted and my reaction to few responses is "gee, why did I post that?"
A quick look at response to climbing trip reports indicates that the number of responses are rather limited. The current "front page" trip report is A Photo TR of Potrero Chico which was originally posted April 8th, and has 28 response to it.
Does the number of response indicate the interest of the ST forum in this trip report?
Obviously some of us love to talk about the climbing that we do in the ST Forum pages. There is some indication that the Forum members are actually interested in seeing even more trip reports. But sometimes I wonder how the authors get motivated to put this stuff up, cause the limited number of response, compared to a thread like the "Execute Bush and Cheney?" thread (weighing in with 255 responses) would not indicate the level of interest is very high.
I try to respond to the TR's but at some point my comments seem lame compared to how I feel about the TR... the value I derive is much larger than the comments that I provide. But that's just me. This is sort of a variant of the multiple subject forum format that is periodically suggested... I don't think that that fix does anything to indicate the degree of interest from the readers.
The question is: how to get people to post TR's? what motivates them? how can we show our interest in them?
|
|
Euroford
Trad climber
chicago
|
|
|
Nov 16, 2006 - 03:51pm PT
|
in my latest trip report, i included a reason as to why i wrote it:
So why am I writing this? Well a couple of reasons I suppose; first off I had allot of help from people on the climbing related internet forums. I’d like to let them know what all of there help contributed to, and I hope they all have as much fun reading this as I do reading their trip reports. Second, this was a big deal to me, and memory is short. I hope 20 years from now I can still track this down and reread it. So I hope everybody enjoys reading about our little adventure, we had fun taking part in it, in that I have a weird idea of fun kind of way. So, what follows is a short summary of our Estes Park experience for the last couple of years, and then a detailed day by day account of this year’s trip. I tried to be as accurate as I could, and then I’m going to have Steve edit so he might be able to remember some things I didn’t and correct some things I might have remembered wrong. Enjoy and your feedback is appreciated.
personally, i LOVE reading peoples trip reports. i wish everybody wrote them, and i wish allot of poeple wrote them more often. they are also an excellent refrence for my future trip planning. though i'll admit, even though i read almost all of them, i don't always reply. i guess sometimes i don't have anything constructive to add, or i don't have any specific questions, and just writting "nice trip report!" seams kind of redundant when three people already said that.
so i'll just state now for the record: if you write a trip report, and even if i don't respond too it, i give you my heartfelt thanks for taking the time to share your adventure!
|
|
bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
|
|
|
Nov 16, 2006 - 03:56pm PT
|
I don't think I speak for myself by saying that TR's are probably the most interesting posts to read (other than accident reports, unfortunately). But, as you said Ed, commenting on them feels lame to me. "Nice TR", "Thanks for posting", bla bla bla. But now that you bring it up, I'm thinking if I ever post a TR, I'd like to hear those kind of comments. Otherwise, you'd think, "Damn, people must think I'm totally lame". So maybe an unwritten guideline on here should be that if you view a TR, be kind enough to make a comment regardless of how lame you think it sounds. Show some respect to the OP for the time taken to share an adventure.
That said, I'm going back to the Potrero TR and saying, "Nice TR, thanks dude".
|
|
James
climber
A tent in the redwoods
|
|
|
Nov 16, 2006 - 03:57pm PT
|
Word Ed. I'm betting that most people read the TR but don't post comments.
It's hard to write a TR without spraying.
|
|
Russ Walling
Social climber
Out on the sand, Man.....
|
|
|
Nov 16, 2006 - 04:07pm PT
|
Good one Ed.... making trip reports can be pretty hard work, especially if they are historic in any way ie: no digi camera to download... The TR-er must start scanning a bunch of slides, clean up the relics, slap in some prose and churn the memory banks. I admit I've got to be pretty damn bored to try and generate a trip report from the old days... usually it is because there is talk of a route or something on the 'Taco and an old TR with pics would be a nice supplement. Couple the work involved with the gone in a flash shelf life of most TR's, and it is not that attractive unless you are just doing them for yourself, like on a personal web site or something. If you are looking for a reach around from the membership, then a TR seems like a tough way to get it. Saying Bush is an idiot is a sure fire way for instant gratification. Sad ain't it?
On a side note, I have a project in the works to archive and make a bunch a TR's and some of the better written and historical works from here and other sites always available. Expect a launch date around the first of the year. So all ya'll start cranking out some good stuff that will have an appreciative home for years to come.
|
|
scuffy b
climber
The town that Nature forgot to hate
|
|
|
Nov 16, 2006 - 04:07pm PT
|
I agree that TRs get a lot more views than indicated by the
response. If I'm not one of the first people to read it, I feel
inadequate in responding: nice, blah blah, mumble mumble.
I can't say I read them all, but almost all. I like them a lot,
almost all of them. I'm in awe of the ability to write a good
report.
I'll try to be a more supportive reader in the future.
|
|
Crimpergirl
Social climber
St. Louis
|
|
|
Nov 16, 2006 - 04:08pm PT
|
TRs are the best reading on here in general. However, I often don't comment because I have nothing to add except a "wow, cool" and I hate to sound like someone who always has to say something. Don't stop with the TRs!!
|
|
Long's Shadow
Trad climber
Fort Fun, CO
|
|
|
Nov 16, 2006 - 04:11pm PT
|
Trip reports are also my favorite posts (especially with pictures). I don't think anyone who posts a TR has to worry about them not being appreciated. And to be honest, I think many who post have a healthy ego (mean that in a good way) and don't care (or shouldn't) what other people think. Writers often say they have to write. Post you're stories, sit back, and let us enjoy!
|
|
Inner City
Trad climber
East Bay
|
|
|
Nov 16, 2006 - 04:14pm PT
|
Trip reports are certainly among the best threads one sees on this portal....the spew factor doesn't seem that high and if I climbed at a higher grade, I'd probably post some myself. Somehow, talking about some multipitch 5.6 I've just managed doesn't seem like it would be worth writing up..."the chubby weekender tr series...no waiting...
|
|
murcy
climber
|
|
|
Nov 16, 2006 - 04:19pm PT
|
Okay, here. I warmed up on the white 5.8, did mainly moderates, had to hangdog the new orange 11c, but the corner 11b was easy. cool fall morning, empty gym.
|
|
James
climber
A tent in the redwoods
|
|
|
Nov 16, 2006 - 04:19pm PT
|
Inner city-
I'd read a TR about a 68 year old geriatric slogging up a 5.1. It's about relating the experience.
|
|
scuffy b
climber
The town that Nature forgot to hate
|
|
|
Nov 16, 2006 - 04:20pm PT
|
Au contraire, Inner City.
The quality of a trip report, like the quality of a person,
is independent of the difficulty of the climbing. After all,
any of these can be written without using any numbers.
sm
|
|
TKingsbury
Trad climber
MT
|
|
|
Nov 16, 2006 - 04:21pm PT
|
Well now I feel dumb even responding to this, because all I can do is agree. Yeah, right on! TRs are cool! heh.
Maybe showing the # of views associated with the thread would help. Not sure is people even care, I wouldn't mind it though.
Cheers,
Tom
|
|
Euroford
Trad climber
chicago
|
|
|
Nov 16, 2006 - 04:22pm PT
|
on another point, being a flatlander that doesn't get to go on but one or two adventures a year, writting a trip report is kind of a way to prolong the fun.
i don't feel its all that essential that everybody reply's to my trip reports. but its nice to see it when cool people add a cool response! we don't have a view counter over here, but we do on other forums and its a bit of a kick to see how many poeple viewed it.
|
|
snakefoot
climber
cali
|
|
|
Nov 16, 2006 - 04:29pm PT
|
enjoy most of the TR's, sometimes comment, prefer to see included photos.
|
|
Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 16, 2006 - 04:35pm PT
|
thanks for the boost on my recent TR's but that wasn't the point... for some reason I will post TR's because I have heard that people do like to read all TR's (not just mine). But I am interested in reading more TR's, I don't care if they are 5.6 or 5.16... or where on the humble-to-spew spectrum they are...
I just wanted to have your thoughts on what would make an incentive to post them, given the way that the Taco organizes itself on the top posts being the most recently reponded to.
|
|
jackass
climber
|
|
|
Nov 16, 2006 - 05:01pm PT
|
Okay, I am in the minority, but from my vantage point, TR's are lame. It does seem like you are spraying about yourself. The only time I find them of interest is when something unique or worthy happened, and even then I am suspicious of the person who posted it. But that's just me... get out and climb, post beta on sites like mountainproject if you want to, but just posting pictures of your first aid climb or some other stupid shite seems narcissitic. Granted, I don't need to read them, and as the posts attest, I am in the minority.
|
|
Euroford
Trad climber
chicago
|
|
|
Nov 16, 2006 - 05:05pm PT
|
there's always one jackass isn't there? :-)
|
|
Crimpergirl
Social climber
St. Louis
|
|
|
Nov 16, 2006 - 05:19pm PT
|
I enjoy sharing with my friends. I'll share my beer. I'll share my gear. I'll share my TR. The same goes for my taco-friends in that I enjoy when they share their experiences (and beer). I view none of this as ego-stroking. Seems more like being human to me.
|
|
piquaclimber
Trad climber
Durango
|
|
|
Nov 16, 2006 - 05:48pm PT
|
Interesting thread...
I agree that, as a TR poster, it is hard to gauge how much the group likes to read them. Since mine are posted on my personal site, I have the advantage of knowing how many times a page on my site has been viewed on a certain day/week. Perhaps there is a way to show how many times a thread has been viewed within the forum? This info is reflected on in the forums on RC.com. (aka the slowest site on Earth)
It also seams that this group consists more of West Coast folks and that the readership is more into Alpine, Yosemite, and exotic than rec.climbing/mountainproject which seem to be more Rocky Mountain centric. That could be totally incorrect... it just my perception.
I know that I got more hits and replies for my Bugaboos posts than for any of my desert TR posts. It would certainly seem that the Totem Pole is an exception.
Someone asked how long a TR with pics takes.... I think I average around 6-8 hours (sometimes more) and around $40-$80 in film and processing costs per page. I shoot slides which contributes to the cost and the time involved (scanning etc.).
General Process Outline:
1 Go drop off and pick up Processed film
2 Sort though pics and decide which ones will best convey the experience
3 Scan those shots
4. Sort though the Digi shots that are on the cameral I give to my partners
5. Size all the pics for the web and save them as tiffs
6. Make any color/density etc. corrections that are needed to the pics
7. Create any pano shots from individual shots that you want for the site
8. Save the pics as jpegs
9. Rename the pics in the order that you want them to be seen on the site
10. Run them through a thumbnail program that creates a very basic web page
11. Copy an existing web page from my site and change a few things to reflect the new TR I am making.
12. Copy the Thumbnail web page info to the newly copied page (so it matches the rest of the site)
13. Write an actual TR
14. Write descriptions for all the pictures on the page
15. Walk away and proof the page the next day
16. Upload the page and add links to the other pages on my site as well as to the Internet forums
17. Drink and/or smoke heavily and bask in the glory that is the page you created and in the knowledge that, if you are lucky, it will be read by tens of people.
Fortunately I do this for myself more than for any Internet notoriety.
Brad
http://www.piquaclimber.com
PS. If you shoot only digi and you post your TRs directly to this forum It should take way less time that I outlined above so keep em coming people... :)
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!