Ideas about the 'personality' or scope of this 4-wheeling board?

[taoshum]

I've yet to figure out why folks subject their vehicles and bodies to some of the stuff I see...

As a Jeep newbie, it is quite amazing... both what these vehicles can do and the stuff that people do with the vehicles... our Jeep never ceases to amaze me that it can actually do what it does and in hindsight, makes it seem "ok" to do it again or go on another trail...  All the while, going places that very few people ever see.  Then I see videos or pics of the really tough trails and it scares me to even watch.  BTW, some of them do tumble or roll over during these excursions.  Hard to even imagine being inside when that happens.  And the Jeep modification business and accessories... it is gigantic... we must get a new catalog every week with parts for Jeeps older than me and younger than yesterday.  Kinda like the RV catalogs, I guess.

[John Canfield]

We've been on the road all day and I see we've had a little activity in this thread  .

This is a friendly and gentle reminder to please stay on topic.  As a refresher, the essence of the question for those of you interested in reading/participating in the 4x4 board is:

I've been thinking about the persona of this board.  Do we want to be mainly a light chitty-chatty board with little in-depth tech stuff?  Would everybody like to go really tech with build reports, i.e., mods you have documented or had done and documented?  Somewhere in-between?

[Molaker]

Two or three reasons why I haven't mod'ed my Jeep.  1). I spend nearly all my spare cash on my MH.  2). It is hard enough for us old farts to get in and out without adding a lift and/or bigger wheels and tires.  3).  DW ain't too hep with the idea (biggest reason).  So, a trail runner I'll be.  Besides I love poking around old forest and mining roads, which are great as long as I don't make the DW gasp.  I am, however, very interested in doing my own work in making the danged thang keep rolling, so that kind of tech talk interests me. If it gets real deep, I can take it and will enjoy reading about the how-to's in towing, mods and in driving techniques.

[Betty Brewer]

I've been thinking about the persona of this board.  Do we want to be mainly a light chitty-chatty board with little in-depth tech stuff?  Would everybody like to go really tech with build reports, i.e., mods you have documented or had done and documented?  Somewhere in-between?[/size][/b]

John,
I love  chitty chatty as it is a way to keep up personally with RVForum Friends.  However I think there may be  value in the indepth stuff for those considering such a venture.  I'm certain that the  4x4 discussions will evolve  to the interest and delight of all.

If some have no interest then I suggest they  do as I do with the Fishing Board....ignore it.  My 2 cents and worth every penny!

[Jim Dick]

As many of you know, Pat & I have participated in MANY off road adventures. We've never owned a Jeep and probably never will. We've had a lot of fun taking the hard road with many members of this forum. Not once did anyone complain about these adventures. Some of our most treasured moments were off road such as our first Ridge Ride, about which I have written in the past.

I see nothing wrong with having a section devoted to these activities that so many people enjoy. One does not have to read all of the section. You can look at the thread and decide if it's too technical to enjoy or if it's a report of a great ride enjoyed by many. I can't see this taking over the RV forum to the point we will no longer talk about all the other good things that come from this lifestyle.

We may never be able to enjoy these adventures like we did in the past but that doesn't preclude us from enjoying reading about them. Yes, it just might make me jealous that we can't participate as we did. If that becomes the case, I can easily IGNORE the section. It's just another RV related subject!

[Tom]

For the folks who prefer not to view this message board (or any of our message boards) ....

In addition to my prior suggestion to visit your Profile and activate the Ignore Boards option, there's also another option that will hide an entire category of message boards; Depending on how you view the forum, you can click the '-' symbol to the far right of the category name. To restore the category, just click the '+' sign. The attached screen shots show the result on of collapsing and restoring a category.

This is also explained in the Forum Navigation And Usage Tips message board.

Edit: Renamed attachments for clarification.

[ArdraF]

I finally got a chance to look at the topics under the 4-wheeling board and all look reasonable except for the very last one.  It's by Ron Marabito describing one of our Quartzsite rally trail rides (4x4 trip, Tuesday, Quartzsite Rally 07).  See http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php?topic=9188.0.  I think it would be more appropriate to keep trail rides at rallies within the Rallies board.  I suspect Ron would be looking for his topic under Quartzsite rallies if he wanted to look for it, as I think most of us would be doing.  I always look for specific rallies to find photos of people and events.

If someone organizes a trail ride that's not during one of the RV Forum rallies and wants to post photos, then I suppose that would appropriately be under the 4-wheeling board.  But let's leave the rallies trail rides within the specific rally topic.  We organize ours by the rally, such as Moab, Quartzsite, or whatever so we can find them easily.  What we don't need is to confuse everyone by posting some rally photos within the rally topic and others within the 4-wheeling topic.

ArdraF

[Jim Dick]

Ardra,

I agree. We should keep rally related subjects to each rally thread. Let's face it, most of our rally rides are not extreme so many folks can go even though they don't have a hard core 4X4. 

[Ernie n Tara]

I'll third that with the proviso that I do think its appropriate to post the fact of an upcoming rally that is also a 4-wheeling opportunity to the 4-wheeling board as well.
Ernie

[Tom]

Thanks for the link Ardra 

I checked the logs, and it was my error in moving that topic to this 4-wheeling board; It was a standalone topic, not part of a rally discussion, which is how such rally-related activities are normally handled. I'd run a search on "4x4", "4-wheeling" or similar, and moved it without fully reading the subject line; Shame on me  I've now moved it back to the Rallies board here.

With that resolved, hopefully we can return to forum business as usual 

.... we can always do a correction.

Note to myself - aye, that's what we just did.

I do think its appropriate to post the fact of an upcoming rally that is also a 4-wheeling opportunity to the 4-wheeling board as well

Agreed Ernie, and we'd probably just a post a link here pointing to the topic on the other board or vice versa, depending on the situation. e.g. some folks might decide to meet up for an unorganized 4-wheeling week(end), and mention it here; Later they realize there might be greater interest and decide it might be an opportunity to invite others, turning it into a rally.

[John Canfield]

If 4-wheeling is an incidental activity to a rally, then it should be in the rally area.  If 4-wheeling is the primary focus for a gathering, then it belongs here.

We're up to our eyeballs a) visiting with friends and b) replacing our 4-door Norcold with a household fridge (Norcold removed about an hour ago), so it will take a few days for me to parse all of the remarks/comments and come up with where I think the direction the majority want this to board to proceed.

Thanks again for the helpful comments!

[Wendy]

If you let the board go along on its own for a month or two, that would probably be a better indicator of where folks want it to go than the comments of a handful of people in this one thread. Why not just let it go and see where it wanders?
 
Wendy

[John Canfield]

Wendy - the board will evolve for sure but I thought it would be useful to check the pulse of those interested right from the get-go.