I remember the old days when FTO was first at the feeding trough: 8-[
http://forums.alpinezone.com/43883-stowe-12-8-a.html
http://forums.alpinezone.com/43883-stowe-12-8-a.html
No Powderfreak TRs?
- Thread starter jamesdeluxe
- Start date
Yes, and unlike certain other eastern ski touts, Powderfreak's claims are always backed up with pictorial evidence.
:worthless:
:worthless:
jasoncapecod
Well-known member
maybe he saw the long range for the east and he now on a ledge.. :shock:
jasoncapecod":26er3mgd said:
on it...or hucking it.
It's a lot of work to post on all the forums...different formats etc...I think he probably figured that many people check multiple forums and he could get his message out...weather and TRs...more simply and easily on one site.
I'd be curious to know what forum people participate in and at what level. For me it's FTO East and Skiadk-Gore...I'm somewhat of a regular. Occassional on FTO West/General and skiadk-Whiteface. Lurker at Snow Journal. Never at TGR or AZ.
What else is there?
One thing that is maybe funny or odd....I started my own blog, because I started to realize how much fun it is to reread your own TRs over the summer when there is no skiing to be had. I thought...it FTO ever goes down for good (GOD FORBID!)...I'd loose all that writing. So I thought my own blog could be a way to store all that stuff. Now though, after recent events...I'm starting to think that FTO is more solid/reliable than blogger the almighty GOOGLE product.
I don't know what's up with FTO... but i have issues with the new layout... Nothing stands out... Profiles on the left... Not being able to tell if there is something new at first glance... Quality is higher here... but there's lots of action on AZ... Much of the TR refer to groomers... but there is lots of people on it... and they have a mountain biking forum...
Anyhow... my 2 cents... Still visit here!
Anyhow... my 2 cents... Still visit here!
Good feedback, thank you.
On the right, actually.
That actually hasn't changed at all. If you're logged in the icons change color to red to denote new content in a thread since your last visit. Clicking on the little orange icon automatically takes you to the first new post in a thread.
That's one thing that has always given me great pride. Honestly, I know of no other online ski forum with a higher percentage of truly knowledgeable users. As an example, realize that I use our server logs routinely to see where our traffic comes from. As a result I often stumble onto forum threads that discuss some of our content, because they link to it within their thread. Last week's news that CNL had bought Okemo, Sunapee and Crested Butte generated a substantial amount of such conversation and traffic. On one other forum that shall remain nameless, there was much hand-wringing over Sunapee's inclusion in the sale. The inference made in that thread was that the news story must be wrong, for Mt. Sunapee is actually a New Hampshire state park. No one got a clue that the Mueller-owned assets at Sunapee are the lifts, the snowmaking, the structures and other improvements. Folks in that thread were indignant that there's no way that the State of New Hampshire would sell a state park.
Folks here, on the other hand, routinely "get it."
Now, would a user gain anything from such a thread simply because it had a substantial number of replies? Of course not! I'll take quality over quantity any day.
And I'm grateful that you do!
BigJay":2zfo3b0x said:
On the right, actually.
BigJay":2zfo3b0x said:
That actually hasn't changed at all. If you're logged in the icons change color to red to denote new content in a thread since your last visit. Clicking on the little orange icon automatically takes you to the first new post in a thread.
BigJay":2zfo3b0x said:
That's one thing that has always given me great pride. Honestly, I know of no other online ski forum with a higher percentage of truly knowledgeable users. As an example, realize that I use our server logs routinely to see where our traffic comes from. As a result I often stumble onto forum threads that discuss some of our content, because they link to it within their thread. Last week's news that CNL had bought Okemo, Sunapee and Crested Butte generated a substantial amount of such conversation and traffic. On one other forum that shall remain nameless, there was much hand-wringing over Sunapee's inclusion in the sale. The inference made in that thread was that the news story must be wrong, for Mt. Sunapee is actually a New Hampshire state park. No one got a clue that the Mueller-owned assets at Sunapee are the lifts, the snowmaking, the structures and other improvements. Folks in that thread were indignant that there's no way that the State of New Hampshire would sell a state park.
Folks here, on the other hand, routinely "get it."
Now, would a user gain anything from such a thread simply because it had a substantial number of replies? Of course not! I'll take quality over quantity any day.
BigJay":2zfo3b0x said:
And I'm grateful that you do!
Sharon
New member
I 2nd that on quality.
I occasionally to to A-zone to get info, though I no longer post reports. The boys there are not that interesting. People fishing for info on resorts and weirdos like GrilledSteeze keep me from participating. It doesn't feel too much different than K-zone in some respects. Greg is OK, but he's always trying to start conversation with silly things, like "do you lap good trails". It's kinda ridiculous. FTO is way higher quality than that.
For seriously extreme ski stoke TGR fits the bill, but again, it is mostly a bunch of teenage boys...or at least it seems that way. Definitely testorone-fueled.
I participated in Skidiva.com for a while, but it was like the female version of A-zone. I'm not a girlie girl, but I thought it might be nice to see what other chick skiers are skiing and what skis they ride etc. I check it out occasionally, but don't find it necessary to get involved in the threads.
I check out a lot of forums just to see what people are talking about when I have nothing else to do, or need a dose of ski stoke. But FTO and Skivt-l are the only ones in which I enjoy participating, and that is primarily due to the quality of the posters.
I occasionally to to A-zone to get info, though I no longer post reports. The boys there are not that interesting. People fishing for info on resorts and weirdos like GrilledSteeze keep me from participating. It doesn't feel too much different than K-zone in some respects. Greg is OK, but he's always trying to start conversation with silly things, like "do you lap good trails". It's kinda ridiculous. FTO is way higher quality than that.
For seriously extreme ski stoke TGR fits the bill, but again, it is mostly a bunch of teenage boys...or at least it seems that way. Definitely testorone-fueled.
I participated in Skidiva.com for a while, but it was like the female version of A-zone. I'm not a girlie girl, but I thought it might be nice to see what other chick skiers are skiing and what skis they ride etc. I check it out occasionally, but don't find it necessary to get involved in the threads.
I check out a lot of forums just to see what people are talking about when I have nothing else to do, or need a dose of ski stoke. But FTO and Skivt-l are the only ones in which I enjoy participating, and that is primarily due to the quality of the posters.
My ski/computer hobby is more modest, more like 6 hours a week. But the forums are time consuming, and I suspect most of us settle on one most of the time. Epic is the only other one I frequent regularly, and when busy I've sometimes gone a month or more between visits. Since I'm here nearly every day, that reflects my opinion on average quality. The regular user base is narrow though. There are some key ski regions that are not really represented on FTO, such as most of western Canada, and others that are sketchy. I do recognize that TGR has the greatest breadth, but I generally depend on others to post useful TGR references here or on Epic.
As most of you know, I have records of all my ski days. By last spring I finally transcribed all of them to an Excel sheet. I have a column in that sheet for the URL of any online report I've posted (typically more detailed than the Excel records), so it's now easy for me to find them. While FTO may never go down for good, we do seem to have a periodic problem of the archives being threatened or degraded. At moment tedious editing is needed to make pre-Oct. 2004 posts more legible or more importantly for their pictures to be visible. I will at some point clean up my own posts, at least since spring 2003 when I got my first digital camera. If Sharon wants to volunteer for more FTO cleanup, this would be a good place to start. :wink:
Patrick
Well-known member
Tony Crocker":1rlrjx59 said:
I just can't deal with the volume at Epic. To much stuff. Same goes with TGR, there are a few gems in there, but the dealing with the noise ratio when I have little time in Winter is annoying. I can deal with FTO, even if I've had no time to participate in the last few weeks.
Tony Crocker":1rlrjx59 said:
My data has been in Excel for at least 10 years, but I never thought of adding or saving URLs on some of my TRs. I might consider it.
Tony Crocker":1rlrjx59 said:
I've cleaned up at least one of my old post I refered to recently. Texts and paragraphs were all fucked up.
Geoff
New member
Sharon":2698asr3 said:
Yeah, but where else but AlpineZone do you get to witness the imfamous Doogie Slifkin under his GrilledSteezeSandwich moniker?
I've been on SkiVT-L for a decade or more but I don't post very often. They're very northern-Vermont centric and go wildly off-topic with flame wars in the off season. It finally chased His Editorship away a month or so ago but he's a whose Utard who can't take it.
powderfreak
New member
Don't worry, they'll be back. I fluctuate from board to board, for no apparent reason, but I'm feeling the love here. Skivt-l is my home though...like Geoff said though, I feel like we've become more northern VT centric over the years there. A lot of us regular posters live up there and spend quite a bit of time skiing together...and it definitely breeds regionalism, though I've enjoyed Geoff's Killington reports this year. We just don't seem to have many trip reports outside of SB, MRG, Bolton, Stowe, Smuggs, and Jay.
FTO though will always mean something to me because Admin gave me my first weather column...and that started my more meaningful forecasting.
Now, like Sharon said, I do work for Stowe and while the trip reports have been lacking this early season, I'm planning on getting back into that groove once I get my feet under me. Being the Snow Reporter, its my job to promote conditions at the mountain...and everyone knows that. So I'm trying to feel it out and keep posts unbiased (like the report from yesterday I saw Sharon cross-post here). But if any of you have been reading over the years, my posts are usually very positive towards Stowe/Mt Mansfield no matter what the conditions are because I still think a day skiing in the rain is better than a day not skiing. There's also the feeling of attachment anyone has towards their "home" mountain.
I enjoy the community here and am certainly looking forward to possibly skiing with both Sharon and Admin out in Utah in early February... that TR will most certainly be posted here
-Scott
FTO though will always mean something to me because Admin gave me my first weather column...and that started my more meaningful forecasting.
Now, like Sharon said, I do work for Stowe and while the trip reports have been lacking this early season, I'm planning on getting back into that groove once I get my feet under me. Being the Snow Reporter, its my job to promote conditions at the mountain...and everyone knows that. So I'm trying to feel it out and keep posts unbiased (like the report from yesterday I saw Sharon cross-post here). But if any of you have been reading over the years, my posts are usually very positive towards Stowe/Mt Mansfield no matter what the conditions are because I still think a day skiing in the rain is better than a day not skiing. There's also the feeling of attachment anyone has towards their "home" mountain.
I enjoy the community here and am certainly looking forward to possibly skiing with both Sharon and Admin out in Utah in early February... that TR will most certainly be posted here
-Scott
jasoncapecod
Well-known member
good to hear from you.. i have always found your weather analysis very informative.
Sharon
New member
powderfreak":1qjw3pt7 said:Don't worry, they'll be back. I fluctuate from board to board, for no apparent reason, but I'm feeling the love here. (snip)
I enjoy the community here and am certainly looking forward to possibly skiing with both Sharon and Admin out in Utah in early February... that TR will most certainly be posted here
8) Yay!!! 8) 
riverc0il
New member
+1BigJay":347s3sh8 said:
The new format layout and aesthetics are horrible on the eyes. I can't get used to it. Not sure if phpBB has a New Post link that can eliminate certain forums. I always go to new posts (bookmarked) but the non-east forums are making it harder to wad through to the stuff I want to read. I would rather book mark new posts than the east forum because then I can also see gear, etc. I just don't care about the west stuff. Used to read it but I just don't care at this point.
riverc0il":17q353lw said:
All you need to do is bookmark http://www.FirstTracksOnline.com/boards/
When logged in, the icon changes from black-and-white to color when a topic has new posts, and you only need to look at the forums that interest you. Within each forum, topics that have new posts since your last visit also turn red, and you can click the little orange "newest post" colored icon to go right to the first new one in each thread that has new posts.
riverc0il
New member
But then you have to go into each sub-forum rather than having all the sub-forums you want to view on one page. I bookmark search.php?search_id=newposts. vBulletin lets you "exclude" forums you don't want from the newposts search. Having to go through multiple pages of forums is inconvenient. It may just be the formatting that is throwing me off or maybe western posts have increased. In any case, all I am saying is the way I have always browsed FTO forums has not changed but it is harder for me to dig into what I want to read.Admin":101i3jhs said: