Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Improving Website??? - Ideas, input, suggestions.....

Get rid of Sligh! Absolutely.. That guy rambles on and on with such long drawn out sentences I can't even begin to follow what the heck he's talking about half the time. :D Ha!

There are some good ideas getting thrown around! How many admin are there and do we need more in order to keep on top of the adbot crap and general oversight of the conversations? I know the recent influx of ads is unusual, but man it makes the front page look crappy.

I like the idea of having a single poster who can anonymously post pics (or anything else) for people who do not want their identity or location known. I like looking at pictures. If that's what it takes for people to be comfortable in sharing some pics, then let's do it. I would be happy to take on that role (if I'm trusted enough) if it's something people want.

More outreach would be nice, but do we have enough dedication from members on this site to make it happen? Would we have enough volunteers to run a booth at the classic? How about a yearly IW 3D shoot? As Facebook continues to grow into a freakish monster, I think it would be beneficial to create a facebook page both for the ability to connect on there but also to hopefully bring more people to the forum. I wonder how many people really know what kind of great advice there is to be had on this site.

The #1 way to improve this website though is involvement. A forum with no people posting is like a broken pencil....pointless. If people don't want to be involved, there isn't any way it's going to improve. So what's the factor that is driving (or limiting) individuals involvement? To much criticizing and bashing that people are afraid to speak or show pics? To much lurking that people are scared to show pics because they think their evil neighbor might secretly see what bucks are on the property they hunt? Are Facebook and other outlets just getting so big they are taking everything over and there's no need for forums like this anymore? I see this one as a major part in this site taking a dive. So, I think, the real question becomes how do we bring in more people and make them comfortable to join in and be active? Unfortunately I don't think there is a hard answer to that, if any answer at all.

Oh, and Sligh, don't leave;)
 
I'm not sure how I found this site back in the day. What drew me in is all the insane knowledge that members here had. It was crazy, I have learned so much from this site. It was super active back then and all sorts of pics and info was shared. It almost had a secrect society type feel to it and was just full of hardcore whitetail guys, from Iowa that I could relate to. None of my family or friends are into deer, habitat, shed hunting etc like I am. I have always been absolutely obsessed with it and this site was full of guys that I as a younger person basically was living vicariously through and still want to be like. I've felt like I have never been up to par or near the same level with what many have accomplished on here and have not contributed what I would consider crucial information. I loved how this sites members were truly hardcore deer guys and knew there stuff and seem to have a much better 'big picture' of everything and seem to care much more about conservation etc and the details of issues/topics than what I found on other sites.

I wish this site would get back like that. Facebook pages have taken over a lot, but they are not near as in-depth and thorough as what IW once was. I think just he ease of facebook and how it is easy for anyone to find and look at and see pics makes it easy. Not sure why people are afraid to share pics on here, but you can go onto facebook and see tons of shed pics, trail cam pics, harvest pics.......and then you can just click on that persons facebook page and see what town they live in etc.

1. Sligh for president
2. Whatever happened to Liv4rut?
3. For sure have someone that can post pics, that is what keeps things going for sure.
 
BDAHMS said:
I'll try and keep any mention of TBI to my own personal threads - and would advise staying clear of those as I'm sure it will be mentioned since I post a lot of the pics there . Which was hundreds and hundreds of harvest photos and kids first trophies, large and small. That would suck to have that much participation on here. But to each there own and sorry you feel that way
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I don't have a problem with TBI, we're all on the same team here.
 
First, what is the goal of Iowawhitetail as a site?

The spam ads gotta go for sure, I'm surprised they haven't been taken care of already.
I think IowaWhitetail should get more involved on FB. Just posting something every once and a while would drum up some interest and traffic. Maybe that's not the goal of Iowawhitetail, but there are so many avenues for deer hunting that a forum with little traffic will be left behind.

Not to be a jack wagon, but the PMA forum is a joke now a days. If I was a new guy who came to this site and paid for additional forums I'd ask for my money back, after seeing what's there.
Overall there are a lot of quality guys on here, so I hope the trend doesn't continue. If all else fails, then we can always invite back T250, he'll drum up some traffic!
 
meyeri said:
First, what is the goal of Iowawhitetail as a site?



Not to be a jack wagon, but the PMA forum is a joke now a days. If I was a new guy who came to this site and paid for additional forums I'd ask for my money back, after seeing what's there.
Overall there are a lot of quality guys on here, so I hope the trend doesn't continue. If all else fails, then we can always invite back T250, he'll drum up some traffic!
Click to expand...

I paid for the PMA access for one a couple years ago, I only paid for it that one year. I thought there was going to be a lot more there than what there was. It was basically just harvest pic/stories in the fall. Don't get me wrong, there were some giants and great stories, but I thought there was going to be a lot more in there.
 
I came to this site when I moved here as a form of trying to network and get hunting info. I have met some great people thru this site. That has been a major bonus. Any way to enhance the networking might be considered. Not sure how???

I quickly found out that this website, IMO, is the absolute BEST resource on the web for all things habitat. The info on the double tree thread is crazy good. A person could literally write one of the best habitat books ever using only information in that section. It's outstanding.

It's a shame that all the photobucket pictures are now gone. I don't think there is a fix to that without recreating them.
 
I really looked forward to PAUL'S post in the form , I know that's a lot to keep up and post as he did but it always kept me learning new information or updates on how things are going. I can only imagine the time it took to create and keep up. That would be a plus its seemed to fade away with Paul's passing. I agree on the Spam , Pictures are for sure a issue part of the reason I don't post them. I love the feed back good or bad when I ask things that how you learn I have never felt like some one was trying to be negative only giving me there the point of few. I will add the Bonkers post normally make me laugh so I haven't seen much of him lately..
 
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I've always thought having a IW potluck or something would be a fun time. Now with seeing all the food posts I'm really thinking we need to get something together. Would be nice to be able to meet people face to face and build friendships, I think it'd build the trust to share more, but maybe that's just my thought.

I think saving Paul's threads and summarizing them up is a great idea, I don't have my own farm yet but I plan on it one day. I always find myself going through the old threads and I'd hate to see all the valuable information lost. Maybe we could have a free will donation at the potluck and have it put into a book, IW could sell and have 50% or so of the proceeds go to Paul's wife. He put a lot of time into this site and sharing his information the least we could do is give back to his family.

Having a moderator to anonymously post used to work really well, I remember all the trail camera pictures that used to be shared on here. I post my yearly scrape camera threads and I'm sure those get annoying but hey I'm sharing.

Keep the list coming guys, lots of good ideas already.
 
I've not been a member a terribly long time but I lurked for years and the pics were what kept me coming back. From velvet bucks to swollen necks working licking branches, then harvest pics and ATLs......that was the reason I visited so regularly. The pic posting has gone down hill a ton. The spam doesn't really bother me. You can typically tell that it's spam from the subject. I just don't open them.
 
I may bite off more than I can chew here but I would be willing to post pics anonymously for those of you who want to go that route. I live in far southern Illinois with no intention of moving so I wouldn't be looking into your farms. I'd just be jealous of the quality of deer!
 
We use to have a few mods that would post pics privately for others and that seemed to get more pics up.

Sad that we have to do it anonymous but that is what the hunting environment has come too. When I first joined the site back in the early 2000s the harvest and trailcam threads were jammed pack with photos as the fears of poaching or loosing land wasn't as prevalant.

Habitat improvement from plots to Timber improvements and what had worked and not for folks would be a great area of focus

Focus on the gear/tech thread with folks not only talking hunting gear but also cool apps, software, etc that make for monitoring hunts, weather, etc easier.

Eliminate the spam of course but I am sure that is in the works
 
As I have stated before. A separate section for NR landowners where they can pat each other on the back and swap fish stories.
 
I've commented every year since I became a moderator that I would post anonymous pics, maybe a half dozen people took me up on that offer in the past 10 years.

I do try to delete spam posts, but sometimes it doesn't work for some reason.

It makes me happy to see people actually commenting in here in wanting to save the site. Years ago we did have several get togethers, they were awesome, but quickly lost momentun after a couple. A booth at the Classic was also the epitome of the year, but VERY few people understand the work that went into setting it up, managing it, and then tearing it down.

I will try to do better at contributing and removing spam.

Keep up the chat and tire kicking, maybe something will come if someone wants to take the bull by the horns.

As for LIV4RUT, he's good. He's just all grown up now, like myself, and busy with family first.
 
I very rarely post on any forums, but enjoy seeing what so many people like me are doing around the country. My suggestion/concern is to see if there is any way to move Dbltrees photobucket pictures, so they can be preserved along with his wealth of info, in his threads. I'd be more than willing to pay to help accomplish this, if thats what it takes.
 
We dont have access to dbltrees pics and with photobucket having 3rd party issues, and trying to charge people now, I'm going to say we will likely lose all those pics unfortunately.
 
[QUOTE="
1. Sligh for president
2. Whatever happened to Liv4rut?
3. For sure have someone that can post pics, that is what keeps things going for sure.[/QUOTE]

I am still alive and kicking. I haven't been on here for a long time. The site seemed to get too big with a few fire starters in every post. It got old trying to give honest advice and it would just get bashed. Back when I first joined it was almost like a small family where everyone kind of got to know everyone. The chat room was awesome back in the day. Life also got busy and I just quit following it. I am still around occasionally though. :)
 
Liv4Rut said:
[QUOTE="
1. Sligh for president
2. Whatever happened to Liv4rut?
3. For sure have someone that can post pics, that is what keeps things going for sure.
Click to expand...

I am still alive and kicking. I haven't been on here for a long time. The site seemed to get too big with a few fire starters in every post. It got old trying to give honest advice and it would just get bashed. Back when I first joined it was almost like a small family where everyone kind of got to know everyone. The chat room was awesome back in the day. Life also got busy and I just quit following it. I am still around occasionally though. :)[/QUOTE]

Good to know you pop in now and again. You always had some good info and comical stuff. Helped me with some public land info too!
 
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