One Forum or Two?

[Tighe]

It has come up that maybe we should separate the chat into two forums, Windsurfing and Kiting. What do you think? If you don't feel comfortable committing to a position online, feel free to email me directly. tighe at windancing dot come

[steveb]

What about those of us who do both sports? ...my vote one.

[Chris B]

I personally don’t think it would be good for the community for a number of safety and continuity reasons. This forum is for everybody that enjoys the wind. It helps keep us all one body for issues that arise, like the Calhoun beach access. Most importantly both kiters and windsurfers learn how to ride together on our small launches.

[tyson]

maybe a seperate board for general chat, and one for where people are going to be going out riding on certain days? itd be nice to just have a forum that is only for checking where people are going... i dunno.

[Barry P]

One.

Whether everyone enjoys the wind both ways or not, the love of wind and waves is the driving factor. This may be the only forum where this passion and not the equipment is the focus, and personally I really like it that way.

[Chris Lock]

I say two. Not to create a division, its just that some windsurfers aren't interested in kiting issues and vice versa - theres nothing wrong with that. Sure, there are plenty of people that do both, but it seems to me that people who do one or the other exclusively are in the majority. I you do both, no problem, just check both forums.
For me its not an animosity thing at all, I have never even given a second thought to sharing the lake with kiters, being stoked about the wind is what its about, and, not to use a cliche, but, ahem, some of my best friends are kiters, heh But, I simply get tired of sifting through the posts trying to find info about windsurfing, when most of the talk is now about kiting, something I'm just not interested in right now.

[johnbaker17]

One.
I think safety and all-around knowledge base is important. As a windsurfer who has never kited, I feel like I have a good handle on how to be safe around kiters on the water. This is due to both sports being discussed on this one forum.
Keep it as it is.
John Baker

[johntr]

I vote for one. It might be nice to add a keyword in many of the posts to make it clear which you're talking about if your post is technical .. but the volume is low enough that I don't mind scanning headers and just reading the posts about pole-boarding.

John

[Tighe]

that's a good idea. If we keep it to one forum...which is sounding like the concensus then maybe we could be clearer in the subject heading. I'd like to hear from a few more windsurfers who don't kite.

[Pete]

One.
Like Johntr eluded too, provide a "flag" or whatever to designate kite or sail topic. Thing is, there will most likely be a mix of both sports in many posts so those that steer clear of kiting topics may miss some sailing info that they may have found helpfull or interesting.

[Tom L]

My vote is for one forum.

Tighe,

You can use a phpbb Mod to put a different icon in the topic area depending on what group a user is a member of. I searched the Mod database and I think if you use the "groups" option, and then add a Mod you can get a small icon to show up in the topic depending on what group you are in. Admin needs to add the groups and then the user can pick the group in their profile. Then.....if the user so chooses they can pick a kite or windsurf group in their profile, and then the icon will show up in all their posts. So if someone wants avoid reading posts about kiting they would be able to see right away what group a post was from. . I found this one in a few minutes. The Mod database is huge, so there might be others.

Here is the Mod:
http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=354516

I'm sure with Coach's abilities he could add the Mod in about 2 minutes.

[Tighe]

Thanks Tom, though I've thought about that a bit as well, though from the main listing of subjects only the original poster would be identified. There are a lot of dialogs that are not windsurfing or kiting specific. I don't know if it is the individual posting as much as it is the subject of the topic...and who it relates to.

I am also not so sure I like the idea of groups. There is enough segmentation in our world as it is.

I think what might be best is if all of us try to be a bit more specific in our Subject lines. I want to keep this a forum for all, and I can understand how if you only do one there may be a lot of sifting to do.

I am a bit concerned that most of the responses have been from kiters who are also windsurfers. Have we lost many of the windsurfers from the forum because of all the kite talk?

[Paul_c]

I agree with the "unity first" posts. I only poleboard (so far). I check this forum daily and enjoy hearing from kiters as well. Until I studied the kiter lingo for a while, it was hard to distinguish the posts. Like other skills in this sport, there is a learning curve. The reward is seeing the wind from another perspective.
Riding the wind is the focus. If you split in to seperate forums, it is inevitable that the all too human "us-versus-them" feeling will come into play.

[Mike G.]

One.

I think this community started out together and will continue to do so.

I currently only windsurf, but will probably dabble in kiting this year.

Two suggestions; if the topic is "Big day at ..." and the topic starts out with a story about a great session somewhere, its *really* annoying when 2 replies down it degenerates into a "hey my Foobar Wingzing 2000 performed awesome.. any body tried the Foobar XyZ??" and then 20 followups on that post.. start a new topic.

Like Chris said, some of us don't have the time to wade through all that cruft.

Secondly, it's equally annoying when someone says "I had an AWESOME session on my Foobar Wingzing 2000.. too bad everyone else sucked and shlogged or body/butt dragged".. actually, this is infuriating especially if said Foobar owner was too busy rigging or pumping on the beach to notice the fine session eveyone else enjoyed before they arrived..

Share the stoke and the moment; that's what we're in it for..

[Woody]

We are all 'community'. Keep it One.

I kite in the winter only, but like reading about the summer kiting antics from you guys/gals during the Windsurfing Season.

Woody

[thewavebb]

Even though I only windsurf, I still enjoy reading about some of the kiting adventures that go on. I vote keep the forum as one.

[steveb]

Whats with the " I only windsurf" quotes. It's not a disease. Windsurfing Rocks and rocked me for 20+ years. OK I kite now too but no boardheads, no kiting. Kiting came about because of bored windsurfers. ( isn't terrible to live somewhere you can ride so much you get bored and have to invent new ways to entertain yourself) you read a kiteboarding mag and it's Naish, Cabrinha, Logosz, Winner , Hansen, etc .etc.
Same guys, same power, same stoke, same feel, same community.
If you don't kite yet...we forgive you...if you never do kite....you're weird but we forgive you, if you do kite...you're weird but at least you know why.
Lets face it anyone who plays with wind needs to be mentally checked out any way. I think that's why I always like wind addicts...bunch of nutcases.
The shrinks are so right, it feels better to forgive.

[Tighe]

Steve I was asking for some more perspectives from those who windsurf only. A concern was raised that windsurfers were being bored by the kite talk...unfortunately we may not ever get the opinion of those who no longer read the forum because of the kiter talk.

I am glad to hear that it sounds like the majority want to chat the same as we share the wind...together.

[Uffe]

I agree, keep it as one forum, we are all a bunch of windjunkies. I enjoy reading about most everything on this site. I agree with Mike G, if a topic spins off to something completley different, start a new one.

[Tighe]

I'll do my best to split dialogs if they run off on a tangent. My mind sorta works that way so I may not notice them as much. Feel free to bring it to my attention.