As the lifespan and usefulness of Equipped.org has come down, what other "related" site have you found most useful?

Come down? ETS is very much still useful.

Jeanette Isabelle

+1

Really??That's news to me....

There are many other forums that cater to survival topics and "survivalists" and "preppers". etc. but they range from ludicrous to ominous and some are just downright crazy (I lurk on some for giggles).

None are as informative, nor as focused, as ETS. Granted, ETS is not perfect, but it is reliable and the information given here is pretty decent.

Perhaps you could explain in a little more detail what you mean in your initial post?

No disrespect is intended. I've utilized this site for 15 years and occasionally posted for over 10 of those years. Doug himself has said the site is no longer developed, but will remain online for our benefit. As we can all see, the frequency of posts and by whom (the same few) are obvious indicators of what I intended to state in this thread.

Since post volume is low and most of it comes from the same few, what other sites have you found highly beneficial that may perhaps have higher volume and quality feedback.

BTW - Yes, I do still frequent here as I continue to find the input useful.

I hope it remains online. When the SHTF (Jacob's Trouble, Armageddon or anything else in between), it helps to know that the people of this forum have my back.

Jeanette Isabelle

There is a hard core of frequent posters on this site (Far be it for me to name names!!) but this is true of many sites on the internet, both survival related and otherwise.

There are lots of sites that give good, reliable guidance on outdoor safety and practice. One I like is REI, which of course is engaged in selling gear, but whose site includes a lot of accurate info - "hiking project" and"mountain project" are good examples. For the record, I am a satisfied and current REI member.

NSS's Cavechat site also comes to mind as another purveyor of good info.

There would be too many to list.

Jeanette Isabelle

while true - the site has 'lost' members and the core group continues to post but it has diminished in volume - however the quality is still very high.

I would hate to see it go and don't really think it will for sometime yet. This is due to the efforts of the core group. But, like several other sites I have enjoyed and used over the years the day will come when this web page is no longer active and will be gone. With that in mind I've looked far and wide and have still not found anything that measures up to replace ETS.

True, there are a bunch of 'prepper' sites and some of those are really, really bad - a few I visit have some good material but you have to sift through it to find the nuggets. One example is https://survivalblog.com/

I have found the above site has a lot of very good information there and really like the ability to search it when I'm looking for something specific. It is not everyone's cup of tea but I have found it useful. Again, you need to sift for the gold.

I've been a member of a 'closed' cop page for almost 20 years and we have kept it going these last couple of years on the posting of about 4 - 5 people and we lost one of them this year when he passed away. That site is on the way out but the handful of us still checking in every week have kept it going about six years after the owner/manager died. It won't go much more and will be greatly missed by it's members but it's on the closing end of it's electronic life. It's sort of like life... these sites are born, grow, mature and finally age out and become a part of the past. As I age I am finding much of what I used and valued is fading away on many fronts. Cue the big sigh!

As a closing note - I have never found a site like this and one that has the quality and value which is due to the contributors here. I hope the day the final post is uploaded is a long way off.

Paul -

I just noticed that I joined here in 2008 so I have only been around for 10 years - I'm just a rookie!

Paul -

All of the forums I visit regularly (half a dozen, at most) are falling off in the number of posts since their heyday. And most of the posts are from long term members. This seems to be a phenomenon going on across a wide spectrum of forums. Maybe it's just the type of forums I tend to visit. The few forums I hit that are highly active are what I'd call "informational forums". Questions are asked, answers are given, but there is no feeling of friendship. It's like looking something up in an encyclopedia. It gets the job done, but it's not terribly exciting. Most of my forums I hit because of the people, not the content. ETS is one of those. Although the content is excellent, there is more of a draw to see what friends are up to than to get a specific question answered. Maybe this is part of getting older - I just don't have that many questions anymore, or I've forgotten what it was that I wanted to ask about!

I've also noted that long timers will drift off of a forum for a while. Sometimes years. Then out of nowhere, they're back! That's fun to see when it happens.

I would say the main focus of ETS is preparation for adventures that go wrong, or disasters. That, and also general outdoors type stuff. I imagine there are many here now who are as old as, or even older than I am. I'm 61-1/2. There are some really healthy and in shape folks this age, but unfortunately I cannot count myself in that group. I'm doing fine, but I'm not climbing 14k mountains anymore. I'm not going on two week wilderness backpacking trips anymore. My camping trips? Heck yeah, I'm going on one in a couple of weeks with my friends (we do it every year)! We cook gourmet food, fire up the waffle iron and Kuerig in the morning, eat frozen gelato for desserts ... you know, "old peoples camping". If the heat gets too bad, we fire up the air conditioner in the trailer. We used to go for one night when we started 35 years ago. Now we stay for four. We don't do additional activities, it just takes us longer to do the same old ones these days (hiking, biking, kayaking). I used to bring my telescopes, but not anymore (we don't stay awake late enough to be able to use them).

Times change. So do forums. Sometimes we go nostalgic over the old days of the forums, and forget that there are still good days to come. We're just "taking a nap" a little bit right now in the overall post count.

Everything has a life cycle I suppose but I expect ETS to be around for a good while.

Relevance is the key. Good questions, well thought out responses, professionalism (courteous, intelligent, valid, honest, objective), and good subject matter are what I look for, and I think most other people do as well. This is what makes this forum the only one I visit. I have looked at others over time, but have only stayed with this one. I do not want to sift through tons of bad comments to find a gem. When I need information, I will research it myself. If I can't find an answer, or would like to find someone with more experience, then I ask these people, and it has always worked. There is a lot of relevant experience on this forum, real experience in the real world actually having responsibility for accomplishing these types of tasks. That is very difficult to find elsewhere. I too look forward to many more years of discussion here.

That being said, hosting this forum is not free. What are the issues with maintaining it?

You forget that small number of contributors read elsewhere and bring recommendations of other sites and information from them. I'm a UK hiker and camper, you follow my advise on surviving where there's wilderness, deserts, mountains, jungles, dangerous creatures, extreme weather.....it could well get you killed! :-)
But I can point you to places that can give you good information. And we do it with decent discussion. We recently had posts on a political commentator I regarded as a psychopath and others thought a decent man. No one called anyone any names, we were all on good terms at the end of it. The ace up our sleeves is the moderators who soon shut down trouble and the nutters leave.
And really how much information has gone out of date? Dougs advice in the links on the home page are still first rate though written over a decade ago.

qjs

It is always helpful to those of us residing in the more favored regions to receive the insights of those in strange, far away lands like the UK and Alaska....

When I first found this site, it was before the prepping craze, and it was the only one I had seen that had comprehensive reviews of the available survival kits out there in a methodical and organized manner. That motivated me to make my own, and while I don't mess with the PSK stuff that much anymore (I've moved on to other camping and hiking stuff) I still have one and remember the younger version of me fondly, learning all I can about that stuff.

I'm not as active as I once was, but I love ETS! My on-line life has changed considerably in the past 15 years, especially over the last few years. To be honest, after my initial couple of years flurry of reading, studying, and soaking in everything I could on this site, I forgot about all of that other stuff and just started coming here, to the forums.

It was you guys that helped me sift through the information overload, stop being overwhelmed, and start to be able to recognize and focus on my real personal priorities. That hasn't changed at all, in fact, it's probably more true today than it was way back then. Y'all feel like family, like my favourite super smart distant cousins that I wish I could see more of. I'm sentimental about ETS, but there's a mature, pragmatic, level-headedness here that I truly appreciate. The respectful, often fun and personal, dialogue is so welcome in this world of hostile keyboard commandos. THANK YOU All for that!

I love you guys!!

Yes, agreed. I have yet to find a worthy counterpart, and I search regularly.

The other salient fact: forums are hopelessly old-fashioned. The under 30 (40?) crowd goes straight to YouTube using their smart phones.

Oh, that's why at thirty-two I'm the youngest member here. Seriously, you're right. When I started to use the Internet twenty years ago, all it had were E-mail, forums and chat rooms.

Jeanette Isabelle

My participation in this forum wanes from time to time. And the reasoning for that, is multitude - but mostly, I don't have much to say on a lot of topics that are not of real interest to me.

Also and although probably younger then most regulars here, the hardcore activities are not once what they used to be for us. In the last 2-3 years, it is apparent to feel that the miles are getting longer, the packs are getting heavier and the trails are getting steeper. So the halcyon hardcore days of which I lived all my life are (mostly) in the twilight and now changing to a more sedate life of weekend camping, day hiking etc. That means that the formerly high priority ETS mindset is not as important as it once was - but there is certainly still a need for the core aspects of which this forum will always be a great resource.

On the topic that ChaosMagnet mentioned re: backup MOD's. I think it is really needed as CM is the only active MOD / Admin the last few years. If he or Doug plan to add a couple/few more, there are some excellent, and knowledgeable members in this forum to choose from.

Edit:
Forgot to add - other fav forums.

https://forums.clubtread.com/

https://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/

https://bushcraftusa.com/forum/

It's as much the social aspect as the info for me. I'd miss you folks!

If Hikermor won't be coming out to the dig now, perhaps I'll get out his way now that I'm in Idaho.

So true. When I first joined this site, I was in my late 40's. And I was mostly interested in prepping for things like long day hikes above timberline, multi-day backpacking trips. etc. Now, 13 years later, I am more concerned about prepping for a drive across town. Do I have enough gas? Is there a water bottle in the car? It's sad really. I can't believe I've declined that much in only 13 years. I'm doing fine for my age. But "being in your 60's" is a lot different than "being in your 40's". Geez ... I still have a cabinet in the basement with some of my preps for Y2K! I wonder if those Kraft macaroni and cheese dinners down there are still good? Probably not a whole lot different than the ones I bought last week, the packaging looks identical!

The usefulness will NEVER diminish! I'll add to the comments that this is the ONLY place that gives level headed and clear REAL information from real people without any 'spin'.

While I too may not always post, I check in regularly to keep up. I initially took the post offensively but I see the point. I hope it remains for a VERY LONG TIME!

"The other salient fact: forums are hopelessly old-fashioned. The under 30 (40?) crowd goes straight to YouTube using their smart phones."

I think that pretty well nails it. The whole way people use the internet and gain information has undergone change since the dawn of the internet. As bandwidth grew, formats such as youtube became viable, while lower bandwidth aspects such as forums have fallen by the wayside.

Add to that the spate of "survival shows" from Les Stroud, Bear Grylls, "man v. Wild," "Dual Survival", "Man, woman Wild", "I shouldn't be alive", "SOS, Could you survive" et. cetera., have made every casual watcher into a survival expert.

Or have you visited the Survival book section in your local bookstore? It usually averages 20 to 30 differing books. The last one I have seen that offered anything new, novel or different was Cody Lundin's book, "98.6 degrees, the art of keeping your ass alive." Most everything else is of little value.

ETS is a bit different however, in that it is more like sitting around the campfire with people who really know what they are talking about, and you can bounce any idea around at any time. As most of us are mature, we no doubt remember those few occasions in youth when we got to sit around with the grownups in a patio culture and listen to them regaling their stories of youth. Amazing times that are well remembered, but I don't think it happens much if at all today.

Yeah, Things are changing in the world around us. One day, this forum will only be viewable on the wayback machine.

Thanks for reminding me that I'm getting older you guys (I'm 59 BTW.)

I think I've posted here less than 10 times over the last 10 years, but I still keep coming here to read. I find the ETS forum just as useful and full of useful information as I did when I first found it.