Sections

Thanks for your suggestion AdrianT. Certainly we can look at expanding the sections. This is just a quick reply and I'll look at this further after the Easter period. Suggestions on the breakdown are welcome, particularly the trail running part.

Thanks for everyone's input so far.

It's always good for me to listen to how members describe VE. It reflects tastes, opinions, as well as how the site is being used by its members. This is something I always take note of. I would point out however that VE has never been purely a Berg site, nor has it been a hiking site, though undoubtedly the majority of content focuses on these.

When Vertical Endeavour was first set up, the name was actually intended for an agency/guiding company spec aliasing in Himalayan adventures. At the same time we (domsmooth and I) always wanted to establish a forum for the Berg. A forum had existed for a limited time prior to that, but at the time VE started there was a void which we wanted to fill. Besides just wanting to establish a place where people passionate about the Berg could connect, I specially always wanted to promote environmental awareness for the Berg. Additionally I wanted there to be open and frank discussion concerning security issues so that we could all venture out into the Berg armed with facts and alertness.

Instead of starting up 2 different websites we decided to combine the two, with the option of possibly separating them later again. Combining the two made sense anyway in that it was all promoting an interest in mountains. So when the site was launched, by definition it was a mountain site "featuring the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa & Lesotho, and the Himalayas of Nepal and Tibet". Sometime after this, for various reasons, I paused the intention of developing VE as an agency, whereas the forum was gaining momentum, particularly in Drakensberg related topics. Ten years on, "VE" is now strongly connected to the Berg, and making a tangible impact. This is what VE has become. It is a good development, an exciting development, and there is no intention to change that. I enjoy the fact that VE is seen by many as a Berg site, and am happy for that to continue, but at its inception it always has been broader than that.

Bring people together and you land up with something greater than the sum of what each person can individually contribute. It's called synergy and it is a remarkable power bestowed on the human race collectively. What has happened within the VE community is synergy at work. With this in mind, I do appreciate suggestions that members make and take note of how the forum is being utilised. With this particular suggestion I do believe it can be accommodated without compromising what VE is. The focus will undoubtedly remain on the Maloti-Drakensberg, with dedicated and expanded sections and categories.

I hear the concerns about the forum becoming busy with topics that are not Berg related, but we will maintain a strict management of sticking to topics and categories as we have thus far already. If you only want to check for new posts on the Berg, you can easily see these by clicking on www.vertical-endeavour.com/forum/1-drakensberg-forum.html

Now, as to what new categories to add: ideally we want to have a good balance between new categories which need to get filled, and not having too many new ones which remain empty for a long time. We used to have expanded categories for Nepal and Tibet which were later condensed into basically one category, so I'm open for some experimentation which may in the end result in a similar kind of "pruning" if it doesn't catch on. On the other hand, categories such as the one for the Wolkberg and the Gear category arose naturally from the amount of topics already being posted for these under the "General category", so I'm equally open to facilitating trends and growth as they occur. Can those that want these new sections give more detail on how we can do this by creating lists? Perhaps, as a start, we can identify a further 2-3 popular and well-known ranges such as Cederberg and give these their own categories, and then supply regional categories for everything else? Can I also ask for more show of support from members as to what other regions interest them, and more specifically can I ask if you would be able to post content into them quite quickly (like trip write-ups) to help populate the new categories?

About trail running, I am happy to create such a sub-category under the Drakensberg section. Is there sufficient interest for one under the Lesotho as well as the General section too?

So the following categories have been added:

Drakensberg Huts - this was actually added some time ago, and though a small category should help people find things more easily.

Drakensberg Trail Running & Adventure Racing - I have lumped the 2 categories together for now as they seem to fit. If these topics take off we can split them later. Note the category description:

Everything relating to the activity of trail running in the Drakensberg, except topics specific to trail conditions, water availability, passes, the Grand Traverse etc., which can be addressed in the other categories. Adventure racing on various modes of transport can also be included here.

Cape Mountains - we already had numerous threads going for this, and this category was among the most deserving of the new ones.

South Africa - rather than splitting things up by provinces or groups of provinces, I have taken the more conservative approach for now with this category, which catches everything in SA that isn't covered by the Drakensberg, Cape Mountains, Magaliesberg and Wolkberg categories. If we see an increase in topics under this category, we can most certainly look at splitting this up into more categories later. In the description I have indicated that it is for "everything relating to mountains or hiking in South Africa". This is in recognition of the fact of course there is hiking which isn't in mountains. Though VE is a mountain-interest site, I am giving room to the broader topic of hiking.

Under the General section I have added three new categories which cater to topics relating to the three mountain sports most talked about on this forum. These are for topics that are not tied to a specific region of mountain range. The new categories are:

1. Hiking
2. Climbing & Mountaineering
3. Trail Running

We already had threads going relating to the first two, and the third has been created on request.

As part of a review of the categories, I have also removed some of the Lesotho categories (Climbing, Passes & Peaks), as these were under-utilised. The threads that were in these have been moved to the Lesotho General category. Though the Lesotho section of the forum isn't heavily utilised at present, in principal I would like to continue support for it. Not only is Lesotho an important part of the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains (which VE seeks to promote as a whole), but I believe Lesotho as a country it is an undervalued little gem that I encourage people to visit.

I hope the above changes will give members more room on the forum. Thanks to everyone that has given their thoughts on this. I have listened to everyone's input and opinions and these changes were also discussed within the moderator team. It is not always easy to arrive at a solution which caters to everyone's tastes and approach to things, but above all we strive to keep this forum on a positive course that is both adaptive and dynamic in it's approach.

Enjoy!