kayak review section?

[kayakstew]

i was curious if it made any sense to add a kayak review section to the discussion board. folks and place reviews of different kayaks they have paddled etc.

as i am currently looking for something in the 16' - 17' range to take things to the next level i am particularly interested, though I bet other would benefit as well, regardless of boat size.

just a thought...
~steve

[norm]

I think you need a bigger site with more activity to get a good representation for equipment reviews. All you'd get here is comments from a few strongly opinionated people!

Seriously though, there are probably better sites for that type of info....

[Chip]

I agree with Norm. We are rather small for that type of info. Paddling.net has a lot of information. That's where I went when I started looking for kayaks.

[noseykate]

I think it's a good idea. I wouldn't be likely to post on paddling.net (although I always check the reviews there before buying a boat) but I've demoed lots of boats. I think this would be a good place to put our various reviews. And then we are available for anyone to check back with for specific questions. Sure, we're opinionated. Do you think that the posters on paddling.net are not?

btw, I have never paddled a Perception Eclipse so can't help you there.

NK

[pat]

I'm always afraid of creating so many topic-specific sub-forums that no one will bother to visit it, because no one posts there.

That said... I have no idea what subjects might be very popular, and perhaps such a sub-forum would flourish. My recommendation is to start posting those types of posts here in the General discussion forum. Then, if a few months pass and those types of posts continue to appear on a regular basis, I can create the new sub-forum and move these posts into it.

What I usually do is to wait until the general discussion forum is overrun with some specific genre, such as whitewater kayaking, so much so that people have to wade through them all to find topics other than whitewater kayaking. Then I branch that off into its own sub-forum.

[Beanboy]

Pat, one thing I did on one of the forums I run was to create a general 'reviews' forum. Anything and everything went in there, not only that of car-specific stuff (which the forum is about), so I didn't run into the issue of having empty forums...ack!

Taking a quick look just know, there's certainly a number of car reviews, but also a review of an Acomdata Tango USB/eSATA 2.5" Hard Drive Enclosure, Ocean City, MD (as a summertime vacation spot), Alien Skin Blow Up 2, and Reebok "Time & a Half" generic lace-type shoe(s). Definitely a wide range of products.

Having met/read posts from members of the online community here at WT, it is certainly a more personalized review of a product/service than if it came from some of the general review websites out there, which is why I think the review section is as popular as it is over on my site.

[Finn McCool]

Interesting question.

I think that an equipment review section would be worthy addition to the site. I agree that Padding.net is THE authoritative review source for kayaks, but not so much for other items.

That said, if people want to expound on their experiences with their kayaks, I think that would be an especially good thing. One problem on P-Net is that you never really know who is posting, so you might take some of the recommendations or criticisms with a grain of salt. Here...we know most everyone, and there is a known hierarchy of who's got the experience, who's improving, and who is starting out. Reviews would be more in the line of personal advice...which I've always valued.

[Chip]

When researching kayaks on other sites, I rarely use the review sections. I always searched discussion threads to get info or start my own like Steve did. I find the vast majority of reviews are useless. You either get a great review because they just spent a couple of thousand and can't justify hating the new purchase or you get the awful review because it was delivered 2 days late and they are pissed. You get better results asking people.

I paddled an Eclispe 17 in 2004 when I bought my CD Storm. If I reviewed it then, I would say it was tippy and too tight. If I reviewed it now I am sure it would be very different. I don't think they make them anymore but I think they were an ok boat at the time. Nothing like my Tempest that I paid a lot of money for. Now that's a great boat.

[Mark]

What I usually do is to wait until the general discussion forum is overrun with some specific genre, such as whitewater kayaking, so much so that people have to wade through them all to find topics other than whitewater kayaking. Then I branch that off into its own sub-forum.

I can't find the whitewater kayaking forum. Where did you hide it?

[jkates]

What I usually do is to wait until the general discussion forum is overrun with some specific genre, such as whitewater kayaking, so much so that people have to wade through them all to find topics other than whitewater kayaking. Then I branch that off into its own sub-forum.

I can't find the whitewater kayaking forum. Where did you hide it?

I would also like to subscribe to the Wild Turkey's whitewater section.
-Jason

[Birdseye]

Give it up guys, I've been trying for years. It's no use. I can't believe we have a recreational forum?

Good luck.

[Chip]

Yea, that's a happening place.

[pat]

Give it up guys, I've been trying for years. It's no use.

You asked for a recreational forum and I put it in place last year. There have been two topics in that forum since July.

Ok, I've added more forums. Any that I've missed?

[cgr]

Give it up guys, I've been trying for years. It's no use.

You asked for a recreational forum and I put it in place last year. There have been two topics in that forum since July.

Ok, I've added more forums. Any that I've missed?

Now just add permissions so we can write in them.

"You do not have the required permissions to read topics within this forum."

[pat]

Ok, it should work now.

[Mark]

Ok, it should work now.

Nope.

I was kidding, by the way, about where is the whitewater forum.

[Finn McCool]

Ok, I've added more forums. Any that I've missed?

PPR?

[Chip]

Just because someone asks for something doesn't mean they should get it.

[pallen661]

Pat- the reviews forum still requires being a member (and logging in) to see it.

Phil

[cgr]

Just because someone asks for something doesn't mean they should get it.

I want a pony!

[cgr]

Ok, it should work now.

Whitewater


You do not have the required permissions to read topics within this forum.

[Birdseye]

Give it up guys, I've been trying for years. It's no use.

You asked for a recreational forum and I put it in place last year. There have been two topics in that forum since July.

Ok, I've added more forums. Any that I've missed?

I never asked specifically for a rec forum, I asked for forums in a few different categories with that hope that someone would adopt that category and run with it. You seemed like you were going to be the rec forum guy since you were trying to get back into kayaking on a smaller scale.

Maybe they'll be active, maybe they won't. What's the big deal if they don't? Is it a lot more more work as an admin? If so I understand that.

It'll be interesting to see what happens. It probably won't get much interest like you said and I'll have to listen to all of your crap for years to come. So what else is new... it's a twist off dude!

[Chip]

Just because someone asks for something doesn't mean they should get it.

I want a pony!

Gee Chris. I thought you would ask for a job. You must be getting used to the freedom.

[pat]

Maybe they'll be active, maybe they won't. What's the big deal if they don't? Is it a lot more more work as an admin? If so I understand that.

The big deal is that not every visitor is going to want to take the time to visit 13 separate forums to find something of interest. I know that I don't. Many people will visit the most popular forum to get a feel for what's there. But a lot won't take the trouble to visit the sparsely populated Training forum and might miss Jordan's important message about his invaluable offering. If someone is searching for something on the web, they've got a couple zillion options to choose from. They're not going to spend forever at one place looking for something, when when they might find it faster in the next search result. If you force someone to click dozens of times to see all the topics, they're going to lose interest and move on. It's simply a fact of life on the internet.

[noseykate]

Not to beat a dead horse, nor to be ungrateful for all the new forums, but.... suggest that the whitewater forum disappear (not what we are about), the sea kayak forum disappear (that IS what we are about and so the general discussion area is same thing), kayak camping disappear (also comes under general discussion and there will not be a lot of threads on the topic), ditto fishing.

You were doing a good thing, responding to our requests. No need to go too far though. We just thought a review section would be useful. I'm going to be demoing again this weekend, so look for more in that section. (And Jordan alone could keep the two review sections alive!)

thank you for your continuing work on our behalf,

NK

[Finn McCool]

We owe Pat a dinner, a few beers...something for all this.

Even the big bucks he makes from this site just don't compensate...

[noseykate]

We owe Pat a dinner, a few beers...something for all this.

Even the big bucks he makes from this site just don't compensate...

I agree. Thanks, Pat. Looks to me like a manageable number of forums now.

NK

[Mark]

Not to beat a dead horse, nor to be ungrateful for all the new forums, but.... suggest that the whitewater forum disappear (not what we are about), the sea kayak forum disappear (that IS what we are about and so the general discussion area is same thing), kayak camping disappear (also comes under general discussion and there will not be a lot of threads on the topic), ditto fishing.
NK

Ok, first you kill Chris' pony - AND beat it. Then you kill the FISHING thread? What do you have against all God's creatures?

I want a surfing in squirtboats while camping review thread. But will I get it? No!