Re: [at-l] at-l - the future

[Jennifer Delia Sawyer <jdsawyer@bu.edu>]

Amen.  Welcome to the campfire, but let's not go changin' things -- if it
ain't broke, don't fix it.  :)

Pooh 

At 09:28 PM 1/12/99 -0500, Owen wrote:
>Thomas McGinnis wrote:
>> 
>>      Wow! Dividing into camps already!
>>      Do we really need to import attitude?
>>      I surely do hope not.
>> 
>>      My "vote", Ryan, as if any of us actually do, is that we don't mess
>>      with the wonderful campfire which the at-l is.
>>      My "guess" is that all those Holiday messages stating posters'
>>      appreciation for what the at-l is, AS IT IS, spoke for a silent but
>>      large majority.
>> 
>>      Sorry so short. Hope this makes sense.
>> 
>> ______________________________ Reply Separator 
>
>Ryan - 
>I've gotta echo Tom's message - there's enough "serious" stuff here to
>make it a good list - and enough "fun" stuff to make it a better list. 
>I said one time that there was "nothing" that wasn't trail-related
>because the Trail itself is about life.  I still feel that way. the list
>is what it is because of the input, both serious and otherwise, over the
>last year.  As I recall, at-l was close to defunct (in terms of volume)
>at this time last year and was revived when some of us were banned from
>atml.  That was good - for us, for at-l and for the hiking community. I
>wouldn't want to see us throw away what we've built here over the last
>year in an effort to recreate Trailplace.  What have we built?  A place
>where the participants are friends - where there are few, if any
>subjects that are taboo, where we've managed to handle our own problems
>without excessive rules or restrictions, where the discussions may get
>hot but without flames - and a place where the information that people
>really need is available for the asking and on a personal basis - but
>not necessarily as a "school" or a "book".  I've put out most of the
>Thruhiking planning series, although that's not quite finished yet.  And
>Ron Moak has done his Thruhiking Memories series - if we hang in there,
>there may be others who will follow suit and share their knowledge and
>memories.  And I think that's probably as serious as the list needs to
>be.  Part of the problem on Trailplace was that it got too serious - and
>that's not what the Trail is.  Nor is it what the at-l "audience" is.  
>
>I think the addition of the journals is great - I'd like to see it
>continue.  We won't be posting our journals from the CDT - it's
>tempting, but I know very well how busy we'll be just trying to do what
>we have to do - and there won't be time to think about what we should or
>should not publish.  So it'll have to wait until we get back.  I'd like
>to be able to come back to the campfire.  
>
>Walk softly,
>Jim
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>
>

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