As a member that has arranged many trips in the group, forums have gone backward in a sense. Social media has the benefits for a number of reasons.
You can join groups related to brand or model of your car , camper, caravan etc.
Pictures can upload quicker no matter the size of them.
Replies are simple and quick.
Social media groups have bigger audiences.
You don't have to scroll through endless topics to find things. Yes there is a search function and you can set up notifications but really you need to be on tapatalk to get any quick notifications.
Personally I still hop on now and then but it's now out dated in sense and thats not going against foums as I have met some great friends from here. I also don't see anything that interests me anymore from the group sadly.
Mark
Thanks for your feedback Mark
Have to agree with McGirr, the days of interesting trip reports are very few and far between, most things I see are unfortunately not related to the Forums title.
Forums are a two way street:
*Make sure that you are
giving as well as
taking ie don't just log on and read but also make sure you contribute. If you go on a trip...do a trip report. A trip report doesn't have to be fancy - it can be as simple as a quick summary of where you went, what you saw and a couple of piccies. I'm looking forward to doing a Trip Report regarding our trip to the National Meet - ours will be more like a blog though as we will be doing ours as we go (otherwise I will have to write up 8 weeks in one go
). I personally like to add a few extra things into a Trip Report/Blog so that it becomes more informative to others who might be planning a trip - I like to note down the price we paid for fuel, the pro's and con's of the the places we stayed, the fees (if applicable) for places we stayed, any issues we encountered and how we overcame them (in case this might help someone else), what the temperatures were or what the road conditions were like of non sealed roads (so other people can be prepared if they do the same trip at a similar time) etc.
**Start a topic that
is related to the Forum title.
***If you know the answer to someone's question...reply with an answer instead of waiting for someone else to do it.
I’m going on a 10 day trip out to western Queensland in September, and don’t really see the need to compile trip reports… can’t see how it would be interesting to more than a couple of people at most. Why wouldn't it be interesting? Someone could be planning a trip to a similar area and trying to get first hand knowledge about certain things. Just because people don't comment on a Trip Report, doesn't mean they don't a) read them or b) use information gleaned from them. Take note of a topics views rather than replies...
Also, a lot of us have never met others on this forum and sometimes it can feel like an outsider looking in, with little groups within groups. Organise a catch up locally and meet other Swaggers face to face. We plan on doing more of this once we get back from Tassie. We haven't done any in the past 12+ months as we haven't had a CT or van (still haven't got our new one and we leave on the 05/09 for the National Meet . I for one have really missed a) getting away and b) meeting up with old friends and meeting new ones. Please don't be scared to put your hand up to organise one. Although some Myswaggers have, in the past, organised gatherings that would rival any Guided Tour you would pay thousands for (and done a ripper of a job I might add), your Meet doesn't have to be a complex, complicated or highly organised affair. It's as simple as you choosing a destination/venue that you know and love (or one that you would really love to visit) and creating a thread in the Trips Section saying "I am going camping at ***insert venue name, location and date here***. Anyone care to join me?"
