To share or not to share, that is the question.

[Stephen]

Over the past couple of years I've been on quite a few awesome trips in Utah and the surrounding states. Many of them to really remote, interesting areas that are not frequented often by anyone. The journey's have been memorable, and the scenery nothing short of spectacular. There was a time, not long ago, that I would come home from trips like these and eagerly written a trip report to post up and share with the good folk on sites like RME. But I haven't been.

The reason is that I'm starting to become very concerned with sharing locations of places on the internet. The rampant rise of social media copycats has led to this hesitancy. The Bears Ears debacle is a perfect example. Prior to all the fervor leading up to its designation most people had no idea where it was. Now, you can't go down there without seeing a caravan of Subaru's with California plates in areas where, quite frankly, they are not equipped to be. Everyone on Instagram are Bears Earsing this and that. In short, the area is getting trampled by people who have no understanding about how to experience it responsibly. They are simply going there because it looks cool in their Instadim and FaceSpace feeds.

While I gave up on Facebook and Instagram more than a year ago (and feel none the worse for it), I'm still concerned that by placing trip reports with even vague location information on sites like RME will end up in search results for these people who just want to go there to take a selfie because it looks cool in the pictures. But maybe I'm overly paranoid.

What does everyone else think? Are you all OK with sharing location data with the world at large? Are you concerned or unconcerned that every Joe and Jane Millennial with a Subaru or Wrangler is looking to go "overlanding" these days?

 

[Greg]

I'm not too concerned about sharing on here, I don't think RME is in the spot light these days.... Facebook had been increasingly taking traffic from forums, it's sad how much momentum we've lost, IMO. Now people see a hashtag and a quick click and they can find what they want & plan a trip and totally over-run an area. I for one hate to hear that someone is hesitant to share a report on here, but I understand the reasoning.

 

[Deleted member 12904]

My answer is selfish, but I enjoy people sharing. Work, family and other priorities prevents me from getting to see all the things i wish I could. I like to see trip reports and live vicariously through others. Then even when I do get the time its nice to have a short list based on the feedback of experienced people like yourself. I understand why you dont want to but I enjoy seeing them.

 

[Greg]

My answer is selfish, but I enjoy people sharing....

I can understand that. I've done my best to share trip reports with good detail and pics for a similar reason... I love to look back at my old trips and relive them.

 

[Caleb]

I think the only time a report shouldn't be shared anywhere is in those cases that a new trail is being scouted and built (legally of course). Other than that, I think reports should absolutely be shared.

 

[RogueJeepr]

Im kind of on the other end of the spectrum. I think I share too much and dont want to overrun the TR section.
If I've done a open invite trail run and other people are involved especially new jeepers to the site , I'll always post those but my personal trips don't gather much interest so I may be withholding some in the future and keep for myself.

Greg::::; during business there are "busy and slow" times of the year. It would be interesting to see those stats here. Like which month gets the most posts.

 

[Tonkaman]

Im kind of on the other end of the spectrum. I think I share too much and dont want to overrun the TR section.
If I've done a open invite trail run and other people are involved especially new jeepers to the site , I'll always post those but my personal trips don't gather much interest so I may be withholding some in the future and keep for myself.

Greg::::; during business there are "busy and slow" times of the year. It would be interesting to see those stats here. Like which month gets the most posts.

Don’t think that your not receiving interest just because of few responses. I think many of us enjoy a good read and browse through trip reports, but don’t leave any comments after.

 

[DAA]

I have always held back and not posted anything about "some" places. My favorite areas to visit, I have never typed their names. But was happy to do detailed write ups of other, generally publicized areas. I made the decision to slow way down on detailed trip reports all together at some point within the last two years though.

I just started feeling kind of uncomfortable with the level of attention some were getting. Part of it, was I realized that while I considered these areas very well known, responses to my trip reports made it clear that a whole lot of people actually did not know about them. I thought that was cool, for a long time, to let people know, but at some point, I decided it's not cool to clue people in to stuff like that anymore. Some of the Anasazi ruins and stuff I used to post, in particular, I got some really bad vibes off some of the questions. My favorite of course, were the people who would register, just to send me a PM to ask me where something is. One, or zero posts, registered that day, most not even offering a first name, and just asking me to draw an X on the map to something it took me a lot of work to find. Those folks suck.

- DAA

 

[jeeper]

I really enjoy people sharing.. that is the largest way my family and I learn about new places. We enjoy new places. We also believe that we are respectful and polite and proper when seeing special places. I don't know that most folks are.. so I get not wanting to share. I get bothered by yahoos that are also at the places we go.

 

[Houndoc]

Certainly a balance. I agree that some easily damaged or raided locations should be kept under wraps. But most of the trips people do here the rest of us enjoy reading about and appreciate the reports.

 

[Gravy]

Stephen, I like your trip reports. Please keep sharing.

 

[Herzog]

Stephen, I like your trip reports. Please keep sharing.

Agreed, even if you leave out some details about location and such.

 

[Hickey]

Agreed, even if you leave out some details about location and such.

I think this is the answer. Just be vague with the location. The trip report won't suffer from that kind of lack in detail.

Trip reports are very inspiring to me, even though I rarely comment on them.

 

[pELYgroso]

What about a "hush hush trip report" section that is only available to paying members?