Whitewater Forum: Where does PP fit in with Facebook/Social Media
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Where does PP fit in with Facebook/Social Media

Printed From: ProfessorPaddle.com
Category: General
Forum Name: Whitewater Forum
Forum Discription: Open Discussion Forum. Whitewater related subjects only
URL: http://www.professorpaddle.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=15867
Printed Date: 28 Mar 2024 at 11:38am


Topic: Where does PP fit in with Facebook/Social Media
Posted By: NateW
Subject: Where does PP fit in with Facebook/Social Media
Date Posted: 04 Aug 2017 at 1:28pm
Prior to PP going down, I think anyone that was paying attention noticed that activity on PP had slowed down. It seems like most of the paddling related posts has moved on to facebook. It seemed like many of the river beta pages were becoming outdated - at least with regard to wood hazards.

I don't really have any great answers or opinions on this, but I'm just wondering what people think? The FB groups are... not ideal IMHO.



Replies:
Posted By: paddlemonster
Date Posted: 04 Aug 2017 at 2:17pm
I think like any great tool, it's only as good as the user(s). As far as FB vs posting here or on AW, I think it is best to utilize all three. FB allows for pics and video to be submitted more easily, but AW and PP make the information easier to find. 


Posted By: James
Date Posted: 04 Aug 2017 at 2:46pm
I think it is more about purpose.

If this site went away tomorrow I don't think it would kill the community but I also don't think it would help it.

When I started paddling 10+ years ago we had 4 local paddling shops in Seattle. Today we have ......................

Amazon is easier to buy nose plugs from and they are 10 cents cheaper. Folks have to decide what they want and how far they will go to preserve or obtain it.

Ive noticed the decline of activity here too, personally I think it is due to a loss of champions focused on growing the resource, combined with a decline in the general sport and community.


Posted By: iron monkey
Date Posted: 06 Aug 2017 at 6:59pm
Tumbleweed...


Posted By: water wacko
Date Posted: 07 Aug 2017 at 8:16pm
PP is a great resource and a wealth of data. I use it all the time. Long live PP.

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"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." ~Howard Thurman


Posted By: NateW
Date Posted: 08 Aug 2017 at 1:00pm
The river info is an amazing resource, but it seems like most other parts of the site are getting replaced by facebook / other apps. Sites that are not mobile friendly face real challenges - especially with those darn millennials that might not even own laptops/desktops.

James - do you have much info on what portions of the site are still being utilized? I would think that the river beta would get the most traffic. It also sounded quite a few people used the customized homepage to pull up river flows.

I wish I could say that I'd be useful making updates for this sort of stuff. Unfortunately my web dev skills basically stopped improving in around 2008. In the ideal world, you'd take the SQL backend and port all the data over into some sort of a more modern interface. Maybe into a wiki format that is mobile friendly?

Getting it onto some sort of a platform that will be maintained by a 3rd party would be ideal, but that would take time / $$. I've never had any luck hiring outside developers for projects, but perhaps some sort of a crowdfunding project could be done. Finding a competent developer would be just as challenging as raising the funds to pay them.


Posted By: megspk
Date Posted: 08 Aug 2017 at 6:05pm
I love having professor paddle to ask questions on and have discussions on. I utilize facebook alot, but have never gotten the great responses to questions that I have received on professor paddle. Thank you for bringing it back!

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“A strong person and a waterfall always channel their own path.” -Unknown



Posted By: irenen
Date Posted: 11 Aug 2017 at 3:07pm
I agree, it seems like PP presents much more focused and in depth discussions compared to Facebook. (No one is going to write a JP-style tome in a FB comment thread and it would be sad if those went away. :) And I know it's not mobile responsive but PP still gets the job done on my Android.

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It's all fun and games until someone loses a paddle.


Posted By: Ellingferd
Date Posted: 14 Aug 2017 at 11:58am
I think PP is great, and I use it all the time. I also like that it is outside the FB realm, and I think daily about getting rid of FB, so it would be nice to continue to have PP but I realize that is all about me.

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Wave Sport


Posted By: itchy
Date Posted: 15 Aug 2017 at 3:48pm
I quit facebook in 2010 because it sucks, and I have never once regretted it.

I like having the kind of separation of concerns in my life that facebook actively erodes. I want to be able to check river levels, organize trips, look at pictures and argue about playboating on a forum where people are there for that reason.  I would prefer to do this in a forum where you can't see my entire personal history and all my poorly-reasoned political views and my mundane status updates, and vice versa, with two clicks' worth of effort.

It's not that I'm particularly private, or overly political. I'm just boring, and you probably are too!  But if I only know you from paddling, I will probably imagine that everything else you do is also as exciting as paddling, and I won't have to judge you for prefering Guy Clark to Townes Van Zandt unless you tell me personally (at which point you will be judged, and harshly).

I do want to see your boating clips, and your hiking pics, and your doggie pics too, but that's what instagram is for I guess.

I have also head that the WA paddling forum on facebook has a worse problem with flame wars and other sort of bullsh*t arguments, and I believe that--it's better than twitter but still an environment that brings out our worst, records it and then sells that info to advertisers.

Furthermore the public availability and easy searching of PP discussions is pretty important, particularly long and informative threads about rivers, boating technique, safety tips, etc. People can easily get there from search engines, which is really helpful.

AW is great but because people don't hang out there like they do (did?) on PP, boatertalk, etc. it doesn't get updated as frequently, particularly with ephemera like wood reports.  And the pictures are far fewer and don't have the peanut gallery.


Posted By: doggievacation
Date Posted: 15 Aug 2017 at 4:56pm
Well put, Itchy.  PP is dead!  Long live PP!

I have checked PP regularly for about 10 years now and miss the days when group trips were posted frequently.  (I once showed up for a late fall BD run posted on PP where 24 peeps showed up!) 

The whole Leif saga drove away a few peeps, as did some nasty comments on otherwise helpful threads.  More moderation needed?  Nah, I think we're in a post-mod world now.  Peeps need to fend for themselves and call out the A-holes when they attempt to kill a good discussion.  And screw FB and all their stupid algorithms.  Boaters need to connect with each other about boating and screw all the rest.  If I knew your politics, I might hate your guts.  Better off to just enjoy the river together for a day.


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Don't waste water!



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