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Re: [at-l] Time to face FAQs?

Someone mentioned that there's no need for an AT-L FAQ when Wingfoot's page
is so comprehensive. I guess I disagree.

First, that assumes that WF's site will always be available, and always be
free. Maybe it will and it will. But, if you've hung out there, you know
that he sometimes seems to get frustrated about all the time he's putting
in, and the lack of respect/response he gets for it. Might he decide to
chuck it one day and shut the site down? Could happen. Conversely, with all
the time and money he's invested in getting it up and running, might he
someday decide he has to charge for its use? Could happen. It's happening
to more and more big Web sites.

Second, his site is hard to use unless you've got really fast browsers and
connections, and you can't just download a FAQ file and read it at your
leisure--you have to go page to page, question to question. It's well
organized, but I find it hard to use. I like a good FAQ file I can download
and pick through offline.

Third, it's Wingfoot's. Things posted on Trailplace "belong" to the AT
Center, and appear on the Web page under his copyright rubrics.

Fourth, Wingfoot is controversial--he's a FAQ subject himself, which seems
to bother him. He has an agenda, and a very specific vision for the AT. Not
everybody agrees with him, and he doesn't appear to like it when you argue
about his vision on his home court. Everybody is equal there, but some are
more equal than others, to coin a phrase. On ATML he's been known to
condemn and censor stuff he doesn't think appropriate and doesn't agree
with--and people he doesn't want to hear from. It's his perogative,
certainly, but it's at odds with the "no rules" ethic a lot of us like
about the Net. I'll be my own conscience, thank you, and if that means he
won't let me play with his toys, well, okay, I can live with it.

Finally, I value and respect Wingfoot's contribution to the Trail. He's
been helpful to me personally, and I'm grateful for it. His book is the
best one out there precisely because it is idiosyncratic rather than
institutional; he has a lot of integrity and a compelling vision for the
AT. Trailplace is a great idea, and a great resource. But it shouldn't be
the *only* resource, and I don't want C.A.T.S. to become the Microsoft of
the AT World, with WF its Bill Gates. This list, for now, is a more open
place to discuss the AT online, and its collective wisdom deserves respect
too.

Why not an AT-L FAQ? Why not re-post it here from time to time. I'll help.




--Rhymin' Worm

(Robert Rubin) GA>ME '97 -- RHYMWORM@MINDSPRING.COM
Newsletter Editor, Piedmont Appalachian Trail Hikers (PATH) 


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