Jeff Potter (of OutYourBackdoor.com) wrote:
On Oct 27, 6:31 am, Wilko wrote:
Jeff Potter (of OutYourBackdoor.com) wrote:

Is there some hot new paddle forum out there where all the real
discussion action is nowadays?
There isn't just one, there are a ton of them, each catering to their
own niche of the market.

Ah! So can you give us some?

Sure, do you want the ones for Britain, France, the Netherlands,
Germany, Czech Republic, Spain or Austria? That is, if you speak any
language besides English, and you are interested in the niche that each
language and area caters to.

How about one for sea kayaking? One for canoeing? ...I mean good,
broad, active forums.

The problem is that broad doesn't automatically mean good. I like the
international forums, but they have slowly gone out of fashion for the
reasons I already gave below.

Many are not only aimed at a certain kind of
paddler, but also at individual countries, languages and smaller areas
within countries. Since now almost anyone can find a specific forum to
cater to their needs and wishes, more general forums become less
attractive to a lot of paddlers.

I wonder why the general thing falls off. It seems that both close-
view and big-view are always needed.

Although I agree that the general thing has a charm of its own, the wide
variety of forums available and the desire of most people to not only
find one that is specific to their area, but that is aimed at their kind
of paddling and is in their language means that anything too general
will not see enough traffic to make the forum interesting to others. The
critical mass needed to start your own forum is easier to reach
nowadays, with so many paddlers having their own high speed internet
connection and willingness to search for some place to communicate with
like-minded individuals, especially if that forum is very specialized
and aimed at a local group.

So, if you miss one for your area or kind of paddling, start it up, but
there are several general forums available that see hardly any traffic
that already are aimed at what you're trying to offer, so save yourself
the trouble and look for where the demand is now, and not for what you
can offer.

--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/