I am lucky enough to live in Colorado. There are a lot of great places to hike. Some of the parks have forks in the trails and different ways to go.
In the analogy of the park, there are a few main trails (MPCNC, LR4, etc.). Some of the trails fork (skr pro vs jackpot). There are a bunch of helpful rangers walking about (that is you all). If someone runs out of water or gets lost or didn’t read a sign, the rangers are there to help them find their way. If you want to go off the beaten path and go your own way (mods), that’s fine (as long as you aren’t hurting anyone). The rangers won’t necessarily follow you. They may help you if you ask questions.
The YBR was the first version of that metaphor. Specifically when we made the docs. We can’t teach people how to do backpack camping with a sign. And we can’t describe everything we have learned in the docs. The docs describe the main path through the woods. The forums are a place to get help from rangers. Or talk about what you might have found on your own in the woods.
Ryan has learned a lot from nearly a decade of running this place and his income keeps the lights on for all of us. He is maybe more jaded and skeptical of mods than many of us. But his lessons are learned the hard way.
I’m glad to see this first post. Ryan is also worried about doing anything that would make us feel less welcome. So I know if he posted something like this, it was after a ton of careful thought.
I’m glad to see people taking it seriously. IMHO, the change can be subtle, and easy. The culture is what matters here. The style of messaging matters as much as the message.
I like to remind people that, “It is your machine. You can do whatever you want. But…”. And, “I always recommend to build it stock first. It is easy to change later and you will know a lot more about where to spend your effort and money for the most benefit for you”.
Beware the salespeople that bring a mod and describe it as “better”, “stronger”, “easier”. I push back on that language a bit to make sure it is clear that it is a mod, and it has much less pedigree than the stock machine. I always remind people that they can do what they want though. Just be careful trying to drag other hikers off the trail with you. Sharing mods, and especially files and instructions to follow are great.
I don’t want to see responses that only point to the docs. People are here for help. They (almost always) want to find success and if they could have done it without asking, they would have. If they didn’t get the info already, it is just as likely a failure in the docs as it is in their effort. Something polite like, “It is confusing. Does this link help? You basically have to do X”.
I don’t like to see responses that just tell people to search. They probably already have and this isn’t an encyclopedia. More than one post on a topic is fine. It is half reference and half conversation.
I am a big fan of making everything (including embarrassing or potentially damaging things) public. There are limits. But most reasons people want private conversations are bad ones.
I don’t think we need to do anything different here besides reminding everyone to read the first post. This course correction will be on all of our minds and we will keep moving in the right direction. If not, another course correction or action can be taken later.
Please continue to be awesome. Please continue to be nice. Please continue to be vulnerable.
