I've been thinking that there may be too many canoe tripping sites. There's this one, Quiet Journey, and MNcanoeing, not to mention BWCA.com. I'd leave that last one alone but I could see merging the other three.
I disagree that there are too many canoeing sites, just too many for the BWCA. Those two sites you mention require you to pay to join and they run adds, and limit themselves to the midwest. They have tons of information on them, but not very active forums from what I see. BWCA.com pretty much dominates the BWCA area, but little else.
I like the way this site has developed, lots of interesting posts from all sorts of canoe folks, builders, trippers, designers, newer paddlers, old timers, craftsman with talent second to none. Sometimes we have a lull in activity, we all have outside interests, but sooner or later we get going again on a great topic and all is well.
Since Jan !st, 2014 I have vetted 80 new members. Each new member must answer 3 questions that pretty much proves they know a little about canoes and are not spammers. During that time I had maybe 6-10 not answer my emailed questions, I'm not sure if they where spammers or just lost interest, but I just deleted their applications to play it safe. Few new members become active posters, this I have come to learn is the norm. I appreciate the support a person shows by just joining, it sort of says I'm here and watching and I like what I see.
Some new members are active and it's nice to met new folks and see what their thoughts are on the topic of canoe tripping.
Unfortunatley, this alone will not keep out spammers. They look for weakness's in the site, like a site not performing the latest updates from the host or vBulliten. They do this with machines that constantly attack looking for a weakness (possibly what got Solotripping.com). I have absolutely no idea how to perform these updates or any other site maintenance, which has been pretty obvious when you think about how long the membership list has been down.
I liked what Mihun said earlier in this thread, I gave it alot of thought and I agree,
Mihun said: '
I personally would be happy to keep the site small and distinguished. It is more about quality than quantity."
So my meeting this week with the website guy will help me plan ahead. He is not cheap, I'm done with that route, although he seemed to be sympathetic to the situation. I prefer not to make any changes to help support the site, and if his estimate for a long term solution is not too painful I think things will be fine.
