Recognising other forum members

[Son of a Beach]

I'm pretty sure I'm the only one silly enough to actually wear a bushwalk.com T-shirt on some of my walks, and I do also have a bushwalk.com water bottle. So I'm easy to spot some times.

The last time I met a walker (picked him up hitch hiking), and we got talking he despised this forum (too unfriendly or offensive, or some such malarky), so it turned out to be a rather awkward topic of conversation.

Nevertheless, I've met a few forum members on the track in the past, and it's usually a good brief chat.

[22F]

I vote the Hello KItty a la Hannibal Lecter patch be adopted as 'the secret handshake' - see thread on packs for petite women (I think that was it)

I met a fellow bushwalker.com a few weekends ago, but didn't realise at the time until I was 'outed' via the forums

Haha! Glad you like that one dear

You mean to say, that people DON'T have a velcro backed morale patch of their callsign/nickname that can be transferred from pack to pack?
Curioser and curioser...

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa21 ... G_3719.jpg

[Pteropus]

On my recent trip to Tasmania I was in Pine Valley having a good chat with a lovely couple about bushwalking, and because their knowledge was extensive I asked if they were on the forum. They are regular visitors, but rarely post. We had a good chat about the forum amongst other things. I wouldn’t be surprised if most people who regularly bushwalk have come across the forum...with > 5500 members it is a popular community, even if members rarely post. So perhaps just ask a fellow walker if they are a member? I am sure there will be a few blank stares though

You mean to say, that people DON'T have a velcro backed morale patch of their callsign/nickname that can be transferred from pack to pack?
Curioser and curioser...
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa21 ... G_3719.jpg

Nice one mate. Is that a military thing by any chance?

[22F]

T'is mate, especially for the military discussion forums I'm a member of.

I got it done up a few years ago before I went to SHOT (Shooting Hunting Outdoor Trades) Show in 2011.
Meeting up with all the Yank blokes was a great deal easier when we could see who was who by their nickname.

Once we started speaking, it was far easier to tell us from the madding crowds, by the casual use of offensive language and politically incorrect attitudes!

[Swampy460]

Its funny , because I am a member of a kayak fishing forum (KFDU) and when ever I meet another kayak fisherperson either on the water or at a launch spot I usually get a plug in for our forum
Sometimes i get an interested type response that they didnt even know such a thing existed
Oh and we have bright SP50 sunshirts with the logo and our avatar on them, for safety and for recognition of the forum.

But I think maybe Bushwalkers are a more conservative lot

Swampy

[neilmny]

I'm a Kayaker too, mostly on Vyak. A lot of yakers enjoy the company of like minded people.
I think bushwalking is more about finding a quiet and maybe secluded space for sharing with a small
personal group or as an individual solo walker. Having said that I would enjoy meeting others from the forum
along the way for a chat. I guess that the trick is to respect other peoples space and after a brief chat move on.

[Strider]

If anyone doesn't want to be linked to their forum username, then that's their choice. But it would be nice to put some names to faces if we bump into one another while our and about

[22F]

But.... but.... that would mean people wouldn't be able to hide behind a keyboard and say things they wouldn't normally say to another person's face!

Do you know what you're suggesting? The entirity of Al Gore's interwebs would implode!

[forest]

OK, Suggestions?

Screen Shot 2013-04-14 at 12.57.45 PM.png

Where do I get mine from. I'll take 2 made from Cuben Fibre please......

It doesn't sound like a bad idea though so we can see if someone's a member or not.

[doogs]

All forum members should wear a floral muu muu dress, I reckon that'd make it pretty easy to recognise another forum member. In fact I vote it should be compulsory for membership to the site.

[neilmny]

A muu muu crikey doogs you are as old as your avatar looks

[22F]

A muu muu, eh?
Yeah, why not? I already carry a tie-died sarong as a privacy screen for the girls out walking.

[north-north-west]

Why would you want to - apart from being able to give them a wide berth, and if you're close enough to see some identifying mark, you're already too close for that.

If you don't like talking to people, then feel free to walk past rudely without saying hello.

1) I frequently do. Or just snarl.
2) What's the point getting people into 'chat' mode when I'm deaf?
3) What's rude about it? Not everyone goes bush to meet strangers.

[north-north-west]

All forum members should wear a floral muu muu dress, I reckon that'd make it pretty easy to recognise another forum member. In fact I vote it should be compulsory for membership to the site.

Great idea.
Where do I quit?

[Nuts]

It's true doogs was wearing his muuuu muuuu when I met him. A bit awkward, given I only had my secret handshake.

[Tortoise]

If anyone doesn't want to be linked to their forum username, then that's their choice. But it would be nice to put some names to faces if we bump into one another while our and about

Well Strider, I'm with you. (I'll be the short one, FYI.)

I've almost started this topic myself before. It'd be weird for me to meet someone I 'know' - but not know i'd met them - who's part of a community of sorts that has been so helpful (and entertaining) for me. Except the odd one perhaps - I reserve the right to disappear under a convenient bush.

A couple of times I've asked people i've been talking with if they're 'one of us', but no match yet.

And if someone looks like they don't want to talk to anybody, i'm very happy to leave them be.

[ryantmalone]

3) What's rude about it? Not everyone goes bush to meet strangers.

I like meeting strangers in the bush when I'm going downhill, nearly at the bottom, and telling them that they're nearly there.

Does that make me a bad person?

[matagi]

All forum members should wear a floral muu muu dress, I reckon that'd make it pretty easy to recognise another forum member. In fact I vote it should be compulsory for membership to the site.

A muu muu? Well you won't have trouble spotting me - I'll be the marquee coming towards you in the bush.

[puredingo]

That would cut down on weight....wearing your tent! Now if I can shape my sleeping bag into some sort of turbin.....

[andrewbish]

I do wonder sometimes, if the young/not-so-young, big/small, high tech/low-tech,friendly/shy people I meet on the trail are forum members.

Was anybody else at Federation Hut on Saturday night?

[pazzar]

I've met a few forum members out on the track, usually at popular campsites, I don't tend to stop mid track for a chat all that much. Most of them recognised me, usually from where I had been. I guess working in the retail industry has given me the opportunity to meet several members too. I'm sure there are many more that I have met but haven't known it.

[biggbird]

Interesting thread, and something I've wondered about before! I'm the sort of person who is always happy to stop for a chat, so have found myself wondering this plenty of times.

Perhaps one of the reasons I'm so quick to stop and chat with people was a story my dad told me a while back, when my partner and I were getting ready for our first overnight walk together. He had been walking the SCT with a couple of friends when they came across a european headed in the same direction, at the Prion Beach crossing if I'm not mistaken. He'd decided to walk the full track from Scott's Peak, and so had been going for some time. He'd seen numerous groups during his walk, headed his direction and the other, but not one had stopped to even say hello to him, meaning he was overjoyed when my dad and his friends actually stopped to chat and then walk with him! Sounds to me like he was just a little unlucky, as most people I've met on the track are friendly enough, but it just struck me that it must be awfully lonely to have everyone ignore you...

I understand that a lot of people go walking to get away from people, but no harm in a brief hello! But then again, I generally tend to talk too much at the best of times, so perhaps not the best to ask...

[Pteropus]

Why would you want to - apart from being able to give them a wide berth, and if you're close enough to see some identifying mark, you're already too close for that.

If you don't like talking to people, then feel free to walk past rudely without saying hello.

1) I frequently do. Or just snarl.
2) What's the point getting people into 'chat' mode when I'm deaf?
3) What's rude about it? Not everyone goes bush to meet strangers.

Hey nnw, were you passing through New Pelion, then camping up near, or on, Ossa on 14 Feb this year by any chance? I got back from Oakleigh early that arvo and said g'day to a woman who was around the hut, who did not acknowledge my presence as I walked by...the next morning she was on Ossa with full pack and looking for a way off to the sou-west (probably hoping to get away from the 20 or so other people that climbed up...)...being ignored didn't bother me as I felt some understanding, liking solitude at times...especially when there were so many people crowding about the mountain top (and the hut the previous night, which is another story...)!

[Nuts]

What not even a wink or some sign language ; )
I don't get the agro personally.

[Nuts]

There are buttons in the Cafe' but not patches. I could get a price on an embroidered patch if we had enough interest (and someone else can prepare the design)? It could be a very small one..

[Strider]

1) I frequently do. Or just snarl.
2) What's the point getting people into 'chat' mode when I'm deaf?
3) What's rude about it? Not everyone goes bush to meet strangers.

Doesn't hurt to smile and say G'day. No one said anything about chatting with or meeting strangers.

There are buttons in the Cafe' but not patches. I could get a price on an embroidered patch if we had enough interest (and someone else can prepare the design)? It could be a very small one..

I'm not into sewing stuff onto my gear personally. Something that just ties or clips on would be better.

[Pteropus]

What not even a wink or some sign language ; )

haha the woman in question actually deliberately looked away from me! But i'm not offended by a stranger ignoring me...it's their prerogative...I am not sure how I would react to a snarl though, but I think I might snarl back

[Nick S]

I enjoy having a chat mid walk. The more remote the place, the more interested I am in knowing where they have been, where they are going, etc.

Its interesting how location determines your feelings of collegiality toward someone. I meet a Tasmanian in pelion hut.. a quiet gday. Meet a Tasmanian in Nepal.. maaate!

If we've had a good chat i'll often ask people if they are aware of the forums.. I told the last group we camped with on the SCT to lookout for my pending trip report, but I never heard from them..

[raider]

How about we all get matching tattoo's. Perhaps of these shady little bushwalking characters. Not sure how we would go flashing at every bush walker we see though

hume hovell icon.jpg (6.97 KiB) Viewed 9227 times

[neilmny]

Hey is NNW onto something....how about a secret snarl........no....maybe