asking questions about NZ walking tracks

I have not noticed too many such questions, plus the forums are pretty quiet even at the busiest times. It is not like they are getting overwhelmed with such inquiries. Tramping is a subjective term, and means different things to different people. What someone might consider a easy walk, others would consider tramping. If you do not want to answer a question, simply ignore them. Also there is no such thing as irrelevant information, because people other than the op do read and learn from forums posts.

What does mean 'op'? Does it stand for operator or something?

Original post (er).

I agree with Militaris this seems like making a mountain out of a really insignificant molehill. Hardly worth spending more time and thread space on just because someone has changed their mind with regard to the make up of their visit to our shores. And @Honora op = original poster

several people i've spoken to from this site agree with me... but i'm the one willing to make the comment and others know it will cop flak and i'm willing to accept that , but it looks like one persons opinion against others

I understand what you are saying even though I only half agree. We are about tramping or whatever its called but Im sure most of us still do short walks as well and often a Sunday walk can be just as good as a weekender. We wouldnt tell anyone a walk up Ben Loman is a sissy walk even though its only 4 to 5 hours each way. (more in winter) Often the people you are upset with are potential tourists who havnt figured out the itinerary yet and are just after info to help them design there trip. They may have read the forum and seen how we react to newbes which isnt great so they tell us all there experience (true or not I dont know) to try and get the best answers from us. So often though in the end they can only do a small portin of what they ask about plain and simply because of the time required. Maybe in the future when someone external to nz asks about tramping we only give them basic info to help them plan. At that stage they dont need much more then after they decide give them the detail. This reduces the work on those that help and gives the tourists all they need. A few years ago a discussion was had whether to block non NZ access to the site. The outcome was that the site was better for letting them in. This is the cost. I dont believe its enough to make a change

the more questions you answer about tourist walks, the more tourists will ask the same questions, the world is googling nz "walks" or thinking walks are tramps. if you're happy to answer those questions then go ahead but i wonder what the forum will look like in the future and the volume of questions from overseas people just wanting to ask about walks...

Is it much skin off anyone else's nose if folks make their own decisions about answering or not answering?

Nah, but it makes for a good dust-up in the threads. :) Haven't seen one for a while. It's a personal choice how much of somebody's blank page you fill in for them.