[MCaver]

[Nameless in Washington]

Awe c'mon, that can't be even a quarter of 'em! Point ain't getting across, so never mind. Going hiking and hope y'all are too!

[Sore Feet]

[catwoman]

woo hoo! I made the top ten!

[Dslayer]

I think this is a great site with lots of excellent hiking info plus some interesting political commentary by some people who really think about the world around them. What passes for flame wars around here are pretty mild and for the most part done with a degree of respect for differences of opinion. It doesn't hurt that I'm about as conservative a guy as there is on this site and I voted for Clinton. (twice) One of the best things I've learned here is ultra light hiking--some of the advice and experience I've garnered here have contributed a great deal to my hiking enjoyment. And anyone who says that any post by Brian Curtis lacks quality would be a sheer idiot--I've learned more about fish, for example, from him than I could have learned short of getting a marine biology degree.

[foggy]

Yes, I know what you mean, and I'm one of the guilty parties. I guess why I go off in different directions is because this is a site for us NW people, it's good to communicate with neighbors, if you will, even if it's everyday b.s. that goes on. I like the versatility of this site.

[Tom]

After thinking about this, I'm beginning to agree a little more with the original poster. I think some of the unrelenting non-hiking related debates tend to drain people of the energy to talk about what brings us here in the first place. I'm a little leery of excluding the saloon entirely because there is often hiking related content and "fun" topics that bring the community together instead of dividing it. However, for those that want to exclude the saloon entirely from the active topics, just add &search_cat=1 to the end of any of the active topic links (see the dropdown to the top right) and bookmark the link. I think there more practical ways to make everyone happy and want to get some feedback on the following idea: an option to flag topics you don't want to show up in the active topics list. For example, if seeing "First Amendment, Second Amendment" rise to the top makes you ill, you could just click on a little icon beside it to have it not show up again in the active topics link (the topic would still show up in the forum with an option to make it re-appear in the active topics in case you changed your mind).

[paps]

I'm getting a bit weary of it too. But I'm wondering why there are so many hiking related threads in the Saloon?

[Dante]

[MtnGoat]

what I can't figure out is why anybody with the energy to complain about saloon threads, reads them in the first place!

[Tom]

[Stefan]

I don't agree "concerned hiker". I like how everyone is keeping the "off topics" in the Saloon. Hell, there are A LOT more topics about life than there are topics specifically about backpacking or hiking. So you should expect more topics and discussin in the Saloon. One neat thing about the Saloon: Everyone who participates in the Saloon is still interested in hiking and getting into the outdoors. We all have one thing in common!

[concerned hiker]

[Newt]

I got tired of them awhile back. Somehow I learned to stop looking at most of them. If I miss something hiking related, my loss. NN

[catwoman]

I agree with Stefan. That's precisely why the Saloon is there. Especially for those of us who don't have co-workers to bs with, it's nice to have someone to discuss issues that are important to us. And, as with everything, it seems to go through phases. This one happens to be related to certain big issues. The topics will change. In the words of the Beatles..... Let it be!