Lets talk cults....

regionals are a good thing that I still visit, but this year in particular it's been really slow with far fewer posts. they just seem a bit too hidden and out of the way. they could for sure do with some sort of overhall to make them more relevant.

Agree, I almost exclusively visit cults and regionals...

Mr.BishopCults, Regionals and hell varoius subforums. Do you visit? Do you like? Do you see a future? Do they just need some features?

I visit regionals all the time. It's great for knowing what's going on around me, telling people what's going on at my mountain, but I think the best part is (although probably very under utilized) when you're taking a trip somewhere you can use regionals to see what's happening there and connect with people.

As far as cults go, I don't personally check them often...not because I don't want to, mostly because they're out of the way to get to. It would be awesome if when you signed up to a cult there was a quick link somewhere to those cult (maybe in my threads or even on the profile menu bar) so that they're less out of the way. I think cults are great because it gives the forums unlimited sections, they're just not "advertised" enough...no one really knows what they are unless they're in one.

I want to start a cycling/general bike cult, but I'm not sure if one already exists, and not sure how to check. There needs to be some overhaul/more information out there about them.

The thing that's difficult about cults is that there is no way to know what exists out there. So unless someone invites you or you just happen to hear about it, there's no way to get potentially active people involved.

OK, so far:

Yes, people use these things and those that use them love them.

Cults especially are too out of the way to use, and its hard to find out what cults there are you might be interested in.

Those are two epic suggestions actually.

I use regionals all the time. It's cool to see who goes to my mountain and I like to see what's going on in my area.

I used to use cults a lot, but since they've started to die I've don't go over there too much. It would be great to have a overhaul of the whole cult section. There are too many dead cults that don't get used and it's pretty hard to navigate around there

Well Doug we kind of have discussed this cult issue elsewhere..but ill throw my two cents. First, I use both...more so regionals because they tend to be more active. The cults are generally a smaller community of people who all aren't always focused on viewing that cult on a regular basis however well they relate to the content in there. They are definitely great for having archival content for people to view when needed as well as for generating longer term discussion without getting lost in the mix of persay...a fb group forum ;)...

One thing I think would be neat for cults is a notification program...This option could be turned on for members who want it to or not perhaps? That way the people that want to see updates will and those that dont wont...This could generate more discussion within the forum. Also...I know that there are chats that are available within the cult but they are not always the most easily noticed nor do people generally use them. Now if you had something perhaps on the front page with a small chat side bar (like the old old NS chat) that you could control what chat would be utilized would be sweet. For example if I were to be on my home page I could select what cult chat to view and see what people are posting and putting up at all times. I generally keep my NS browsing to a select few places and with the new front page layout it is really easy to just stay on that page and scroll up and down seeing whats new. With a chat option with personal choices as to what you want to chat about with the people who you want to chat with would be awesome. This could seriously increase cult readership and usage. The chat in addition to notifications of content within cults would be great. The notifications could perhaps work like "my threads" but it would be like "my cults" and you could have somehting like a quick view of what is going on and when all threads are updated...because generally there are fewer threads going up regularly. With this you could also select which cults you get updates from so the clutter isnt that high and you see what you want when you want.

Sorry if that is all over the place. But just my brainstorming on how things could potentially see more use. Let me know if you need clarification

I check regionals frequently, cults not so much.

I use regionals a lot, it's good to see what's happening locally, and to pick up some people and shred with. I don't use cults that much, they're out of the way and I'm not sure what has/has not been made.

Regionals could def use more exposure though.

I check one cult all the time and regionals also.

But I agree, cults are definitely out of the way and nearly impossible to find out whats out there, let alone find an active one

I'm part of a couple cults but I don't check them at all really. I do check regionals every time I'm on though.

I never use Cults anymore. Most are dead and there really isn't much need for me to have some sort of exclusive thread membership. I think it's time those go into the drawer of the good old day of NS and we look towards the future.

Regionals however I love. Especially super active ones like Colorado, Utah, etc. Very useful and a great forum. You should work towards resurrecting the less active ones and making them the go to for local information. People utilize Ski Gabber for regional information far too often even when they have great, active Regional alternatives.

Maybe there are too many? Perhaps condensing them to larger regions where necessary would spark more interest?

Being able to select a regional forum as your default that is displayed in the top bar instead of the full regionals forum. That would make it much easier to get to and you wounldnt have to click as much to get there.

Also a lot of people don't see the point in posting in regionals when they could just post in SG. I know sometimes mods move things sometimes, but I often see threads that should be in regionals in SG.

I never use the regionals, the one for Norway has been dead for years... I use the cults, but i feel like i don't know whats out there.

Mostly cults and regionals. Ski gabber too a lot, with some visits to M&A and Gear Talk.

regionals are the hidden gem of ns. But navigating them should be a world map with color coordinated areas to click. Much cleaner and easier on the eyes tha n a big drop down menu with the US at the bottom.

I love regionals!

Dustin.Maybe there are too many? Perhaps condensing them to larger regions where necessary would spark more interest?

Not a bad idea at all....

Regionals and M&A anymore for me

I love cults and regionals. Regionals still get's some threads because people know about it. Cults kind of just died.


Regionals you can jump in and post a thread whenever, but nobody is going to join a dead cult to post a thread to nobody. We need to show people that the cults are awesome. The first couple years I was on here I never used the main forums.

I miss the local area cults, similar interests, and random stuff.



I wonder if we could work on certain ones. Lets say the cupcake baking cult. Find some people mindly interest in it and we start posting regularly/ mention in nsg that the cupcake cult is back and action and to join the discussion. Once some threads start going and the communication is happening I think they can survive.

The problem is a lot of the new members of the last 5 years have never even been in a cult, some people probably don't even know what they are/were.

Idk that's the best idea I can think of. IF anyone thinks that doesnt suck and want's to try and jumpstart a few cults let me know.

Dustin.I never use Cults anymore. Most are dead and there really isn't much need for me to have some sort of exclusive thread membership. I think it's time those go into the drawer of the good old day of NS and we look towards the future.

Regionals however I love. Especially super active ones like Colorado, Utah, etc. Very useful and a great forum. You should work towards resurrecting the less active ones and making them the go to for local information. People utilize Ski Gabber for regional information far too often even when they have great, active Regional alternatives.

Maybe there are too many? Perhaps condensing them to larger regions where necessary would spark more interest?

I don't think the majority were ever about being exclusive. It gave like minded or people from a certain mountain/area a place to post whatever without clogging up the main forums. The gore cult I used to be very active in we used it to set up times for meeting up and hitting urbans, parties, bbqs, trips to different mountains, condition updates, and anything else.

It was very fun/ useful but stuff that people in PA or other places in NY probably wouldn't give a shit about and people in SG NSG def wouldn't give a shit about.

theabortionatorI don't think the majority were ever about being exclusive. It gave like minded or people from a certain mountain/area a place to post whatever without clogging up the main forums. The gore cult I used to be very active in we used it to set up times for meeting up and hitting urbans, parties, bbqs, trips to different mountains, condition updates, and anything else.

It was very fun/ useful but stuff that people in PA or other places in NY probably wouldn't give a shit about and people in SG NSG def wouldn't give a shit about.

WHen you say Gore cult, you mean a specific mountain?

I use both a lot, and would really love to see them both more active. I frequently check regionals and two cults that are decently active (for cult standards).

One thing I would love to see is a searchbar within cults to find content/threads created there.

Mr.BishopWHen you say Gore cult, you mean a specific mountain?

Yeah. It was for a mountain we all used to ski but ended up sort of being a regional cult for anyone from the area.

It was great.

I like regionals but I feel like it could be accentuated a little more to get more traffic. not sure how but even in the forum bar it just doesn't get love.

i've been saying for a while that i think to keep cults alive we need activity notifications of some sort - when a thread is posted, when someone replies etc. also, i'm not opposed to a purge of dead cults. there's a few i joined a while back and only to find they were inactive for a very long time.

The problem is cults aren't as easy to access as the main forums. A few clicks does make a difference. Most of the time I access the cults I frequent through My Threads since it's so simple. A customizable menu - adding a favorites tab to the top menu bar - would be rad. I'd love to have quick access to SG, NSG, M&A and a few cults, a couple regionals and maybe the Big Mountain photo page all in one place.

Might be cool to occasionally feature one of the quality active cults in a prominent place on the site from time to time too. Remind people that there's life in that section of the site.

Revamping the search function to search open cults would also bring a ton of accessibility.