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Reader Participation Day: What Do You Want To Read About National Parks?

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Published Date

April 27, 2011

Here's your chance to help us plan our editorial calendar for the rest of the year.

How would you rank the following categories of stories that we work on at the Traveler. Put another way, which keep you coming back to the Traveler?

* Features

Due to our inability to be everywhere in the National Park System at all times, these stories let us focus on specific issues around the park system. They range from hard-edged topics such as this week's two-part series on how the Park Service interprets history at Fort Laramie National Historic Site and U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop's efforts to do away with the Endangered Species Act, Wilderness Act, and National Environmental Policy Act, to travel pieces such as "Inn Step With Asheville" and "Arlington House, Home of Robert E. Lee".

* Spot news

These are stories such as the recent search for two missing backcountry skiers at Grand Teton National Park, the theft of scrimshaw artifacts from Cape Cod National Seashore, and mention of various facility openings around the park system.

* Puzzles and Mysterys

* Book reviews

* Gear reviews

* Seasonal travel story packages

Did you find any value in the series of stories we put together for fall visits to the parks, or for summer visits?

Your input will help us decide how best to dedicate our resources in the coming months and hopefully bring you more value from the time you spend on the Traveler. So if you've long been a lurker, this is the time to come out of the dark and leave a comment, even if it's only anonymous.

Story Categories:

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Comments

Submitted by admin on April 29, 2011 - 4:54pm.

Clearly, Imntbike has made all my points and then some.  I'll go back to doing spreadsheets and making a buck or two. :)


Submitted by Lone Hiker on April 30, 2011 - 5:43pm.

Hey Kurt, I'm more than just a little late, but personally I'd like to read about how the NPS is going to reinstate the $50 / year  "National Parks Annual Pass".  Hell, make it $75 for all I care.  Now THAT would be newsworthy.


Submitted by Kurt Repanshek on April 30, 2011 - 5:45pm.

LH, have you tapped into my computer? Watch these pages next week.....


Submitted by admin on May 11, 2011 - 11:42am.

I would love to have a message board for topics that are brought up by the crowd.  If I'm going to visit Big South Fork, I'd like to be able to post that and see if anyone has some suggestions on the best way to visit it.  Or I'd like to learn what apps people use to improve their park planning or experiences.  I realize that some of the control would be lost but I would also like that too.  This is a great site that I visit nearly everyday so I don't want to bash it, just my two cents on improving it.


Submitted by Kurt Repanshek on May 11, 2011 - 11:47am.

Jon, we'd love to offer that, but until we can find a reliable spam filter...some years ago we offered forums for just the sort of thing you're seeking, and it was a spam magnet. And with just one or two of us monitoring the site a day, having to vet all the comments to make sure spam wouldn't sneak through would be troublesome. That said, it's always in the back of our minds and we continue to seek a solution.


Submitted by Rick B. on May 11, 2011 - 12:44pm.

And, I know from personal experience that Kurt et al will work with those who suggest articles in non-spammy ways.

I personally injoy the insights from the "how NPS makes sausage" inner workings articles. I enjoy the historical articles. I enjoy the photo laden articles. I enjoy articles about places I've seen, and about places I may never see. I guess I'm just a Traveler junkie - I hit the site a couple of times every day.

I guess what I don't enjoy are the die hard partisan advocates who stake out a position and haggle their talking points with anyone who disagrees with their particular pet rock. Especially those who in one way or another anti-NPS.

All of this in my personally opinionated personal opinion.


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