10-27-2014, 07:50 PM
[#0000FF]Hey Curt, as a former mod I am sensitive to the dual edged sword of having an open forum that even non members can readily read...and use for their own good. Yes, it can provide info to folks we would just as soon not have as our new friends on our next trips.
The flip side of that is that BFT has also long been appreciated as an open and welcoming forum to folks who are not super computer savvy or who are hesitant to join a forum...but who are otherwise good sportsmen and who respect the rights of others. If you were to take a survey of current active members I am sure you would find that a large percentage were once lurkers...who finally felt comfortable enough to join. I know I get quite a few PMs from folks who admit to this kind of scenario.
Let's not take ourselves too seriously. Fishing is about fun and so is BFT...mostly. As long as the OP retains the right to disclose as little or as much as they want...on the open forum...then we should all be good with that.
I laugh when we are accused of being the reason why certain waters or certain locations get a bunch of extra traffic. Good grief, with the TV shows, radio shows, DWR reports, Sportsmans hot spot board and the good old "grapevine" there is little that goes unnoticed. A good example is what happens on Willard, Utah Lake or Pineview when the fish are "in". Lots of wild-eyed tanglers are out there harvesting before the first BFT report ever appears.
Like yourself, I often chat with other folks upon the water. And I usually ask if they are familiar with BFT. My rough guess is that fewer than10 percent of the people I talk to know anything about BFT. On the other hand, I get quite a few folks who come up to me and say "I know who you are. You're that TubeDude feller ain'tcha." And then many of them admit to being non-participating members or only lurkers.
Bottom line: yes, we should use discretion when posting about places that would not benefit from additional traffic. Yeah, right. That's most places.
But there are some fisheries that are simply too small or fragile to risk over-publicizing. It is often the case that most of the folks who scamper off to the current "hot spot" are not knowledgeable or skilled enough to do much harvesting damage...but they increase the traffic, litter, parking problems, etc. And there are lurkers who use our site as a "meat market" listing of where to go to load up...and they have the skills to do so.
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The flip side of that is that BFT has also long been appreciated as an open and welcoming forum to folks who are not super computer savvy or who are hesitant to join a forum...but who are otherwise good sportsmen and who respect the rights of others. If you were to take a survey of current active members I am sure you would find that a large percentage were once lurkers...who finally felt comfortable enough to join. I know I get quite a few PMs from folks who admit to this kind of scenario.
Let's not take ourselves too seriously. Fishing is about fun and so is BFT...mostly. As long as the OP retains the right to disclose as little or as much as they want...on the open forum...then we should all be good with that.
I laugh when we are accused of being the reason why certain waters or certain locations get a bunch of extra traffic. Good grief, with the TV shows, radio shows, DWR reports, Sportsmans hot spot board and the good old "grapevine" there is little that goes unnoticed. A good example is what happens on Willard, Utah Lake or Pineview when the fish are "in". Lots of wild-eyed tanglers are out there harvesting before the first BFT report ever appears.
Like yourself, I often chat with other folks upon the water. And I usually ask if they are familiar with BFT. My rough guess is that fewer than10 percent of the people I talk to know anything about BFT. On the other hand, I get quite a few folks who come up to me and say "I know who you are. You're that TubeDude feller ain'tcha." And then many of them admit to being non-participating members or only lurkers.
Bottom line: yes, we should use discretion when posting about places that would not benefit from additional traffic. Yeah, right. That's most places.
But there are some fisheries that are simply too small or fragile to risk over-publicizing. It is often the case that most of the folks who scamper off to the current "hot spot" are not knowledgeable or skilled enough to do much harvesting damage...but they increase the traffic, litter, parking problems, etc. And there are lurkers who use our site as a "meat market" listing of where to go to load up...and they have the skills to do so.
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